I never really switched off ASR before but this morning I gave it a go and it seemed as if the drive was alot easier and there was less resisitance (only minimal) in the overall acceleration of the car and turning was lighter...or maybe it's just psycological...

does ASR impact fuel economy? I mean it's electronics that control the asr system right? but what about it's impact on the physical components of the car in terms of fuel use?

ASR off + 1st gear + (heavy foot * No. T-junc) = low front tyre life :thumbdwn: :D

gap in traffic

Edit: Don't worry bout the fuel economy, just drive boringly on the straights

I always drive with mine off (Unless it's wet)

Like you say it's better for a quicker getaway

traction control systems have come along allot in recent years. my old vectra seemed to perform better with it switched off maybe due to the system always getting ready to pull the power away. but i thought newer systems were supposed to be better?

unless the light is flashing on the dash then the ASR is doing nothing, its only traction control :confused:

and no it won't affect steering feel, it won't affect response of the engine, it won't affect the speed or power of the car unless its flashing and its only if the wheels are spinning.

I tend to leave my traction on for day to day driving but l have to admit that the 225 Cup feels quicker with it switched off, and hence l drive with it off when l'm wanting to make some serious progress.

I also feel that relying on the traction control rather than driving technique takes the edge off my driving.

I tend to leave it on for the commute to work but off for brisk driving

I dont want the electronic gizmo's messing with my lift off oversteer etc etc :lol:

Steve

ASR can cause lift off oversteer if it cuts power suddenly mid corner As Ben points out all ASR/ESP do is reduce power when you break traction - if you're not breaking traction then there is no difference between having it off and on, especially considering you can't turn it fully off....

Driver aids ... bah humbug!

Chris

I was under the impression that ASR only uses the front brakes to limit wheelspin, whereas ESP (the optional extra which I was too tight to buy) can do lots of clever things under acceleration and braking.

Which is why it tells you to turn off ASR when driving in snow as it will quickly cook your brakes.

ASR doesn't use the brakes at all - it simply cuts engine power when it detects slip. ESP uses brakes (one each wheel) as well as reducing power where necessary. The reason you turn ASR off in snow is so that you can put some power down and drive somewhere!

Both are pretty brutal though and my experience with ESP was that it was really no better than ASR in real world driving....

Chris

Ah, I had it completely the wrong way round. Figures.

Fifth gear had a bit of a campaign for ESP to be fitted as standard didn't they? Kept showing the difference it makes in emergency maneuvers...

Burnouts dont work with it on (as i accidently found out at pod:O) so i keep it off

ESP's got me out of trouble once. (I think i'd have gone off the road when the tractor pulled out in front of me if I hadn't had it)

Once is enough.

Urm - ESP does a lot more than reduce engine power - as a matter of fact, ESP doesnt' kick in anywhere near as early as ASR, as most of the time it keeps the car pointing in the right direction. If you overcook it, it wont do lift-off oversteer, as it controls the cars direction with the 4 brakes + cutting the power.

ASR on the other hand is downright dangerous if this happens :(

ESP's got me out of trouble once. (I think i'd have gone off the road when the tractor pulled out in front of me if I hadn't had it)

Once is enough.

Wasn't that the original Ford Focus advert?

"ASR can cause lift off oversteer if it cuts power suddenly mid corner. As Ben points out all ASR/ESP do is reduce power when you break traction - if you're not breaking traction then there is no difference between having it off and on, especially considering you can't turn it fully off....

Driver aids ... bah humbug

Chris"

you've lost me there...i just know how to accelerate...break...and steer..

Fifth gear had a bit of a campaign for ESP to be fitted as standard didn't they? Kept showing the difference it makes in emergency maneuvers...

They did indeed, but I've yet to see a convincing demo. Usually with ESP off, the driver uses very aggressive steering and braking, which is obviously going to unsettle the car (even more so in slippy/icey conditions) and make the ESP look fantastic. Maybe that's how the majority of people drive, I have no idea.

Chris

esp is awesome chris, its saved me a couple of times

with esp on you can react as quickly as possible to a dangerous situation without the fear of spinning/sliding, just brakes and steer the hell away from whta evers going on.

i came off the bypass near my house in the wet once and was doing about 40mph, there is a trading estate of sorts on this exit and some twit simply pulled out without looking so i just hit the brakes as hard as possible knowing that the car would go where i wanted it to where as reacting half as quickly in my mazda in the same conditions is quite scary :eek:

ASR = :thumbdwn: , its off the second i get in the car. It has no use to me whatsoever.

ESP2, ok, except when it's "off" it stays "on", eats rear pads, and generally ****es on your bonfire :(

From a safety aspect though, I cant argue, ESP is an amazing thing indeed. I once put the "2 wheels on the grass, 2 on the tramac" braking to the test. 60 mph lol, left wheels on grass, right on tarmac, slammed the brakes on, and it stopped very quickly, and dead straight. After that......I was a believer

My experience of ESP (Mk V Golf) was less inspiring. I decided to test it on a quiet wet roundabout and accelerate off the exit far faster than the tyres would allow. The car slid (understeered) for a couple of seconds before there was a bang and the car lerched trying to pull me back on line. Unfortunately, because it had allowed me so far off the line, I suspect it needed to make big adjustments to get me back.

From what I'd read about ESP, I would have expected it to instantly spot the tyre(s!) slipping and make the necessary microsecond adjustments to keep me on course without me noticing its intervention.

As the Golf was hired, I have no idea if it was indeed ESP (it was badged as such) or if it was faulty, or maybe the difference between 4wd and 2wd? Fortunately, in all my years of driving, I've never been in a situation where I've needed it

Chris

From my rather limited experience I personally feel that ESP is a fairly good thing and ASR is pretty much a waste of time. I don't really think ASR makes my driving exercises any safer. Infact I'd go as far as to say that ASR from my personal experience is rather dangerous.

Just last night actually I was approaching a bend in the wet at a speed I knew would cause loss of traction; I turned in fairly generously preparing for the understeer and surprisingly the ASR cut in on time for once and within seconds all the power had been cut and the back end was on an express train for the hedge.

Dangerous and rather embarrising.

Would agree with that, ESP = good mostly, ASR sucks 100% of the time IMHO as it doesn't do enough to cope with it's designed idea, and it's dangerous when it cuts in hard at the wrong time: read, when it thinks you're slipping but you're not, T-junctions etc..

The Quaife made the ESP thing virtually unneeded as you just have bags of extra ability to put the power down whilst still cornering.

When driving normally though, as Chris says, there really shouldnt be a need for ESP to kick in. My experience with ASR though really, really put me off, and I would look to disable it if that's what I had on my car.

I specified ESP on my vRS as I tried both ASR and ESP equipped demo cars and came to the conclusion ASR would just annoy the hell out of me...

Chris: ESP systems (and ASR systems) vary from car to car, I've heard a few people complain that ESP is too invasive, and too slow to react... My friends mark 1 merc A-class was like you described your "roundabout test" and was generally slower to react than I would have been without the system , therefore I thought it was cr@p... however the ESP on the fiat is a world of difference, reacts very fast, (WAY faster than I ever could) and is very UNintrusive, and IMHO worth its weight in gold...

same goes for ASR systems, when I had the vRS, I would always turn the ASR off if I wanted to drive brisky, as it sapped so much power, it sometimes made it tricky to pull out into a small gap in the rain.... but again, in the fiat, it really doesn't effect acceleration noticably at all! I have tried 'brisk' runs in the wet, with the ASR off, and me balancing the throttle, and again with the ASR on and me just booting it, and the ASR is so sharp it simply gives max power that the grip can utilise, which equals max acceleration in the rain.... no slower than me balancing it on the throttle, but with the vRS it would seem to slow the car almost to no acceleration at times, then take about 3 seconds to give the power back, which was very frustrating.....

when you get into the extreamly clever ASR and ESP systems that porsche and ferrari use (like the adjustable system on the ferrari 430) you wouldn't even know they were there..... you can still enjoy the limits of the car, without too much intrution, just a nice big safety net

The only problem with the Ferrari 430 system that I can see is that they give you a choice of settings - male pride being what it is I wonder how many fat stockbrockers will simply select 'Stig' and promptly fly off into a hedge

The only problem with the Ferrari 430 system that I can see is that they give you a choice of settings - male pride being what it is I wonder how many fat stockbrockers will simply select 'Stig' and promptly fly off into a hedge

lol... I'd probably leave it on the second safest setting, so I could just get the tail out a little bit, and then it stopped you! but then I'm a wuss when it comes to fast corners