TheCanadian

I've been looking at the market and it appears there is a nice jump from the AP2V1 --> AP2V2 (2006-7) cars.
I'm looking at dailying the car through all seasons, and I wouldn't mind the extra comfort of VSA. I'm also not a complete fool and have restraint when it comes to safe driving. I've had a NB miata for the part 3 years that hasn't given me any problems (no ABS either - although significantly less grunt than the S). The VSA in 2006+ cars isn't traction control correct - just stability assist?

What I'm trying to ask is: would VSA affect your decision if you had to do it all over again?

Emil St-Hilaire

TheCanadian

Maybe one day as a tow car

B serious

VSA uses brakes, and manages engine power to control:
-wheel spin/slip
-yaw (over/under steer mitigation)

Its not for comfort. It certainly adds a layer of safety, however.

VSA doesn't really matter or make/break a purchase for me. But since you can shut it all the way off, it doesn't really take away from anything either.

It seems like the VSA system is tied in to every damn thing on the car, however. So...if you're bad at maintaining cars, hopefully you're good at ignoring malfunction lights in the dash.

The 06+ cars are attractive to me because they have CAN BUS (re-flash able) ECU's.

lookstoomuch

While I've only been in the forums for 2 years, what I've gathered is nobody here would buy the 06+ just for VSA, they might however buy the 06+ cars for the flash-able ECU's as mentioned by B Serious.

Given your username guessing you're in Canada? If you drove an NB Miata for 3 years in the winter you can probably manage an S2K as well.

From my interpretation in my 06, VSA is more to keep you from crashing than it is to make your life comfortable.

Saki GT

I don't think VSA is a selling point for me, more of a 'you just get it' with 06+ cars, and i don't think I'd pay a premium in price for an AP2 with it vs a nice 04-05. All that said, if I had to replace my current S, I'd get the newest, nicest one I could find, as the car was gradually improved upon every 2 years or so.

TheCanadian

Thanks for the replies - insight is appreciated!

Also to clarify - I mean comfort as in peace of mind.

Chuck S

I'm very happy my '06 has VSA and it's saved my butt when accelerating hard and not paying attention during a turn that just happened to contain the exit to a car wash and the road was (I assume) slippery with soap. The anti-nanny guys can simply turn it off.

-- Chuck

rbtz

Looks like you're in an area where you will get snow, is this more of a question of "will VSA save my ass in bad weather"? If so VSA is useless in snow since it uses the brakes.

Car Analogy

I'm not ashamed to admit I did. My S is a 3 season dd, and I have an 80 mile/day commute. I knew there would be rainy days, late night and tired days, preoccupied days. Times where I might be driving more like the 90% of other commuters instead of my usual high situational aware self. Times where a momentary lapse in concentration on a less then ideal road condition with this highly reactive and tightly wound car might get me in trouble.

I made sure to get VSA for that once in a year situation, not because I might need it to save me from some lack of restraint or skill.

Its ideal, since a simple push of button disables it. Its hard to complain about something so easy to turn off (yet many here still do. Somehow its very presence seems to be an affront to their manhood or something. Or like it somehow makes the car less pure).

For me its a must have for what I use the car for.