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Traction control & performance figures


vic
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Ive been told on numerous occasions by people that traction control slows down the car. So I was wondering if anybody had the answers to these questions:

1. Is it true?

2. by how much?

3. If so...are the listed specs of the car without the traction on?

I know that when i turn it off the car does feel sharper & more responsive but this could just be a phycalogical(you know what i mean!!!) thing!! :tumble:

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It's very difficult to get the IS to wheelspin off the line anyway, unless you want to fry the clutch, in my opinion. So on/off would made no difference I would think. But on powerful cars, it would mean sapping (too much) power to reduce wheelspin and, at least for the good drivers, a little bit of wheelspin is sometimes good for the trafic light race. This is because it keeps the revs up while propelling the car forward.

Of those figures you see in magazines or offical numbers, it would have been done without TC. Some companies are very optimistic when claiming (VW?), some are spot on (Lexus?), and some are very humble (porsche). But you will often find journalists taking TC off and trying to match/beat the official time.

In my opinion, in a powerful rear drive car, TC would mean that it would bog the car down (drop in revs) and since there is more traction on rear drive car off the line, it is not so neccsary. In a powerful front drive car though (Fiat Coupe Turbo), it can be useful as front drive are not that good at dealing with power.

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my traction control light seems to come on mainly when pulling out of side streets etc... but something ive really noticed is that if im driving along at about 50 -60mph & turn the traction off & then floor it I can really feel like the car is more responsive!! & if I turn it off...it feels like it being held back?? is this really just me?

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Traction control won't come into play unless you drive in snow or rain... on usual dry pavement it won't engage... it engaged several times on the rainy day when i tested the car... including one time in straight line... (2 other times in the TURN) it perfomed good on the straight line and actually kept car straigt... but when car is turning and slipping (i pushed car hard) it's useless i think... either way you will obviously FEEL THAT when your wheels speen and it's hard not to notice that YELLOW bulb coming on :lol:

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