One of the very few imperfections I have found with the S2000 since buying it in August has been in the area of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness), where this car is about the worst I have encountered. The engine seems very rough, vibrating and buzzy

 

I've never driven an S2000 with VSA, but in my experience with other cars (BMW and Porsche mostly), there is no problem turning the stability control on/off on the fly. However, you should read your owner's manual for the definitive answer.

I strongly suspect that what you are experiencing is the placebo effect, but without some sort of objective measurement it's hard to know for sure.

 

Odd, I would have to say that from what I hear (don't have the VSA myself) that it is not intrusive at all. The only time it comes in to play is during rather agressive driving. Now, it seems to me that since you have taken off your OEM tires and are driving either on snows or at least all season tires, that you would notice a difference in NVH. I wouldn't think that VSA would come in to play.

Now, if you were driving on the factory tires in cold weather or especially in cold and wet or God forbid, any snow or sleet -- then the VSA would be intervening constantly.

What are you using for winter tires? What are pressures set at? Checked since it got really cold?

 

I don't think it'll interfere that much.
Honestly, I mostly drive my S with the VSA on, so I can't comment how it feels different.
I'll try it on my way home tonight, though.

Dan

 

I know on the Accord with me driving the VSA causes things like premature brake wear amung other things. Why do you need VSA on the S?

 

Fair enough, and that has occurred to me.

Additional data point: Car is still on OEM tires.

 

I can't imagine that the VSA would cause what you are describing. It doesn't do anything to my knowledge unless it is activated by wheel slip or excessive yaw. It sounds like you'll be fine w/ just turning it off everyime though b/c if you're getting 25mpg you're not driving it hard enough to get it out of shape. For the life of me I can't get above 20 unless I've done a bit of highway driving.

 

I don't know why people complain about the VSA. I wish I had it. I would have bought MY06 if I had known about it earlier. It's scary to drive this car in the rain or when it's cold out.

Jason

 

(buy an aftermarket traction control unit... Racelogic FTMFW)

To the OP, if you're driving around in super cold weather on summer tires... yes, the VSA might be that active.

You probably don't want to turn it off though.

If you're on snow tires or if your "super cold weather" is 50 degrees, then take that advice with the appropriately sized grain of salt.

 

While most will agree that the S2000 is not a quiet car, I've found it to be one of the smoothest four-cylinder cars I've ever driven. My impression of my '06 is that it revs smoothly and eagerly all the way to redline. I wonder if something is not right with your car... then again, it all depends on what you are comparing it to. You may well be used to cars with smoother engines.

And in my experience, the VSA is very unintrusive, coming on only after I've exceeded quite a bit of yaw, or when I've fed too much throttle too soon on corner exits. In the beginning, I would turn VSA off every time I started the engine. These days I just leave it on. It really doesn't come on very often.