ESP On or Off

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Dave1000

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what do you guys do....... do you have have the ESP On or Off for everyday driving?
 
My ESP on all the time. Only time it ever off when i want some fun on a private road when its raining/snowing lol


EDIT: 1.6 and 2.0T FSI both cars are FWD so on all the time besides when i want to have fun :)
 
I've started a thread before (as have others) about the effects (if any) of ESP on haldex quattro systems and if it interferes by kicking in before the haldex and holding it back a little.

Personally i find the car feels a little looser and ready to push on without ESP. With ESP engaged the car feels like it's always holding back a bit from a dead start which i'm not keen on.
To be honest with quattro i've never noticeably spun the wheels from a dead start. I'm sure S3 owners will agree. The car seems very grippy in quattro form so i hardly ever need ESP on at all. The only times i put it on are in heavy rainfall and snow/ice/low temperatures.
However... If my car was FWD i'd probably leave it on all the time.
 
I keep mine on, can't stand the light being on all the time.......
 
I usually keep mine off, the jerkyness off the system is crap and whenever the car begins to lose grip in the bends you can feel the esp slowing you down. Not a fan.
 
I'm hanging out to test my S3 on a skid pan, just to see how well the quattro system works.

In our MINI and GTI the DSC/ESP systems are amazing when tested in such extreme conditions. Of course, skid pan days are about having ESP switched off, but having a go with the systems activated shows just how damn well they work and just how useless human reactions would be if caught out unexpected in every day driving conditions.

Personally, I just don't see the point in turning off ESP for daily driving.

A brief clip below in my MINI (DSC off, haha)... :racer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDRfRkhJr8I
 
I'm not a fan of how the traction control part of ESP work in the S3, in my eyes it simply cuts the power when the haldex systemn is more than capable of sorting the grip issue.
I tend to leave it on 95% of the time as like other have said its annoying with the warning light, but I tend to turn it off for quick get aways from junction or the like.
Wish it was multi stage from the factory ie one press turns off traction part of it etc, second long press turn it all off !

Richard
 
richs2891 said:
I'm not a fan of how the traction control part of ESP work in the S3, in my eyes it simply cuts the power when the haldex systemn is more than capable of sorting the grip issue.
I tend to leave it on 95% of the time as like other have said its annoying with the warning light, but I tend to turn it off for quick get aways from junction or the like.
Wish it was multi stage from the factory ie one press turns off traction part of it etc, second long press turn it all off !

Richard
Click to expand...

I agree. Rather than shifting the power around like other 4WD systems it just shuts the power off!! Sometimes its just downright dangerous... You may need a fast getaway and it cuts the power and just leaves you sitting there....:whistle2:
 
i leave it on but when i look in my rear view and there's some **** in a mondeo titanium up my **** or just any tit in general in a shyte car up your **** in a very deluded way think he can bully you or race you or sumut i turn the EPS off throw a swivel AND A ****** SIGN out the window and drop a cog ... make him look like a proper **** in front of his misses who he's trying to show off to then at the next lights when he catches up i can clearly see him and his bird looking at me through the rear veiw i hold my head high so they can see my mouth laughing my tits off they feel proper C&*TS and the funny thing is its probly all in my head lol hahahahahahaha
 
10blazin said:
i leave it on but when i look in my rear view and there's some **** in a mondeo titanium up my **** or just any tit in general in a shyte car up your **** in a very deluded way think he can bully you or race you or sumut i turn the EPS off throw a swivel AND A ****** SIGN out the window and drop a cog ... make him look like a proper **** in front of his misses who he's trying to show off to then at the next lights when he catches up i can clearly see him and his bird looking at me through the rear veiw i hold my head high so they can see my mouth laughing my tits off they feel proper C&*TS and the funny thing is its probly all in my head lol hahahahahahaha
Click to expand...

Your a funny guy :haha:

But how do you people drive ? my esp hardly kicks in, only when I'm flooring it after a roundabout or handbrake parking
 
yeah it only really kicks in when you start to broadside i think and on roundabouts but i do notice what seems extra power on launch an on handling when off but i usually leeve it on unless im annoyed or a toool is behing me or blocking me getting past...
 
I leave it on usually, I get no joy from spinning front wheels, it's a bit childish - whereas spinning the rears is VERY grown up :haha:

It must work, it flashes a lot, especially when it's damp :yes:

Actually I did turn it off yesterday, when I had a little traffic-lights drag with an old Boxster, didn't make any difference anyway. Stuck it in "S" and stamped the throttle :lazy:
 
GConn said:
I have the Magnetic ride on my S3 and I think the ESP is less sensitive when the Mag ride is set in sport mode. Not so sure though.

The esp is always on & I would like to turn it off when I am in the twisties but I always chicken out :blush:
Click to expand...

Better to "chicken out" on a public road and leave ESP on than to bin it and feel like a plank. :icon_thumright:
 
can you actually turn off the esp? i thought that 1 press just turned off the traction control but left the esp on
 
I keep mine on all the time. The car is very prone to understeer as it is.

Does anyone know where insurance lies on this subject? A car dealer once told me that if the ESP is off and you have a crash most insurers wont cover you. I thought this was:blahblah1: but not sure?
 
APL TDi said:
I keep mine on all the time. The car is very prone to understeer as it is.

Does anyone know where insurance lies on this subject? A car dealer once told me that if the ESP is off and you have a crash most insurers wont cover you. I thought this was:blahblah1: but not sure?
Click to expand...

If that were true they wouldn't have a button to let us switch it off.

I keep mine on all the time. It doesn't kick in too much, even when giving it the beans.

On the 'ring, for some reason by the third lap it kicked in massively and held back power all the time. I turned it off and it was a huge difference. No idea why it was different on the third though.
 
I leave the ESP on for normal day to day driving...the only time iturn it off is like some have already said, for a quick get away from stand still or for a bit of sillyness...I don't know what it's like on the 8P S3 whether it's more forgiving, but on the 8L S3 it comes on violently, good for pulling the nose back in on a tight bend but useless for getting the power down, the haldex does a good enough job of that...
 
I always leave mine on but on my beetle I put some spacers on and after that it sent it mad, it was always cutting on fast bends, well annoying. It was like the spacers had confused it or something!
 
Gconn,

Does it display something different on the DIS to let you know that just ASR is off?

Is this functionality referenced in the manual? I hadnt heard anything about it until now.

My 2008 S3 doesnt do it, its all or nothing, ie ESP on or off, nothing in between.
 
Must be an 09 thing then.

My 08 s3 definately doesnt do that, press the ESP button and it says esp off, hold it down and it still says esp off.
 
IIRC someone said a while ago that you can do this on A3s but not on S3s. Defo not a '09 thing as it was said before then.
 
Almost always off in my A3.
I found it far too intrusive and crude in action.
Unfortunately, it meant a ****** great orange warning light in your fizzog.
Ho hum.
 
Just tried it on mine and defo the ASR can't be turned off.
 
On my facelift S3 DSG one short press turns off ASR, longer press turns off ESP.
 
GConn said:
I thought I was seeing things, going crazy. Until you posted this :rockwoot:So, it's a facelift thing!
Click to expand...

Facelift for S3 then as like I said I'm sure this was discussed over a year ago with A3s.
 
my a3 55 plate tdi is just on or off - i presume thats the traction control rather than the esp, but i dont know - can anyone confirm that?
 
10blazin said:
whats ASR ??????
Click to expand...

Its anti wheel spin and forms part of ESP along with ABS, EBD and EDL. EBD is Electronic Brake Distribution and keeps the car under control while braking heavy or on corners by moving the braking power about to where its most usefull and not going to unbalance the car. EDL is Electronic Diff Lock which will brake the wheel about to spin to keep power on the other wheel, again so the car doesnt become unbalanced especially on corners(not so much use on a 4wd car but worth having on the fwd cars).

It seems lot of people seem to be turning the safety features of the car off with really knowing what they do. Stability control is there to help you before things get too out of shape and you have a bang. I never had a problem with my A3 flashing the traction control light on when launching hard although sometimes the car would bog down if you didnt get the clutch control just right but turning off ASR wouldnt have helped anyway because the bogging down is due to there just being not enough power to over come the force needed to launch the car, not the traction control cutting power (never driven an S3 so I don't know if 260bhp would spin all the wheels that easily). I can understand racing drivers or proffesional drivers turning off the driver aids but it seem madness for normal people to be doing it when there will be very little gain by it but alot to loose if they arent on when you need them.
 
I currently have an owner's manual on loan from my dealer. I don't have a scanner here at home, so you'll have to make do with a crappy photo...

switching-off-ESP.jpg
 
audi upgrades
Dandle said:
(never driven an S3 so I don't know if 260bhp would spin all the wheels that easily). I can understand racing drivers or proffesional drivers turning off the driver aids but it seem madness for normal people to be doing it when there will be very little gain by it but alot to loose if they arent on when you need them.
Click to expand...

In stock form,you'd need an awfully wet road to unsettle the S3,and even with Stage2+ it's pretty uncommon to activate the ESP,and I wouldn't say I drive too gently.

I do agree that you should be aware of what you're doing by disabling these systems,and at least to be prepared for the consequences.

It reminds me a bit of the comment made by the chap who built and serviced my old GpN Escort Cosworth when I asked him about ABS for the car(it wasn't fitted on motorsport versions)....he laughingly told me that ABS wasn't for real drivers,and provided me with a car that demanded all of your attention all of the time.
 
I dont like the sound of the way esp/asr works on the facelift s3, ie coming back on under braking and staying on until the vehicle has reached a stable condition.

That basically implies you cant really turn it off, sounds crap, the pre facelift S3 ESP does not function like this, in the pre facelift, once its off it stays off.
 
Dandle said:
I can understand racing drivers or proffesional drivers turning off the driver aids but it seem madness for normal people to be doing it when there will be very little gain by it but alot to loose if they arent on when you need them.
Click to expand...

I couldn't disagree more.
I find driver aids the bain of my driving life and I yearn for the days before them.
They may make driving hyper-safe for the interminably stupid, but they also make it incredibly dull for anyone with a modicum of car control.
TBH, I find it a bit concerning that anyone on this forum would be so reliant on them as to chastise them being switched off, as you have.
I'd have thought most people on here would have a fair degree of car control.
Evidently, I was wrong.
 
I have to agree with Bowfer. Since the start of this thread I have been driving everywhere without ESP on and I have noticed a difference. There's a stretch of road near Queensferry with roundabout after roundabout and yesterday I could feel a difference in the car when taking them at speed. I could actually feel that more power was going to the rear wheels and there was perhaps a tiny bit of oversteer.

It's been quite enlightening and I'll definately be driving without it more often.
 
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