This is the Best Thing you can do to a Tuned GTI / Edition 30 !!!

[gobbleplease]

well ive had 3 MK5s now and managed a track day in the first one with the ESP off and thought this is a seriously good car, but i put it down to the car being driven on track and having the space to push it a bit. Anyway my next edition 30 i had for about 8 months, i then took it to stage 2+ kept it for a couple of weeks then got an offer i couldnt refuse so i sold it. One year later i puchased my next edition 30 (current one) which i have had for roughly 8 months and its pretty good but tbh ive been a little unimpressed with the performance, so yesterday i decided to go out for a little drive up the callander to aberfoyle road (which is a pretty impressive drivers road) for a nice wee drive. I done a section of the road and the car was ok, but again i wasnt really impressed. It was holding back and didnt really float my boat, so i decided to reach over and switch off the ESP - again i didnt expect much really but FFS this is the best thing id ever done to the car, instead of killing power at every hurdle the car surged forward at every corner at twice the speed as my previous attempts the car seemed to roll in the corners completly differant and had more grip for some reason, i really had no idea the ESP was so intrusive in the eddy that why id never really switched it off that often, This is without a doubt the best thing ive done to the car..........really really flabergasted at the differance this made !

now when ever i start up the car the first button ill press is ESP off, wheather im driving to work or taking the little one swimming. I really had no idea how much of a differance this made to the car its like driving something completly differant !

On one corner the car really killed the power on exit, however the next time in the same corner with ESP off i exited so much faster and accelerated harder than previously and never had any spin whatsoever so its like the system acts really fast or even kills the power just before the car could spin ? plus it felt so much quicker at the top end aswell. During cornering i feel like it must kick in and brake the wheels well before you get a feel for what the chassis and ARBS are doing because with it off you could feel the rear end wanting to come out abit and i could actually feel what the car is doing, which is the first time ive experianced that sice my track day in the first one !!!

Does anyone know if you can have esp off all the time with out having to push the button ? eg via vag com ? it would be good if i could start up the car and its already off but if needed the button would then switch it on ??


ESP OFF BEST THING EVER !!!!

[GrayMK5GTI]

It's amazing that it makes that much difference  

Would you really turn it off on a short trip to town though? (For example), or taking a gentle drive down a muddy country lane?

I'm of the opinion that when your using the ability of the car (ie a blast down a country lane on your own), or a track day, but when taking the kids to school or going shopping in town, it is a safety feature after all and may save your life one day when driving down a slippy country lane or hit black ice. . .

I was grateful for the ESP when driving my old focus to work in the early hours and hit a slippy corner, I was a bit tired and wouldn't have reacted in time, ESP sorted it all out quickly with minimal fuss. I only noticed a couple of flickers from the dash light and was carrying on facing in the right direction  

[marka87uk]

I also thought this but didn't quite know if it was a placebo effect or not! I tend to drive with it off normally anyway and turning it off when I start the car has become force of habit!

You can code out the steering angle sensor I think so that ESP stops working but it doesn't sound like it would be a very good idea to have it permanently off!

[Top Cat]

I would leave it on whilst on the road and never have it on whilst on track.  If you are having it kicking in on the road then you are driving to fast for other road users safety in my opinion.
When i first discovered about switching it off it was a revelation to me too. It knocked 3 seconds a lap off my times at the Nurburgring GP circuit and made driving easier.
You have to remember when it is off all you will do is drive faster, and will have less warning when it lets go. Everybody has varying levels of driving skills and ESP, levels the playing field a bit. 

[gobbleplease]

I would want it off all the time TBH, but at the same time i see what your saying about it being there when you need it but i never really drive at a pace with the wee one in the car or when im in cruise mode so i dont think i would need it activated then anyway, even though for obvious reasons it would be better activated (if you know what i mean).
over the years I'd say 60% of my cars have had no form of interfearance and 40% have. The only cars I've had any trouble on we're my e30 and E36 m3s the e30 was really easy to correct though if you were caught out but the e36 ended up facing the wrong way a fair few times and this was just driving in normal traffic say following a ford ka on a roundabout, with one hand on the wheel type thing, thinking it was impossible for anything to happen as I was driving slowly!

Although I've never ever had a FWD step out on me in any conditions unless I've wanted it too, so with that in mind I'd happily have it deactivated from start up with the option of the switch on if required.

I know what you are saying about just push the button when you want it and in 95% of driving circumstances I'd happily have it on, or not notice any differance anyway but guaranteed most of my little blasts are spur of the moment on the way home from work or going to the shops or when someone in an m3 overtakes you and then you have got to remember to lean over and press the button because if you don't your going to end up disappointed.
Yes have it off on track days and if you are going for a little back road expedition, but its the moments in between this that ultimately lead you to go to track days and take it for a drive but if these outings are underwhelming the car will stay in the drive, and honestly I feel like I've spend 10k on the car with that button off, no wonder it won car off the year
The love is back for the mk5 

About the rear end, it never actually stepped out it was tugging like you could actually feel the car had some sort of set up to it and wasn't a neutral joy killer, its amazing how much the esp hides the GTis very good standard chassis and how much it kills its character, I'm not joking but the drive I had the other day puts this car up there with my RS albeit lacking a bit of of its front end grip!

Also that road has a large range of road visibility and one of the reasons you only really see performance cars on the road and I'd never push it if I couldn't see what was coming round a bend
Plus it's pretty abandoned and due to the speed limits I could only drive at 60mph max 
 

[gobbleplease]

If you are having it kicking in on the road then you are driving to fast for other road users safety in my opinion.

I was not driving dangerously, the ESP on this car is so intrusive it's unbelievable and on a corner exit with a car running fwd and 360+ bhp it just lights up very very quickly indeed yet with it off i can somehow manage to drive it a lot quicker and I detected no wheel spin whatsoever it's a wired one one not how I expected the system to operate, plus the amount of time it kills the power for as well is pretty lengthy, on the bright side though the ITG makes some nice noises

You've got to realise even though this is an electronic stability program most of the instances I'm talking about it killing the power are from a traction control point of view

[RedRobin]

I would leave it on whilst on the road and never have it on whilst on track.  If you are having it kicking in on the road then you are driving to fast for other road users safety in my opinion.

When i first discovered about switching it off it was a revelation to me too. It knocked 3 seconds a lap off my times at the Nurburgring GP circuit and made driving easier.

You have to remember when it is off all you will do is drive faster, and will have less warning when it lets go. Everybody has varying levels of driving skills and ESP, levels the playing field a bit. 

....I wholeheartedly agree.

On the road you cannot possibly know what can catch you out badly if your ESP is Off.

If you have good handling mods and drive fast but sensibly the ESP is far less inclined to kick in anyway.