My Ideal car...

I'm not a fan of ABS. Mine used to be easily unsettled over rough surfaces, and I felt the brakes lacked feel. I've gone from having it to not, I personally I feel more in control, even when you enter a skid, i dont find it hard to adjust the braking accordingly. Also I believe that it makes *some* people more wreckless.

I used to have my £12k Skoda vRS on a 5 year deal, and I got rid of that and instead bought a £1k Golf GTI so i could afford to move out. Theres no way I'd ever buy a car I couldn't "afford" ever again...

Ironically, the £1k Golf is so much more fun to drive than the £12k vRS its just not funny.

 

ABS already saved me from writing off my car once (See here). It's now mandatory in all new cars in the EU that sell over 500 units per year (which is how TVR can get away without it still).

When I was looking to buy my car I looked at the focus estate. What put me off it was that it cost as much to buy as my galant, had drum brakes on the rear and no ABS (unless a rare option pack was specified) and didn't have anything like the spec level of the mitsubishi, and I believe would not have had the same level of long-term, high-mileage reliability.

 

I agree, my focus (four years old) has most things you could want except for ABS. I also have rear drums, some have discs. There are a couple of times when i really could have done with ABS, certainly when i slid following the camnber of a road, into a wall in some ice doing less than 10mph! I wish I had it fitted.

And who remebers to pump the brake in an emergency situation?

It certainly deserves to be mandatory.

 

Those who've been taught to do it!!!
I think it's a shame that drivers rely on technology to do their driving for them, rather than being taught how to use the vehicle, especially in dangerous conditions..
How many driving instructors show you how to control a skid?
That's what should be mandatory, along with motorway drving!

 

How many driving instructors are actually capable of controling a skid themselves?? Ive been behind plenty of instructors who are driving and they're poor. I dont know what it takes to become an instructor but I guess its not difficult these days, and Im not tarring them all no doubt there are some very skilled instructors.

We should have a 2-tier system similar to bikes. Initially it should be limited to what you can drive and where you can drive, after a period you have to take a 2nd test to be able to drive on m-ways, bigger cars etc. Never happen though.

 

Abs is for cadence breaking and is better at it than me and I am also glad I have it on my car! But if you can avoid it taking over in a streight line you will stop in a shorter distance.

ABS will increase stopping distance on snow! Not sure of its performance on ice?

Porsche really are the performance car you can use everyday, I'm not in the 996/997 league but if I were I would have a 996 over the 7.

The V8 Vanquish will be awsome, but its getting more expenciveby the hour, originally it was 60-65 now its up at 80-85 and by the time you've added the essentials its going to be 90-95 by which time you could have a 911 GT3RS or 911 turbo and they are what it should be compared to not the entry level c2 thats 15k less!

The Cayman will be fabulous, especially if the rumoured RS version ever happens! The mid engine layout with the stiffer (over a boxster) coupe shape WILL outperform the 997 if they dare give it the power.

 

I've been taught both how to do cadence braking and how to control a skid but I still doubt that I'd manage to do proper cadence braking in the heat of the moment. I'm very glad I have ABS.

Skid control OTOH is a bit different. First of all it's a much more natural response and secondly, you can get a lot more practice at it so it becomes 2nd nature. I therefore think that traction control (DSC+T, ESP etc. etc.) is OK as long as you can turn it off when you want to have some fun

Michael.

 

car control is all fine and dandy on a track, its that one split second that a little kids legs it into the road that counts. Then you need all the help you can get.

 

:ffrc: The one thing you can always predict is that whatever improvements are made to the 911 you can be certain that people will not like it as much as the previous generation.

Remember what people said about the 996 when it was launched? (although it was rather different to the 993)

Im not disagreeing that many of the older models may be better, but it always brings a smile to my face.

 

Better training in that situation is more help than all the gadgets in the world. See here...
http://www.roada.org.uk/

 

I can comment on this. On very bad ice I found ABS to be absolutely no use at all. If I hadn't known how to cadence brake, I'd have burried my S13 into an Audi a few years ago during a really cold spell.

 

Makes me laugh too, I can't beleive the air cooled brigade are still batting on while having lower performance than boxsters, oh and they say they arent real porsches the 924/928 had a cold reception coz the engine was in the wrong place etc. etc...

 

Me, and anyone else who knows how to drive without the help of who knows how many onboard computers....

In 10 years time, we'll have people saying "who remembers to ease off the gas when you wheelspin?", due to the traction control that will no doubt become mandatory in coming years...

 

No, not really because, like with turning into a skid, it's pretty much the instinctive thing to do whereas cadence braking in an emergency is not. The instinctive thing to do is to press the pedal as hard as you can!

To do be able to react counter to your instincts in an emergency requires a lot of practise.

Michael.

 

Ease being the operative word...
As a biker who's highsided due to shutting off the gas too suddenly I know this only too well..
And as for ABS, I learned to drive in cars which barely even had electrics, never mind on board computers, so cadence braking became 2nd nature. But it does take a lot of practice - you don't have time to learn when you're headed for a tree!
Now I've got ABS and traction control - I turn them both off if the going gets at all slippery..

 

What car can you turn ABS off in?

 

You can't - but i find that if you cadence brake anyway in snow or heavy mud it stops much quicker than just pressing the pedal hard and hoping the 'puter does the work!

 

Rob, I recommend advanced driving to everyone even if they dont take the test, I found it extremely advantage.

 

Aye, and even better would be a compulsory,say, 2 months on a bicycle, then mosickle before driving a car!

 

limit braking as much as possible in ice and snow.