hehe i'm not as lucky as you syn, i was leaving the movie theather and makeing a left turn, i can normally do at ~30, but since it had just rained i was going 20ish. Got halfway around the turn started to feel the back end coming out (was off the throttle) and tried to recover but was too late ended up doing a 180 and hitting a curb with my left front wheel but luckly i was only going about 5 mph and the curbs are rounded so i just kinda rolled up it. No dmg at all the rim, tire or front spoiler, just a little out of lined. I was very lucky this was at 2am and no other cars were on the road, learned to keep the DSC on when raining :p, unless its in an empty parking lot hehe.

I guess by now, you've gone to this thread ,but it's the other side of the coin and very fitting here to compare. Yeah, it's very much like seat belts. You just never know when you need it, and when you do, it better be on beforehand.

I'll take it easy. All this talk about DSC and Traction Control has got me a bit worried, as I have neither!

I am sort of regretting not getting that package when I ordered, but hopefully, I'll gradually get used to the handling characteristics without it. So far, the handling seems pretty predictable.

When I got my black 6spd, i made sure that it didn't come with the optional DSC, only because I heard that even if it is shut off from inside the car it never fully disengages. This is only what I heard, please give me your opinions.

DSC is quite unobtrusive on the RX-8. When you turn DSC off by pushing the button once, you really have to be in a bad way for it to intervene.

The DSC feature & its workings is just another testament to the engineering that went into our rides.

No DSC for me. I guess i just have to learn my cars limits then. How fun...

Whatever "performance" gain you think you're getting by turning the DSC off, keep in mind during normal driving you're not the only one on the road. Mazda has done a superb job of incorporating the DSC system and it's very unobtrusive when in operation. However when it's needed, it can be a life-saver; it saved mine and my wife's on Christmas Eve.

Any experienced driver can probably do without it on the track, or in a competitive situation that's controlled. However it's the unexpected total idiot on the road that you can't predict that's going to "get" you; your skill notwithstanding. The DSC system is there for the unexpected; leave it on during normal driving. The performance gain isn't worth the risk of your life or your car.