Ophitioxaemia

sorry, i am an autocrosser and need to hang this out a lot further than these systems like.

going tomorrow to buy a car (i hope)

thanks,

james

Fab 8

Yes, hold down the DSC button for abt 5 seconds or so till a "car skidding" warning light comes on.

Ophitioxaemia

'car skidding',, yes, thats the way it should be =)

james

Haze

It is also possible to buy the car without DSC.

Ophitioxaemia

good point, but i still have to turn off the traction control, so its still something to remember. this is primarily going to be a street car, so im getting leather and all that crap, which means DSC.

i wonder if DSC is actually *more* dangerous if you have lots of race experience.

james

SpYnalChRd81

That's why I would get the car with no options whatsover
except maybe a moon roof since i like it so much
The DSC and TC are only good for weather conditions
and since L.A. and L.V. only sun and rain every so often
I don't really need the extra stuff
that also means the 2000 nav system
and Xenon headlights, fog lights, and spoiler can be done at a 3rd party for a cheaper price.

Ophitioxaemia

doesnt the leather only come with the GT package? the options sheet at edmunds makes it look that way.

james

Haze

If it weren't for the DSC, I would probably have gotten the leather as well, but even in a street car, I don't want fifty poindexters in a lab somewhere deciding whether or not I actually WANT to turn left.

Similarly, I spoke with a guy I know who has DSC in a Ford Explorer ( I know that this is extremely different than an 8), but he stopped at a stop sign near his house; looked both ways; turned right and ended up on the other side of the road because the DSC fought him through the entire turn. I'm glad not to have it. As for traction control, I would love to get that off as well as ABS brakes. I have had both of those systems in Mercedes's, Jaguars and Chevy's, and it was at best useless, but usually those systems were more of a problem than a help. Besides contant break downs, the effect has never been a positive. It's just more junk to sell people to raise the prices of the cars.

I know that I just sound like some kind of luddite, but I've driven alot of cars, and I've just never found these systems to accomplish what they were designed to do.

-H

rx8daniel

yes, packages are 'cumulative' - can't get moonroof without the touring package which includes the sports package, etc etc etc.

o_town_racer

FYI....if you press the DSC button once, DSC off....press it again, DSC on. If you hold the button down to turn off both DSC and TC, then you have to turn off the car to turn them back on, you can't turn them back on with the button.

As far as pluses/minuses....I've had TC on my Vette for the past 4 yrs and never regretted having it. The 2nd generation DSC on the Vette actually helps it get BETTER times around the track, not slower. A buddy of mine with a 2002 Z06 decided to take his DSC off while doing hot laps on a road course in Atlanta....he ended up taking out a chain link fence and needing quite a bit of body work.

While I'm not averse to having occasional fun with DSC and TC turned off, it's mainly to keep you from messing up your beautiful new $30,000 car by being a little too aggressive with all those wonderful ponies under the hood.

Be safe, have fun, keep the shiny side UP!

Ophitioxaemia

bought my car tonight. black on black. one touch turns DSC off and it could definitely feel it working just driving around.

james

rx8daniel

read the post right above yours. one touch turns DSC off, to a point. holding it in 5 secs totally disables it. But then you can't re-enable it without shutting the engine off. At the first level of 'off' you can press it and turn it back on...

you'll see the difference if : with it on you hit heavy throttle around a corner in the rain; then without it repeat; then even on dry pavement hit it hard on a turn with it fully disabled.

Ophitoxaemia

ok im confused again... whats the difference between "one touch off" and "press in off"?

does one just turn off DSC and the other both DSC and TC? easy enough to test, but not during the break in period

my other street/autocross car weighs 2100lbs with 360hp, so i have a very sensitive traction control and DSC system already wired in my head, hehe.

james

rx8daniel

one quick depression of the DSC button turns DSC off and on and off and on and will continue to do so back and forth with quick presses. But to turn it totally off you have to hold it in , depressed, for a full 5 seconds so that the yellow car with curved lines below it shows up on your dash display in the tachometer gauge. Once you have DSC and TC totally disabled in that manner, tire slip should be easy to invoke under 6000 so break-in isn't an issue - especially if you were to try it with less than 100% traction situations - like water or gravel - add making a turn to the situation you should get some oversteer from the rear kicking out a little - as you say - you should know how to gauge the feeling and the amount of throttle to accomplish that. The other thing is that once fully off the only way to turn DSC back on is to turn the ignition off - pressing the button at that point does nothing.

eccles

DSC and TCS work together; disabling one disables both. The difference between "soft off" and "disabled" is that when in "soft off" mode, the system will still re-engage under what Mazda calls "emergency conditions." This has been stated to mean that it will re-engage if and when you engage the ABS, but my testing at a wet practice autocross several weeks ago indicated otherwise.

Based on my personal experience there, I believe that "soft off" simply raises the thresholds at which the system will engage, to the point that it won't engage under normal driving conditions, but it may still interfere under autocross loads.

The ABS remains enabled at all times, BTW. There is no way to disable it short of pulling a fuse or something.

rx8daniel

eccles-I'd read your autox experience before - I agree - I was trying to explain it to our new owner here. It also helps ease my mind about how DSC could be disabled but TC still operating if it just raises or lowers the threshold of when it 'interferes'. Besides maybe slowing the car a bit to me the interference is 'user-friendly' and almost not noticeable - if you didn't know how power-on oversteer is supposed to happen. I really hit it coming out of our parking lot one day in the rain and had nearly zero tire slip with a 90 degree turn. But I think a simplified 'totally off' when you get the 2nd dash light illuminated is an easy layman's term to use to explain how the disable feature works.
In my experience some people don't fully understand how DSC works anyway - mostly limited to non-enthusiasts - but some think the DSC light 'on' means DSC is activated...

Ophitoxaemia

thanks for the clarification for 'soft' and 'hard' off.

james