I leave mine on almost always. It kicked in yesterday in a situation where it was a hot sunny day and there was a small puddle of oil or something on the pavement. I made a left turn and would have gone completely sideways in traffic had it not been on. I obviously wasn't expecting to lose traction suddenly in those conditions. It's also saved my bacon during canyon drives a few times. As far as the car being slower with it on, I have found no evidence of that personally.

 

I've never turned mine off, but it seems that every time I drive just a little aggressive and make fast turns, the slip light comes on and it feels like I'm driving over ice or wet pavement. It seems annoying to me, but maybe I just can't appreciate it when it's doing its job behind the scenes.

 

I leave mine off most of the time except when it is raining. The car is faster and more responsive

I wish it was off by default, and then I would just turn it on when raining

 

That's right, because I'm the primary driver, my wife doesn't even know about it. Not that she can't handle my stick.

 

How about Fifth to Fourth? I've had to jump on the clutch a time our two with that one. Nobody explained that the little diagram on the shift **** is the ACTUAL SIZE of the shift pattern!!

 

Umm... Just don't turn the VDC off during the rain.

 

i really do not like the vdc system. nissan could have done a far better job at engineering it. the car just dies almost for a couple seconds then goes right back to full power instead of lightly dropping power and holding it at the threshold of spin. many other cars have very nice flawless traction control, sad to see nissan drop the ball on this one.
now for the other functions it controls. i have had it trying to control the car when i wasn't even sliding, so it then upsets the car balance. i was on a 2 lane mountain road doing 120mph around the turns and the vdc kept putting brake pressure on my inside front tires!!! made me almost **** my pants!! \
i can see how it may help someone who has hardly any driving experience, but i personally wish i didn't have it at all.

 

120 mph arounds curves with no slip ? What tires are you running ?

I usually don't quote motorsport stuff, but a 1200lb F1 car needs down force to do that...

The Z's VDC is pretty well calibrated IMO, provided we don't change tire size, width, offset and stagger to much from stock. It still allow for some RWD feel around the bends.

Sure, a 76k $ Porsche might have better electronics. But who would compare his Z to a car twice it's price and be taken serioulsy ?

 

I leave mine on during most drives but on Forza I turn it off when I'm getting serious.

 

not all mountain road turns are 30mph, lol. long bends is what i was referring too at that speed. hopefully you get the idea now. anyways, my tire sizes were stock still at that time. not sure why it tried to do it but i slowed down because of it not knowing if it would try to do a full lockup on one tire.
i just don'tlike the on/off feeling of the Z's traction control, and the anti-lock leaves a little to be desired also. most other performance cars i have driven you can't even hardly hear or feel the tires locking up, in the Z you do, and can feel it too. i am not talking about super expensive cars here either. my C4 corvette has a much better anti-lock and traction control than the Z. and it is 10 years old. even the mazda tt had a flawless traction control system.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I know what you mean!!! my girl tried to shift from second to third and threw it in first, i had to take many deep breaths after that one! I was soooo pissed.... she's all 'are you mad??' ohhh man.... NEVER again will that happen. HORRIBLE feeling though. damn.

-j0sh

 

Leave it on, it lets you get a little sideways then catches you - lovely. Thought I'd turn it of and get it a big slide on a wet roundabout the other day, i exited the roundabout backwards - oops. VDC lessens your appreciation of how much power you got, turn it off in an empty car park and nail it. mmmmmmmm. Why you would ever want to slide more than VDC lets you on a public road is beyond me anyway, it lets the tyres spin and have a little bit of sideways fun but will catch you before something bad happens.

 

just make sure you keep it on under wet conditions if your tires are beginning to go... My friend turns his off as a reflex and this is what happened on Tuesday night... =( =( =(

No, it's not that he sucks at driving... No, it's not that he can't handle the car... He was following a friend of ours home at about 45mph and the car literally slid into a sidewalk/wall after the *** end of the car came out.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't VDC Not available on the Touring 2003 and 2004 model. AFAIK, 2005 started bringing it standard on most models. '03 and '04 Z's had TCS.

I personally think it's a great system.

 

Yeah, you're mistaken. It was standard on the Touring model, both years.

 

If you want to drive with VDC OFF, I’ll gladly trade my Enthusiast for your Touring. That way you don’t have to suffer the pains of VDC.