Could/would you drive your car without driver aids

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

So with the "debate" in another thread about drivers aids etc it got me wondering

We have become very used to things like 300bhp FWD / RWD cars which are using quite a lot of technology to make them easy to drive with that amount of power

If the tech making this easy disappeared would you still drive what you do now

So the sorts of thing I mean, ABS, traction, active stability systems etc

I think I could do the TT, its not the most powerful, its got good balance, its got plenty of tyre for the power etc, its 100% Audi in that its pretty understeery so would naturally retard enthusiasm in eg the wet.
But make it a dark rainy night down country roads with mud etc, I think i would be cutting back a lot.

More than anything though i am thinking cars like Civic Type R, or things like M140i which to all intents are easy drives considering the performance. I cant imagine most of these cars would sell in anywhere near the numbers they do now without all the tech. I think a 140i would be a scary prospect on a wet dark country road to even drive remotely close to what you could do now.

Just curious what others think

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

You just have to be mindful that without things like ABS and TC you need to know where the car's limits are. Most people aren't, which is why we have them in the first place

Though it's not a good idea to drive quickly on public roads with no aids on tbh, especially in a sporty RWD car. I think most people who drive something moderately quick and RWD have had at least one poo-panty moment in the wet

We don't teach proper car control in the UK, we should. A lot of accidents in winter would be avoided if people were taught how to recover from a slide.

Yeah this is pretty much what I mean't.
There are oodles of 200bhp+ cars beig driven by people who are completely ignorant of what that really means.
Even a slightly off camber that today is insignificant could suddenly become tricky.

You only have to catch a few youtube videos of fast cars where people showing off mess it up and suddenly you would see the same.
People pulling out of a tight side street for example, today no issues, without the aids suddenly that flooring it trying to get into a gap and relying on the traction and stabilty to keep you pointing in the right direction isnt there. More likely to end up doing a donut than a left turn So not quickly driving, just driving that with an unfettered 200 or so + HP would end up with lost traction

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Thanks all, interesting views so far.

I am just old enough to have started out pretty much driver assist free, first go in a car was a V6 capri, and before I started official driving lessons I spent about 3-4 hours in my old mans Cav Sri on industrial estate car parks/feeder roads so, which also had no driver aids.
My first "performance car" was a Celica gen 2, and I used to munch tyres. It was way too easy to get loads of wheel spin with a 20 year old driving like a muppet. Decent (for the time) tyres like P600 used to last about 3-4000 miles doh.

So I do understand and get the benefit these things add, I don't really get however on the road why you would really want to remove that backup, ok yes if its genuinely getting in the way, but unless your really pushing it how often would they trigger.
I can think of the one time I triggered the DSC in one of my 2 minis, that was my fault, I was going too quickly round a fairly tight turn and it was close to freezing, so i was probably actually frozen on that corner. It kicked in straighten up and I thought phew that was close. Would I have caught it without the DSC, maybe, but it was active before I got the chance!

I think this is the issue for all newer drivers who haven't really had the experience of these older cars. Going back to my old e.g. vehicles. Things like high powered RWD cars were treated with some caution. I dont believe people now actually understand what sort of power they have a simple press of the accelerator away.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Hadn't considered before but could have interesting insurance connotations at some point.
I don't believe yet that anyone asks "do you turn off the inbuilt driver aids that are standard in this model" but you can imagine if it became a thing.
Punter : "yeah I turn off traction, stability, ABS, everything in fact"
Ins Co : "ok, thats an extra £500 a year please to cover the increased risk vs the assessed risk based on the systems being there and active"

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

295 rear section tyres provide so much grip in the 911 with the weight over the rear that it's pretty tricky to break traction unless you're provoking it! Even then you'd have to be really going some.

I fear the car would reverse straight into a ditch if I were to take off traction control. Even when setting off from a set of traffic lights, or in a Tesco carpark.

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