Time to hand in my man card...

Mike K

TCG Elite Member
Apr 11, 2008
13,214
2,586
So I was reading that thread about the traction control in the 2011+ Mustangs and I had an epiphany. I like traction control. There, I said it. Traction control allows me to drive my car in ways I'd never normally be able to. I'm not a race car driver. I want to think that I have superior skills to most people but I don't and that's where traction control saves me. But I'm not just talking any kind of traction control here...

The traction control I'm talking about is the multi-stage stuff. Most newer cars (my 550 included) have multi-stage traction/ stability control. If you hold down the button in the BMW it shuts off the system entirely. You're left to your own devices. If you oversteer too much you're going to bring the ass end completely around, brake too hard in a turn and the front end is going to plow, do things that are completely stupid (as I'm apt to do) and you're going to completely lose the car.

But there's another mode. On the BMW I like to call this the "save my ass" mode. This is what happens when you press the traction control button once. In this mode the car will let you do whatever the hell you want. Want to swing the ass end out? Great. Want to sit there and shred the tires? Have at it. Where it really shines though is when you have an amateur like me behind the wheel. I can do whatever I want and the car will save me. It won't let the ass end come around and if it senses that happening, it puts an end to my fun and snaps me back into a straight line faster than it would normally take me to shit my pants if traction control was completely off.

How does it make the car more fun to drive? Simple: There are no longer any more limits. I don't need to wonder if I'm pushing the car so hard that it's about to break loose. There's no fear because if it happens it's fixed quickly and smoothly and because of that I can push it as hard as I want, harder than I would ever have the guts to do if there was no safety net and thus the car is even more fun to drive.

Some lament the intrusion of technology in newer cars, citing how disconnected you feel from the road. I'm not one of those people. I've never driven a car that felt more connected to the asphalt than my 550 and it has assloads of gadgets on it. I embrace this new age. Things like launch control, multi-stage traction control, the active sway bars on my car that tense up in a turn and the list goes on. When properly implemented, these things all make the car more fun to drive and they allow an amateur to squeeze near peak performance out of a car that might otherwise be too much for them.

I like traction control. I'm a pussy. I'm cool with it.
 

nytebyte

Not Politically Correct
Mar 2, 2004
13,626
20,951
They can also make things worse in certain circumstances, at least old versions in older cars like my 03.

I was once driving in the snow coming around a sharp corner when the ass end started to slide a little. No problem, I just turned into the slide a tiny bit and applied a little gas to push through the turn. That's when the TC kicked in and wouldn't let me apply power to correct the slide. It got worse and the car ended up sideways.

Now I always make sure the TC is off in the snow.
 

Mike K

TCG Elite Member
Apr 11, 2008
13,214
2,586
One thing to remember, stability control systems can't change the laws of physics. They can certainly save your ass, but don't get a false sense of security.

You'd be surprised at what it can get you out of. Something nobody can do is individual wheel braking but the stability system can. I took it into a parking lot to see just how far I could push it before the car would no longer be able to bail me out. I reached the limit of speed I felt comfortable going in the parking lot before I came close to hitting any threshold of the car breaking.

I realize that there are certain situations nothing can compensate for but the car can get you out of almost anything lower speed so long as you're working with decent tires and you're not literally trying to crash. If you're trying to throw the car's weight around in an effort to circumvent the system I'm sure you're eventually going to be successful.
 

Intel

TCG Elite Member
Oct 28, 2009
5,889
3,357
Palatine
Kinda wish my the 300zx came with traction control just so I could stop having to see pictures of them put sideways into trees. So many lost to oversteer and people being dumb.

I will say I can't stand ABS/TC on any of the 90's cars I have driven. I did learn to drive with two cars that had none of these features so ABS to this day irks me especially in winter. On cars in the last 3-4 years it feels like they have finally found a balance point that keeps me from being angry with them.
 

jason05gt

TCG Elite Member
Jan 17, 2007
15,307
7,195
Naperville
You'd be surprised at what it can get you out of. Something nobody can do is individual wheel braking but the stability system can. I took it into a parking lot to see just how far I could push it before the car would no longer be able to bail me out. I reached the limit of speed I felt comfortable going in the parking lot before I came close to hitting any threshold of the car breaking.

I realize that there are certain situations nothing can compensate for but the car can get you out of almost anything lower speed so long as you're working with decent tires and you're not literally trying to crash. If you're trying to throw the car's weight around in an effort to circumvent the system I'm sure you're eventually going to be successful.

BMW’s system is good, but if you are pushing the car hard it sometimes gets in the way. In the snow, I found it sometimes borderline dangerous. There are times when you need to steer with the rear end by applying throttle and TCS/DSC shuts everything down.

There are some stability control systems that are horrible. One that I can think of is the system in my mom’s Lexus. It intervenes really quickly and unnecessarily. The calibration is way too sensitive.
 

willizm

Very Nice, Very Evil
May 13, 2009
12,829
10,148
The Woodlands, TX
Started reading this and was thinking about how much I like DTC in my 335xi and 135i. Then you go and mention the different modes. I know exactly what you are saying. My TA will get me into trouble if I let it. I have a good sense of predictability with it but with my bimmers especially the 135i the DTC (single tap) is really good at what you say. When I do the HPDE events later this year or next I will probably stick to that mode as it is a good balanace. The 135i is a fun little car with the sports package and 6speed and unlike alot of rwd 300hp cars I've driven it's just so well balanced at what it does and alot of that has to do with the nifty systems it has
 

willizm

Very Nice, Very Evil
May 13, 2009
12,829
10,148
The Woodlands, TX
BMW’s system is good, but if you are pushing the car hard it sometimes gets in the way. In the snow, I found it sometimes borderline dangerous. There are times when you need to steer with the rear end by applying throttle and TCS/DSC shuts everything down.

There are some stability control systems that are horrible. One that I can think of is the system in my mom’s Lexus. It intervenes really quickly and unnecessarily. The calibration is way too sensitive.

This!! During the winter I find that driving the 335xi in the snow is easiest and more predictable with the traction systems completely disabled.
 

gnxs

Electron Powered
Apr 26, 2004
8,930
256
When driving my 350z in the winter, I had to turn it off or the car would go nowhere in the snow.
Same with my CTS-V.

The performance setting for the Stabilitrack system is a nice setting in the good weather though. Lets you take advantage of the car's ability, but doesn't let you get into too much trouble.

TC is off in the Cobra all the time. It's an older, less capable system and the car is dead when it's enabled.
 
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