Wildcard

That DSC/TC off spin in that video is a carbon copy of a little "incident" that I had on the way home from work the other day. Only difference was that the road was dry in my case. :D

labrat

I can't imagine why we would turn off the DSC under normal road driving conditions. After our BNE-MEL-BNE trip, having endured badly cambered roads slick with molten tar in 43C heat with corrugations pounded in by thundering articulated vehicles, we were glad that we had that safety in reserve (although AFAIK it never actuated).

I can understand that switching it off on the racetrack may be fun and even desirable, but it could be argued that deliberately de-activating a safety feature provided by the manufacturer when driven on public roads could be held to be highly irresponsible. Say you lost control, did damage to life and limb, and a forensic examination of the ECU showed you'd switched it off. Aside from opening yourself to possible criminal prosecution, imagine your chances with your insurance company (and to those of the persons and property you'd damaged).

OK, so maybe "real" sports car drivers don't drive with DSC, but isn't this just another example of showing off how big your dick is?

RXE16T

It's not about "showing off how big your dick is", although one could argue that you are doing just this by driving a sportscar, it's about driving skills and mastery of the machine.

It is often viewed that with the ease of obtaining a driver's license these days, there is inadequate driver skill training being done to make better drivers on the road.

Manufacturers have allowed for the small number of "incompetant" drivers on the road by loading up new cars with whizz bang electronic gizmos to compensate for a lack of driver skill.

Maybe you belong to one section of the demographic that falls into this category, or maybe you don't, but I for one am confident enough in my driving that I am willing to forego electronic aids to try and make me a "better" driver.

If I have an accident without the assistance of electronic aids, then I can point the finger at myself and my lack of driving skill.
Whereas if you have an accident whilst relying on electronic aids to assist you, you will blame the electronics and machinery for failing to assist you.

Do you see where "over-compensating" for lack of driver skills may cause a detrimental effect?
The bozo who has the accident whilst under "electronic aid" will not learn from his mistake and continue to rely on gizmos to compensate for his lack of driving skills.

Anyway, everybody is entitled to their own choice and opinion and the thread was started purely as I wanting to know whether it was possible to disable the DSC.

It somehow has developed into a comparison of "***** sizes" where it can be said that people's shortcomings are attributed to lack of driving skills and not due to their phallic size.

timbo

labrat

You raise some interesting issues. But I don't think any mfr has yet claimed that their stability controls/electronic aids categorically reduce accidents, because if they did, they would face potentially huge liability for any failure of those systems, including failure initiated by the driver because the mfr includes an 'on/off' switch.

If this was the case, and especially if (heaven help us) Government regulates for intervention devices, we will all end up driving around in rubber cocooned, speed governed egg boxes.

I'm not sure about this issue. I quite like the notion of DSC intervention in some instances, but not in others. It's inclusion in the 8 was certainly a factor in me buying, but not the decisive factor, by any means. Just that it meant the 8 was a modern, 'state of the art' car. However, if I found the DSC became too interventionist/over-protective, I would not be happy, just as the case with any computer system or other technology that tries to treat me like a cretin.

Am happy re ***** size. Please don't send me any emails :D

jax8

DSC and Traction Control were big factors (plus multiple airbags) in convincing the missus that the 8 was a far safer beast than our sti for our daughters to drive - one on P plates one about to be.

I have told Sensible Daughter how to isolate these controls, and sworn her to secrecy; no way in the world am I telling Wild Child about it for years to come.

NickG

One thing's certain: I think we can all be grateful for DSC in the wet. From my admittedly rather limited wet road experience with the 8 so far, it's definitely a bit twitchy on its standard tyres - much more so that my old 325i that's for sure....

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

It will be a sad day if the insuance mobs try to deny a claim because an operating condition of the vehicle that is functioning (i.e. the ability to turn the DSC off) is deemed to have caused the accident.

FFS - You have insurance in case you have an accident. That is whole friggin point, isn't it?

Anyway, I find the handling of the RX-8 gives plenty of feedback about the onset of a skid, and the ability to "catch" it is quite high.

You really have to be trying quite hard to get this car badly out of shape, IMHO.

Cheers,
Hymee.