Love my VSC
 

Driving home tonight in snowy muck, I realized that I love traction control and ABS. Back in the day, I used to love the thrill of trying to get anywhere in the snow with a RWD and no ABS. Twitchy steering, rear end sliding out around every corner regardless of speed, stopping before sliding out into the intersection. Even used to think ABS was for wimps.
Now, I'm happy to just cruise along in the muck. No tire spin. No sliding into intersections.
Shut off the VCS briefly tonight and got nowhere fast. (Not really suprised. Don't think 289HP FWD can go anywhere without it regardless.)

This got me wondering, do you think the car companies have taken a lot of the skill of driving away by having all these electronic controls on just about every vehicle or are they necessary?

I think that for most people in typical driving situations, things like ABS and properly designed traction control are excellent safety features. Based on my observations and experience, I wouldn't say "...have taken a lot of the skill of driving away" since it seems way too many people have very little driving skill and common sense.

For my car that I drive for fun on roadcourse tracks, even though I think I have above average driving ability, I'm happy to have a great ABS braking system; but I removed the OEM traction control and replaced it with a Racelogic Traction Control sysytem (well over $1000) and I really like it a lot since it allows me to push the limits at the track without as much risk of loosing control if I go a little beyond my own and the cars limits.

I think all these safety features are nice, but they are giving the average driver a false sense of security and making them worse drivers than before. I feel that my skills have started slipping for that very reason as well.

Try driving a pickup in fresh snow....i do it every day

I used to drive Mustangs and Camaros in the snow all the time. Most of the time without snow tires either, just the all-season tires. Made for some interesting drives and not always pointing in a straight line either.

I tried getting a bit sideways with my explorer in the snow. Traction control killed that fun pretty quickly.

I did have one problem driving home last night. Trying to start from a stop in a pile of snow was very difficult. If I shut the VCS off, all I got was wheel spin. Leaving it on, I got through the intersection at about 0.5 MPH.

I like my Volvo. It is rear wheel drive. Makes for some fun in the show. It's not got much power, so that helps on take off in snow.

I regard ABS, TCS and all the other fancy toys as useful tools that are by no means essential. I have recently proven that I can still get an RWD vehicle with more than 250 hp and no fancy electronics whatsoever up a steep hill in the snow, and I rightly think that anyone should be able to do the same.

Use the conveniences as just that; conveniences. Don't rely on them. They may not always be there.

Badnick: using these sorts of technology on the track is, IMO, perfectly acceptable. On a track you're pushing a vehicle to it's absolute limit, and having electronic assistance will let you squeeze that much more out of it. On the street, however, I think one should learn to get by without all the toys.

You probably saw this, I think it was even posted here...but this discussion just reminded me of that vid where they take ...I think it was a Bimmer... and with automatic throttle and steering controls along with programmed in locations on a racetrack via GPS, the car drives itself around quite quickly. That's a horrible horrible fate for any of us who actually enjoy driving.

I really like stability and traction control systems. They can be annoying on dry ground, but make life so easy in the snow. It's fun to slide around, but most of the time you just want to get somewhere with minimal fuss. Also, the electronics on many cars can do things that the driver would otherwise have no control over. Most cars have open differentials, for example. The brakes are used to simulate a locked diff when necessary, so you can get out of spots that no amount of driver skill would have helped with.

I was doing donuts in park lots today...big snow fall last 2 days

Each time I see the thread title, I read "VSC" as "Victoria's Secret Catalog", which works as well.

Victoria's Secret has this chocolate body fondue which I recommend NOT putting on your tires since it will detract from traction and control. But it ain't bad on a body you can lick for Valentine's Day
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...1056_CROP1.jpg