Hello all,

I'm just trying to establish the relationship between these two... Am I right in thinking that ASR without EDL only controls the engine power, effective as that might be for most situations where traction is low? Whereas ASR with EDL can brake an individual wheel if it's spinning on ice so that the other wheel on the axle will be powered (and I guess it also reduces engine power at the same time)?

I've been looking at the 4x4 option but I'm now thinking this might not be needed. However I do think that I will need EDL because merely reducing engine power might not be enough for some of the trickier green lanes I might find myself in. I've seen some very impressive videos of traction control on YouTube (Top Gear with "Tiff Needal"), however it's not made clear exactly what system we are watching, it just says "traction control". So I don't know if I'm watching a car with EDL or not!

Regards,

Richard.

I think ASR and EDL always come as a package. EDL is just VAG's electronic diff lock and if I'm thinking of the same demo (with the Jag?) then that is using ESP on (I think) a 4wd car. The difference is that ESP knows which direction the front wheels are pointing and brakes individual wheels to keep it going in that direction.

My experiences of ASR and EDL are that it is a bit of a clunky system and not very elegant and brutally cuts power if you ever get into a situation where the wheels are spinning. It also seems a bit eager to cut in early imho.

Chris

I think ASR and EDL always come as a package. EDL is just VAG's electronic diff lock and if I'm thinking of the same demo (with the Jag?) then that is using ESP on (I think) a 4wd car. The difference is that ESP knows which direction the front wheels are pointing and brakes individual wheels to keep it going in that direction.

My experiences of ASR and EDL are that it is a bit of a clunky system and not very elegant and brutally cuts power if you ever get into a situation where the wheels are spinning. It also seems a bit eager to cut in early imho.

Chris

From Skoda's website it seems they don't always come as a package. If you look at the details for the Octavia (HB and Estate) you'll see that whilst ASR seems standard, it's specified as being without EDL. You only get EDL if you get the optional ESP.

I think the demo was with a Jag, yeah. It shows a car going uphill on ice under some little purpose-built sheds! I don't think they specified it was 4WD, what makes you think it was?

R.

Just found the demo video and you're right, it's a FWD Jag with ESP. I'm not sure EDL comes into play in the clip as both wheels are on the same surface and are slipping at the same rate, so it's simply the fact ESP is reducing the speed they are spinning.

It's also interesting about EDL only being available with ESP - on the Fabia ASR+EDL+ABS were all packaged together and you could opt to upgrade to ESP.

Stepping back, I guess what you have to think about is where you're going to be driving and if it's likely you're going to lose the ability to put power through the front wheels as the EDL will only be able to do so much. ASR/ESP will cut power if they detect slip, although ESP is more intelligent and brakes the wheels to reduce spin, rather than just killing power to the wheels which the ASR does and as such using ASR on slippery surfaces isn't very satisfactory, imho.

Chris

I think you're right. I think ASR is perhaps aimed more at momentary loss of grip while accelerating e.g. wet road, rather than total loss of grip due to ice etc.

Thanks,

R.