Sorry to drag up an old thread, but I was interested to read peoples opinions of the ESP having had my GTI for a week.
I'm an 'Application Engineer' for JLR working on ESP which basically means I'm one of the people who decide when and how the ABS modulator intervenes amongst other things, so this being the first car I've owned that has ESP, it's interesting to experience how other companies go about setting the systems up.
Generally I've found myself leaving it on most of the time, and turning it off on a good B road. I think the way the system intervenes is very good, but it seems a little conservative and I think it actually leaves you thinking the car is more unstable than it actually is. It could be down to having newer tyres on the back, but I'm also getting the occasional 'false intervention' on long sweeping corners when off throttle (i.e. motorway off ramps). Anyone else getting this?
The traction control is actually very well judged and it's actually doing a lot more than it lets on. It's actually pretty tough to work out that it's reigning in the torque fairly early rather than spinning things up and then resorting to harsh brake interventions, but I'm surprised they don't flash the light for some of the brake interventions with the ESP.
Overall....I'm pretty sure you'd be faster on track without it on, and I think I'd have allowed a bit more lateral acceleration, but overall it seems pretty reasonable.
