I only turn it off if I know I am REALLY gonna take the twisties hard. With my 18s, VDC really doesn't affect the car in the dry. The tires have way more grip than the OEM Goodyears. Other than that, it is always on.

 

Always, except when it is raining.

 

If conditions are good; VDC = OFF
If conditions anything else; VDC = ON

With VDC on, I especially hate the throttle cut off when excellerating
hard out of a turn
I grew up on RWD so I'm pretty comfortable about feeling the
limits of the car.

Also;
Another bonus for VDC off is longer brake life & less dust.
(this from an Infiniti tech)

Just remember play safe!
If you want to play with VDC off; get to know the limits of your car first.
Go play in an empty parking lot somewhere.

 

3x turned off and 3x almost totaled. Slipping around is fun, but a wrecked car sucks.

My theory is that an F16 needs computers to help it fly. A G35 needs computers to help it stay on the road. I doubt even the most experienced driver can keep a G under control.

I know from experience that every time I turned it off, I became a passenger.

 

If you have almost wrecked your car everytime you have had the VDC off, you should have not turned it on a second time. It's probably better you leave it on.

 

OK, I just wasted a half tank of gas the last 2 days driving with the VDC on and off.

I have 1 question. WTF are you guys doing that makes the VDC need to save your hide?

With VDC on, I only had it kick in once, taking a hard right with gravel on the intersection.

With VDC off, the only difference I noticed was I TRIED to drive stupid and only succeeded in wasting gas. If anything, my G understeered a little.

Learn to drive smoothly into and out of turns(learn how to take a proper line too!!!), and the VDC should NEVER have to kick in.

Of course, I gots the x which means 5AT. The RWD 6MT is probably completely different.

 

If you have an X, it is probably a lot easier to control. The 6mt gets sideways pretty easy if you have the vdc off and give it some juice in a hard turn.

 

To answer the question "how do you know when the VDC kicks in..."

1) SLIP light comes on, but I hardly even notice this due to concentration on the road
2) You can feel it in the way the car performs. I haven't ridden much with the VDC off, because I feel in everyday driving it's better to be safe than sorry if you hit some gravel, oil, water, etc. However, you can get a feel for how the VDC works with a little experimental driving in a closed area, like on a parking lot or deserted street with a smooth, sharp, wide-laned corner. From a slow speed, but faster than you would normally take a turn, enter the turn and give the car some gas as you hit the turn. You'll feel that the car will have a tendency to slide out in the back, i.e. drift. However, with the VDC on, the car will feel like someone intermittenly applied the breaks, and the gas/power that you expect to go to the wheels just won't be there.

I've had a lot of experience riding 3-wheeled ATVs, which require aggressive steering by letting the backend slide out in order to make sharp turns (you have to do this, otherwise they'll flip over). With the VDC on, you just can't do that. On the track, a good driver will try to exit turns with the back just barely sliding out. It helps the driver to make a quicker turn at the end, and also to exit the turn with power and speed.

A previous poster was talking about doing slideout u-turns, which I've tried using my friendly neighborhood Infiniti dealer's loaner. It's pretty cool, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're on a very smooth surface with lots of space and no other cars around. If you hit a bump while sliding, I'm guessing that you'd really mess up the axles.

 

VDC saved my behind today. Wet road...off ramp with a sharp corner at the end...a little too much speed on my part (my bad) and the car starts to loose it big time. The VDC kicks in and saves my butt and my G35 remains intact.

Never turn off your VDC if the roads aren't bone dry!