A'men brother, my thoughts to the tee! CDVs gotta go, VSA stays!... Unless I want to turn it off!

 

I can do without both. DBW doesn't give me that feel that I get as the TB opens more and gives me more resistance.

VSA is for people who probably shouldn't be driving any RWD sports car.

 

that is true about tb resistance due to the spring @ the throttle body. Never thought about that.

I wonder how much people bitched about the swap over to fuel injection from carbs? Maybe DBW is the future and cables will be on the outs like VHS.

 

DBW is definitely the future. I just hope that electronic actuated brakes aren't the future. There needs to be feel and feedback.

 

Right. I'll bet you $100 that, blindfolded, you could not tell the difference between DBW and non-DBW behind the wheel. Did you know that DBW also gives resistance at the pedal that mimics a throttle opening?

And let's face it, there are always going to be doofuses with such an enflated driving ego and sense of over-confidence behind the wheel that they think they would never need driving aids such as VSA and ABS. They will go on to justify this by quoting one-in-a-million scenarios where said driving aid would be a hindrance rather than a help.

But the fact remains that in 99.99% of street driving, ABS and VSA are important safety nets that can do things even great drivers cannot, and will more than likely save your ass when the unexpected happens or something goes wrong.

Your statement that "VSA is for people who probably shouldn't be driving any RWD sports car" is beyond absurd. It's nice that you think you are such a great driver, but even Schumachers-in-waiting like yourself cannot brake one wheel at a time.

Let's say you are on a twisty back road, come around a blind corner and hit a patch of sand that sends the back end of the car wide. Counter-steering alone can't save the spin, but (wait for it) braking the outside front wheel only can. Can you do that without VSA? No? ZOMG U SHULD NOT BE DRIVING ANY RWD SPORTS CAR!!!

No one on this board can threshold brake 100% of the time on the street, and no one in the world can brake one wheel at a time to save a spin. That is why driving aids like ABS and VSA exist. For the 0.01% of scenarios where these would be a hindrance (most of them being at the track), they can be defeated ahead of time.

 

The Honda DBW is pretty good. I don't think many people could tell the difference. But I think if compared back to back, you'd be able to tell. Our RS4 is DBW and I haven't heard any complaints on any of the reviews... but I can definitely tell the difference.

As for the "VSA is for sissies" zealots... that's just silly talk for road-driven cars. Maybe if you were on a closed track with consistent road conditions... but I'd be amused to see what would happen if I went to an F1 race and threw a little oil onto one of the turns.

Would you say the F1 drivers "don't know how to drive a RWD car?"

You can't predict what will happen on the street. Or what patch of gravel or dirt that lurks up ahead. So if you drive your RWD on the street, traction control is a nice safety net.

By the same logic, airbags are for sissies too, right?

 

Go back on your meds.

 

if so, it's because honda didn't do a good enough job.

they have to use a spring at the back of the accel pedal, so they should match that spring (or set of springs) stiffness/pedal travel ratio equal to a throttle cable. that keeps the driver comfortable, and its the only goal.

that's what we do for fly-by-wire in helicopters: we make it feel the same to keep the driver comfortable--though in truth you could use an xbox controller instead of a pedal for a full dbw car.

 

I have a DBW IS300 and my S2000 is wired. There's a clear difference between those two (not in reaction speeds because there's no difference there but feel is different). When I drove an 06 S2000 and before I knew it was DBW it felt a little odd to me.

For you guys comparing F1 cars to the S2000's VSA system....ya I don't even need to keep writing to know where that is going. My IS' traction control system is so conservative it is just flat out annoying and there is no way anyone would use it on the track. I don't know first hand if the VSA on the S is as bad but I'd guess it's still fairly high on the conservative side.

But anyways, VSA is a nice addition that is welcome but 99.98% of the time the only reason it is turning on is because you're doing something you are not suppose to be doing in the first place on the roads. Of course I guess those few rare instances are what means life and death.

 

The VSA is only useful for puttering around on the street.

If you feel like you need the VSA to safely do a canyon run or a track day then you need to up your driving skills.