Hi

Has anyone any experiences / opinion on the optional ESP+EDL+HBA system?

My car (once ordered) will be an Octavia estate with the 1.6 FSI engine - is this a worthwhile safety option for this car?

Thanks in advance - S.

Hello Stuart, whether ESP is a worthwile safety option has been debated before - for instance see the thread I started a couple of years ago here.

In summary my opinion, along with that of EuroNCAP, is "yes" but some people think they're better than the computers (Inflammatory? Moi? )

Thanks TKW, I followed your old thread. Says it all really, that's another ticked box on the options list then...

Hi

Has anyone any experiences / opinion on the optional ESP+EDL+HBA system?

My car (once ordered) will be an Octavia estate with the 1.6 FSI engine - is this a worthwhile safety option for this car?

Thanks in advance - S.

I know you have made your mind up anyway, but I had ESP in my first Fabia estate in 2002.

On the way home from a concert in Manchester (April 04), I had a blow out on the A1 just south of the Nottingham turning whilst overtaking a lorry in the rain.

I hit the central reservation which threw me back into the path of the lorry and in matter of seconds (but seemed an eternity), I slammed the brakes on, managed to steer the carout of the way of the lorry and landed up on the hard shoulder just going off behind the lorry.

Might sound dramatic, but to this day, I reckon without ESP, I would most likely have been seriously injured or at the very worst, dead. I have had cars without ESP and the like in the past and the difference is noticeable imo even when having to make an abrupt stopping.

I personally would not hesitate in spending the extra £400 or so on a safety feature like that and did so on my 1.6 FSI Ocatvia. You just never know when you might need it.

Oh and by the way, if anyone is wondering (I am sure you aren't) but the lorry driver didn't sop at all, despite teh fact that in trying to wrestle with the car, I flipped on my full beam, so he would not only have seen my lights anyway but when the full beam came on, it would have lit up a very dark stretch of road.