Good job Infiniti. VDC should allow SOME slippage, especially when you're not moving...

 

LOL

That VDC pisses me off most of the time (can't have any fun). I need to remember to turn it off.

 

Yeah, VDC off FTW in deep snow until you get her rolling.

 

If these cars actually had decent diffs from factory, most of us I'm sure would be just fine without it.

 

I dun drive the G in winter but i hate da vdc in winter especially on my tsx the other day im trying to get going @ the lights and its just terrible !

 

With VDC off, this car is a handful (the x was worse) - the slide handling tends to snap oversteer on ice and snow rather than a controllable slide. With VDC on, it allows NO fun whatsoever.

I drove RWD cars for years (various BMWs inter alia, nothing with traction control) before switching to Infiniti but none of them were such a handful. Trouble is I keep forgetting to turn the VDC off when starting out. The other day I stalled from cold (-20C) and it was a bee-atch to re-start since it flooded... Oh wellz.

 

I just recently learned about the sudden snap oversteer TRYING to drive on the freeway with only about a couple of inches snow on the ground with summer tires.

FAIL.

Any blip of the throttle send the rear out. Not to mention, I was going down a steep incline, 2nd gear, and about to crap bricks with semi's behind me. I got real acquainted with Mr. ABS.

Yes, it snows in SoCal.

 

well if you are stuck in snow or mud you are suppose to turn it off.

Its in the manual you know

 

One tends to forget... And who reads the manual anyway?

 

I have noticed over the years the VDC allows less and less slip. My wifes Altima SE-R has a decent amount of slip and you can drive with the VDC on in most cases. My new 2010 Titan however pretty much stops as soon as it detects slip making it brutal to get moving unless I am in 4X4 I have had a few close calls where I pull out on the hiway and try to get going only to have the VDC stop me in my tracks it is a little unnerving with a semi getting larger and larger in the rear view and the truck just sitting there not moving

 

The VDC on my coupe is like a dead weight that just stops you dead in your tracks and gives you no momentum forward. The wife's X sedan however is a ton of fun! while the systems are similar (07 for the x and 08 for my coupe) they certainly react differently.

 

Mine used to **** me off so bad trying to get up spiral parking ramps to my parkade. A little snow and it wouldn't move with VDC on, would slide out toward the walls with it off. I finally found an alternate entrance that was covered.

 

Not so bad with an auto (although the pulling into traffic was also a problem in the x IIRC) since it doesn't stall the engine.

I guess I understand they need to make the VDC suitable for the whining herd, but really - couldn't they have a two stage version that allows some slip? Or would that fly in the face of a 'prestige' brand?? Doesn't seem to bother the guys at BMW and Porsche though...

 

They use a great rear diff actually.

It's the electronic VDC that is the problem.

 

I'm yet to drive in REALLY deep snow so perhaps I haven't experienced the worst of it. But in the GTA, I'm quite satisfied with how the car is.

Most times the VDC kicks in cause of my own fault (getting impatient with the need to be gradual in first and 2nd).