This. ^^^

Echo that, here. Just enjoy peacefully and safely cruising in my beautiful car.

My dad used to have a 280z. So he loves to drive my car.
First time he hopped it, he asked " where's the button to turn the traction control off. "

I only really turn it off when my driving is 'spirited'. Otherwise I just leave it on, cause I dont pay it any mind.

Just turned off VDC on the drive home....man its FUN! :tup::driving:

I almost drive exclusively with it off now (in nice socal weather) unless its raining or something. The problem is it kicks in a bit too much with hankook tires. I didn't start doing this until after I drove on the track and had a lot better of the limit of my car.

:iagree: ,im gonna take it off when I go to the drag strip sat. :tup::driving:

I find I turn it off in the Z a LOT more than I do in the G. I drive the two cars differently though. The G the VDC is on most of the time and in the Z it's off most of the time except during rain etc.

I put over 250,000 miles on my 280Z so I'm with your dad and reckon about the same age. On my first drive home in my 370Z, there is a climbing hairpin turn, I set off the traction control, not knowing it could be turned off yet, and thought I'd just wasted my money. Thanks to goodness VDC off exists. This is the spot where I always make sure it is off, even in the rain.

I always turn mine off (when I remember). Wish there was a way to have the default set to off with the option to turn it on.

Agreed

Like most, it's on for me most of the time. I turn it off when it annoys me.

you all made me want to do a donut!! BRB :)

Sounds like your close to my dad too =P My dad bought a '78 280Z in 1981. I wanna say it had like 60k miles on it. He drove it until it had about 180k. I then drove it from 180-230k or so as it was my first car for the most part (at this point he had a 350z).

It definitely did spark my interest in Z's =)

Here is a picture of it. It could definitely use a paint job:

http://houkouonchi.net/280z.png

I tried an experiment once. Turned off the VDC then floored it while turning left at a stop sign. Car drifted hard, did a 180 and almost ran into a telephone pole. Needless to say, lesson learned lol...

do the same thing whenever i get the chance to do so and it is safe to do so, i learned really quick that you need to turn into the drift and apply throttle at the same time, works everytime and puts a big grin on my face everytime :D

Mine was oxidized silver and I had the 300 instead of the 350. I like your Z past, may it continue. I did repaint it later in life. It looked sharp.




This is my own repost from elsewhere :

Yesterday was close to 100 degrees. At 6AM it was 76*. So driving home at four in the after noon the fog starts to roll in. By the time I get home the roads are wet and some people have their wipers on. As usual a Mustang is holding up traffic, A Lexus 330, me, a Subaru Forester, and finally a Ford 150 or similar 80's truck.

The 330 and took the other direction and in the final mile home, I was alone. I really like the new Michelins. I turned the VDC on, as it was wet and set the light off at one point. May have saved me and might be the usual flash when its off. But I do not recall it going off in this particular place.

You can do a 180 while flooring the throttle and turning the wheel from a stop with just about any car.

The 370Z is NOT a difficult car to drive. Don't use the throttle like an ON/OFF switch and you will be fine.

High horsepower, rear wheel drive cars have been around A LOT longer than any form of traction control has....it's the skill set to handle a car set up that way that has steadily been eroded by the advent of modern "driver aids."

I prefer to keep them off as much as possible....particularly in this car where the VDC essentially acts like a throttle "kill switch."

I've never driven with it off and voted accordingly, but this thread caught my curiosity. It happened to have rained yesterday when I was leaving work around 6:45. Needless to say, the parking lot was mostly empty and the ground slick (it had stopped raining). I turned VDC off and floored it. AWESOME!! Did it again and went a little sideways so I let up. Pretty neat!


I came back to work today, and noticed two sets of parallel rubber lines. Ooops! I didn't expect that with the wet asphalt. :ughdance:

First thing I do when I fire up the car is turn OFF the VDC. Half the time it's more dangerous than is it beneficial because it stops the damn car when you're trying to pull quickly into traffic.

Having it off definitely helps on the 1/4 mile track

:iagree:

Mine's only on when it rains.

I have done this as well just merging on to the freeway... with VDC ON. :driving:

With vdc off, the Z feels almost Live axle dangerous, and I love it. When vdc goes back on, it's really predictable and well behaved, yet, tires will still spin, Your tail can still break loose in the corners etc. Just if you do not perfectly apply throttle and hit it too early or too late in the turn, you will feel the vdc seriously cut power to a highly annoying level.

I just got my Z...Is this why I think it's sluggish for a 320HP car?

The unadulterated bottom line: the better you learn to drive, the more you should leave it off. VDC doesn't exist because the car is unstable, it exists because most drivers suck at driving cars. However even VDC can't defy the laws of physics. If you refuse to learn to drive the car and rely on VDC to save you, eventually you'll put yourself in a situation where it can't (if you're pushing the car at all).

preach on brotha! :)

I have found that my Nismo stock Yokohama tires the VDC would activate normally I Could feel the limitation of the sucky stock tires. With my new ADVAN Neovas Yokohama my tires are not breaking loose or even close to it and my VDC is nagging me. Almost like it was trained if you hit a corner at such and angle it cuts the power. VDC off no problems car corners like its on rails no better than that a mag lev.

Also when I launch VDC sucks have to kill that to even get a good launch it starts nagging as soon as you hit the gas. Off and it launches perfectly and no wheel spin. I am wondering if there is an adjustment for this nagging there has to be. I am surprised we don't have different sport modes. Sport, race, ice... That way we could still have a little VDC, with out disabling it entirely.

:tiphat:Look at the poll result, people don't care about not knowing how to drive

(I should add, since my last post was kind of ***-hole-ish: I had no idea how bad I sucked at driving cars until I started getting instruction at a track, and I still have a lot to learn myself. Knowing what you don't know is half the battle. Find an HPDE weekend near you and get out there and learn!)

I leave mine on ... ever since that $19K+ repair bill. Knocked the right front wheel slam off of the car when I sideswiped a tree after losing control. ;)
Yeah. I know. A better driver could have handled it.

If you already feel this way I would highly recommend being proactive and taking a look at the 5.0 or anything with a turbo.

Do you go to the autcross here in Houston?

I did auto-x a couple times w/ the BMW-CCA, that was a while back now. Just haven't had time on the right weekends to squeeze one in between the $job, travel, HPDE weekends, and car maintenance stuff. Hopefully this next year I can do a few more. Frankly I enjoy the HPDE track stuff more than auto-x, but I would like to get back into hitting those. Good for working on traction skills, etc. Still, nothing beats hitting triple digits on long straights and then braking down into a tight hairpin and trying to get back out the other side without losing any more momentum than you have to :)

I feel this way coming from a Z32 with 100 less HP

Do what you want, drive with what you want on, Just remember its your own responsibility. They Put VDC system for a reason. But everyone has there own ways. Do what feels more comfortable. The Z can bite you in thr A%## if you dont know how it rides or how to control it when it slips. Take yourself to a parking lot and rip it get a feel for it know how your car responses.

unless im driving over an icy bridge, very cold temps where my summers dont grip well, or black ice or something where i can use the computer's aid, VDC is turned off for me.

I habitually turn it off as soon as I start the car; my driving intentions are thwarted by VDC far too often when left on. I like to turn it on when I'm driving highway speeds in the rain.

My vdc jerks the car pretty bad when you are making a right hand turn hitting the gas going from 1-2nd. I used to be very careful and always have it on and now I feel like it's more of a liability because I know how to drive a car with some power. I Keep it on when the roads are wet tho (dont ever engage it by driving fast though).

Tl;Dr. : My vdc might kill me because of the jerks while engaging while turning. I turn it off now :driving: