Quote:
Originally Posted by 280z/300zx
I'm not talking only about spirited driving. I'm talking about when I'm driving at a regular speed on the freeway and there happens to be a bump in the road from uneven roads which causes the back end to come out a little and VDC to kick in. Not really complaining as I love the car but out of all the cars I've driven (all of which have been RWD sports cars aside from my WRX) this car seems more unsettled going over bumps at speed. Maybe when I switch tires later on down the line it will be better.
How is the Mustang compared to your old Z with traction? I know my girlfriends Camaro seems a lot more planted and the electronic nannys are much more forgiving as well as smoother with input. With the Z it seems like the VDC is either on or off where as the Camaro it seems that it slowly comes on and off so as not to surprise you. Also traction wise the car seems much better despite having more hp, torque, skinnier tires, and less traction rated tires. I'm sure the added weight of the car helps some though
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The Mustang has a better VDC system. Traction control and stability control are separated unlike the Z's VDC wher ethey are combined. You can turn SC off but leave TC on. You can turn TC off but leave SC on. You can also engage Sport Mode which allows for something like 10-15* of yaw before SC kicks in and it will actually will modulate the throttle a little bit sort of like launch control if you really start to spin the tires too much. But it doesn't cut power off immediately like the Z does... it will let you spin them if you get too aggressive!
As far as traction goes... with the summer tires I have pretty good traction but the tires are only 255 all the way around and with 400+ hp I think you need more tire. I can spin all the way through 1st, 2nd, and most of 3rd if I am just ******* around and don't make any effort to really control the car. I'll be upgrading to 275 Nitto NT05s or similar all the way around in the future and that should really help with traction.
Right now I'm on a 245 width Dunlop Wintersport M3 winter tire all the way around and the car will easily overpower those tires, so I have to be really careful.
I agree with you that the VDC system on the Mustang is smoother and overall less intrusive than the Z's. I find that I never turn it off unless I go to the drag strip. When I want to hit up the back roads I just switch on sport mode. It tightens up the steering which is very nice. Smooth when I'm just cruising on the street... aggressive when I really want to have some fun.