I test drove an 05 and an 06 when I was looking for my S2K and there is no difference at all. No delay what-so-ever. And why would anyone want to turn off the VSA on public roads. I don't care how good you think you are as a driver, this car is notorious for Snap Oversteer and that's something you don't want happening with other cars around.

Even for the VSA to kick in, you really have to be pushing the car to it's limits... it won't just kick in with a fairly hard turn. As far as how often it's saved my a$$, just check out my sig... VVVVVV.

Turn it off though and your launches are much better... way way better. I shaved 0.3 sec from my 60' time from turning it off.

Best feature on this car, IMO.

Andre

 

no delay for me. heel-toe and rev matching are a breeze to do. and VSA can be turned off with a push of a button so I really dont see what all the fuss is about.

 

have any of you guys had the snap oversteer with the vsa on the 06's? I wonder if it has almost completely elliminated it.

 

I have no experience on DBW on the S, but my STI had it, and in my opinion it was not really a big difference compared to my regular WRX. I think if any it felt like it was a little more responsive to me.

 

VSA = only thing that would wanna make me trade my 05 for a 06/07 but I'm not going to. Not having it makes me a more proactive/safer driver

VSA = only thing I regret not having on the car sometimes because I saw the back of it coming around 3 times in the snow and heavy rain on slippery roads with leaves on it pushing it beyond the limits in the first months I owned the car. But I was searching it and was waiting for the limit to come

VSA = added security in bad/overexcited sircumstances, even though the margins are very far and you really have to swap the weight of the car from the front to the end or vice versa in corners by breaking or VTEC'ing to trigger the oversteer.

 

You sure you were driving an s2k?

 

VSA = OFF is part of the start ritual here. I've gotten used to it. I am an experienced driver so I don't need something that thinks that it's smarter than me to tell me what to do. I may even look into getting it to default to OFF by itself when I start the car.

I also like to powerslide around corners every once in a while just for kicks

I was very skeptical of the DBW but it has not been in the way at all. The processor has a very high sensitivity and resolution so I'm almost wanting to say it's better than the cable. I have yet to take it all out on the track but it should be all right.

 

In order for the VSA to kick in you have to be beyond the limits of the car. I had it kick in one time while entering an on ramp way hotter than I should have. The rear end kicked around about 10 degrees before VSA kicked in to save my a$$. It was when I first got the car and I was intentially driving like an idot to search for limits and how the VSA kicks in.

I AutoX a lot and also participate in DE events. Even under very aggressive and spirited driving, the VSA never kicks in as long as you are in control of the car. I've successfully have had to countersteer in sharp switch backs without VSA kicking in.

I've even keep the VSA on for all of my first runs for AutoX and rarely will it kick in. Last weekend in 3 runs VSA never kicked in. However, the throttle response is not as sharp, nor is throttle steering with VSA turned on. On AutoX I routinely turn it off after the first run.

My Audi ESP system is far more intrusive than the Honda system.

 

There is always going to be the "purest" argument that improvement is not really improvement at all. Look at hunters that still use crossbows vs. the hunter with the modern and high power scoped rifle. Isn't the Morgan still in limited production?
The stealth fighter wouldn't fly at all if it didn't have FBW (fly by wire).
As these technologys continue to improve and update, owners of less than the "latest" are going to bemoan the bygone era when cars were really cars.

 

Coming from a VW/Audi product with DBW, I have to say that Honda's system on the S2000 is significantly better. There is very little low throttle input jerkiness (on/off switch effect), and I find that it is very easy to modulate small inputs.

I think this is just something everyone is going to have deal with as it seems to be the way to go for automakers' emissions control.