Could/would you drive your car without driver aids

Soldato
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I'd rather turn off ABS than TC on the road. It's a lot easier to manage braking and avoid the wheels locking up than it is to recover from a slide on a narrow road.
 
Caporegime
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Eh? If your going too fast and sliding because of that (rather than too much throttle) then TC isn’t going to help much.
 
Soldato
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In my youth all the cars had no driver aids. I've been driving mainly older cars until recently. I had the previous car for 16yrs. No electric anything. Manual Windows etc. Had power steering though. Other than that. Zilch.

One of the reasons I changed car was to get one with ABS. The issue was other cars could out brake me especially in wet conditions.

I remember my early mrk2 golf GTi needed two hands on the wheel to turn it at parking speeds. Nice weight when at speed though.
 
Caporegime
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Are there any cars that you can actually turn off the ABS system (outside of track oriented ones)? Traction control usually an option as if you get stuck turning it off can help. I can’t think of any benefits of turning off ABS.
 
Man of Honour
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I remember my early mrk2 golf GTi needed two hands on the wheel to turn it at parking speeds. Nice weight when at speed though.

Same for any of the performance Golfs of that era - took a lot to manhandle them around town but on the open road it suddenly all came together.
 
Soldato
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Isn't that in summary the main issue with the older 911s, that the rear generated so much grip it in effect steerde the car rather than where the front wheels were pointing ;)

Oh sure, if you’re talking about the early aircooled ones. The modern 911 is extremely well balanced and has ridiculous grip levels.

The 4WD turbos are extremely difficult to get unstuck - you have to be going extremely fast, driving like a tool or deliberately doing both on the road to end up in a ditch. The 930 on the other hand...

On the 997 you have to be really confident that you know the road, conditions and the car very well to break traction, or be driving like a total idiot - they tend to understeer out of the box which is quite deliberate.
 
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Soldato
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Are there any cars that you can actually turn off the ABS system (outside of track oriented ones)? Traction control usually an option as if you get stuck turning it off can help. I can’t think of any benefits of turning off ABS.

ABS can sometimes be a problem on snow and sand I suppose.
 
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Soldato
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Surely thats where it comes into its own, provided that its a good ABS system, no?

There are certain situations where it will prevent you from coming to a halt. It happened to me once. The car just wouldn't come to a complete halt on some compacted snow. It would slow down to a slow walking pace, just not stop. I had to yank the handbrake :D
 
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Caporegime
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On the road....
There are certain situations where it will prevent you from coming to a halt. It happened to me once. The car just wouldn't come to a complete halt on some compacted snow. It would slow down to a slow walking pace, just not stop. I had to yank the handbrake :D
Absolutely - I’ve seen a few cars come to grief this way, especially on hills!

Having no ABS will actually help you stop on relatively deep fresh snow (not that the U.K. gets much nor would anyone be moving anyway we’re we to get some!) but only in a straight line and that’s pretty much the only scenario where for an average driver you’d be better without it, they don’t fit disable buttons for ABS for a reason.

Best policy is to find a deserted car park when there’s been a reasonable fall and find the ABS systems cut in points and then remember to drive within those parameters, most people simple don’t drive to the conditions and get in trouble no matter what the driver aids fitted...
 
Soldato
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I think I can manage it, the Silvia doesn't have a nanny in it, and the one in the Passat seems to be sleeping permanently as it does precious little to kerb the spinning and understeering.
Did quite like the VSC system on my old Lexus and Toyota, you could just drive without thinking about traction and it just stops all the one-tyre fire and sideways stuff quietly in the background.
 
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