What is the exact function of VDC.

If i need more pickup and unlimited power do i need to turn off VDC -- will the car respond more even on a complete dry road.

Dealer says that i should turn off VDC when i want lot more power and it helps the car from slipping. However they said that for a RWD it is recommended to drive with VDC on for safety.

Thanks

 

Nice combination with the car. VDC is your traction control system, if your wheels slip or the car loses control, it will brake the needed wheels to either make them regain control or to straighten the car out if you are in a fish tail.

For the 6MT, you should turn it off if you are racing or taking turns aggressivley. But this car will spin the rear end out pretty easy, so it is usually good just to leave it on, unless you want to do donuts or something

 

Like nick said, its there to keep your vehicle in control in certain situations where you as the driver either applied too much power in a situation you can't control, or also for spinning wheels not getting the grip. Now even though we have the option to manually turn it off when we start the vehicle, it is never turned off. I drive with it off 95% of the time. In a few occasions it has come back on in instances where i go into a corner to strong or the tires start to spin, etc. Daddy is always watching even though we may think he is not. You will see the ligh go off when it comes on and your SLIP light come on. Just FYI.

 

Thanks guys

So far i have always driven with VDC on and is that why i dont feel the full power of the car -- i feel sometimes the car is sluggish in pick up although it has 3000 miles and not fully broken ( according to the dealer).

Do you guys really feel the difference with VDC off.

Is that a good idea to drive with VDC off on regular dry roads and turn it on when its raining or road conditions are bad

What would you advise

Thanks

 

Does anyone know how VDC plays with the AWD on the 35x? I'm curious. Seems that the AWD on my X prevents any slippage due to the traction switching from back to front and vice-versa.

Thanks,
George K.

 

I don't understand. You say the car feels sluggish? Are you dropping the clutch from a stand still, somehow causing the car to engage the VDC. Under normal conditions, you can get the full power of the car to the ground without slipping tires and the VDC will not engage. VDC simply applies the brakes to the neccessary wheels when slippage is detected. If you for instance are cruising 65 on freeway, want to pass, so you throw it into 3rd gear, and give it WOT, you are feeling the full power of the car. The VDC would have nothing to do with this.

 

I am pretty sure it works the same way. If you were driving in snow/ice at a low speed and the wheels keep slipping, the VDC would apply the brakes to the slipping wheel so that it can spin slower and hopefully or eventually gain traction.

 

It's confusing and if what I say is wrong, please correct me. Also, see page 5-24 in the 04 manual.

It says the VDC controls the brakes and engine output, at least under some circumstances. Aslo, if the VDC is off the ABS and the Active Brake Limited Slip (ABLS) still function, which may be what G35sedan03 experiences.

My experience in my X-- When it snowed I found a safe area and from a stop hit the throttle with VDC on. I slipped some, but went straight. With VDC off I began to fishtail and did not prolong the experience (big trees). Trying to start from a dead stop going up hill was much better with the VDC on.

I leave mine on.

 

Nickk6

What do you mean by dropping the clutch -- dont understand.

What i mean by sluggish is that i dont feel i am driving a 298hp car -- not very happy with the pickup.

Also as you rightly pointed that if i am driving at 65 and want to pass by shifting to 3rd gear, i did that and above 5500 rpm i dont see lot of power getting generated however i feel that 4th gear has lot more power than the 3rd -- which i am surprised as i thought that 3rd gear shud have the highest pickup in a manual transmission. Had posted a forum on this earlier.

Wht is ur experience been on the power as u also drive a manual. Dealer says to give it time till the first oil change as engine has not fully broken.

 

How many miles are on your car? Mine felt slow at first, but its really not slow, its just smooth with a loud engine, so you think its not going. I only realized how fast the car was after beating a few other quick cars.

 

Don't even begin to gauge the performance of your "G" until you have 10,000 -12,000 miles or more - it just begins to come alive after 10,000.

I drove mine easy for the first 5,000 or so, then became a little disillusioned and disappointed because it didn't seem there was that much more power than the 1/2 throttle or so I'd been using. After 10,000, it started running harder and smoother, and mine pulls hard all the way to redline now, in every gear (except 6th, where I've limited myself to 145 to this point - but it's still pulling hard at that point, too).

My $0.02

 

In my opinion VDC should be left on AT ALL TIMES except if you are a highly skilled driver who knows what power oversteer is and exactly how to handle it in a driving situation. This car has enough power to get you into trouble if you don't know what you are doing.

Listen, VDC does not take any power away from the engine unless there is significant wheelspin. If you drive the car skillfully you can get 99% of the car's straight line acceleration without provoking enough wheelspin to cause VDC to step in.

Leave it on.

 

^Well put, and I believe, correct.

 

Dudefish has a good point, just leave it on for the most part. Don't worry about turning if off everytime you get in the car-

However, the button is there for a reason. There are some tight backroads around these parts, where it is fairly easy to invoke VDC in turns. So you can be in the middle of an apex and VDC will come on because the yaw sensor says it should. At this point, there will also be a reduction in throttle responsivness and application, regardless of actual throttle pedal position.
However that being, it's a very decent system, and it's activation is rather gentle, unlike say the BMWs. And as Dudefish says, when you drive smooth, it's possible to drive pretty quick without the VDC coming on. You can take offramps at a pretty decent clip with little if any VDC flash. Tighter and harder turns with lot's of steering angle seem to be where the system activates.


This car is RWD, and will oversteer, particular with mid-apex sudden off throttle applications, which will lead to a spin if you let that happen. The same applies if you were to moose test the car, or what we call the emergency lane change. The rear end will get a tad light.
This should have been covered in Mustang 101


The key here is to understand how this car works. Even the G35x can be provoked into an oversteer condition. (That's why I like it) These cars are very controllable and given experience, very predictable. You have to know it's there.

The major positive of leaving the VDC on is as a reminder to chill out.

 

Beg to differ on the "99% of the car's straight line acceleration" figure, at least on stock tires. I, like Nick6, always encounter the "bog" in 2nd gear when I shift WOT from 1st to 2nd - it's like getting hit in the chest with a sack of potatoes, the throttle just shuts down for about 1+ full second, then it comes back like gangbusters, but too late for whatever reason you were on it in the first place. It can be ****** dangerous (and scary) when you encounter a situation where you need full acceleration capability, and the computer "decides" you don't need any throttle after all, despite the fact that your Loud Pedal is fully depressed !

Overall, there is no doubt that VDC is a good thing and keeps most of us out of trouble (maybe saving our cars from ourselves, in some cases), but the straight line acceleration thing I don't understand. With VDC off, I get anything from a slight chirp and fishtail squirm when I hit 2nd at WOT, all the way to a back end "jump" sideways of a few inches (just like the old muscle cars) and with VDC on, I've gotta short shift it (at 5,000-5,500 RPM) to keep the VDC "nanny" from taking over.

Last night, after reading this post, I drove around a little with VDC off, and this car is definitely very easy to get the back end to step out and rotate on you, but just as easy to cross up full throttle and get straight again (if you're in the correct gear) - it's all very dramatic, I must say, and will probably result in disaster sooner or later, for a novice like me.

So yeah, leave it on, unless you need full acceleration in a straight line, then, ........