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How ESP works... the offical explanation!


Paul
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Very nice, but how do I turn it off?

Push the button, you say! Yet, when drving the car on the track, even with the system "disabled", the ESP engages during understeer conditions. Very disconcerting when entering the Keyhole at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course shocked.gif

Acquaintences of mine who've been to the Audi Winter Driving Experience at Seefeld informed me that Audi put a toggle switch in the car to COMPLETELY disable the ESP for some of the driving at their school.

Would anybody have the inside scoop on where this switch can be successfully added to the ESP system without causing the system to generate an error code? Or even worse, putting the car into "safe mode"?

Rolf

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I have been at the Audi Driving Experience in Finland, and yes, we had 2 extra switches to disable ABS and ESP. The car I was driving was a 2001 A3 3.0 Quattro, and we were told that the latest generation A4, the ESP, even when off, will enter in action when yaw was detected when BRAKING, meaning ESP off would be off, as long as not touching the brake........ On my S3, when ESP off = ESP off

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quattros do not defy the laws of physics............ when you finally have the accident or hit something you are just travelling a lot faster shocked.gif

The only car I've spun on the ( fortunately empty ) road was a 1986 80 quattro.... with both diffs locked....and it happened very fast

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Haven't ever driven a 4WD with ESP, but in my MY02 A3T (FWD), when switching off ESP it seems to turn everything else off except electronic differential lock. So in understeer conditions, when increasing gas, one wheel starts spinning and thus ESP brakes it. But the stabilizing features go off, and I can drive the car sideways (at least in current weather conditions: it was -17C yesterday, and in the evening went to -3C, makes roads very slippery even when driving with studded tires).

I'd say that you can have as much fun with ESP on as with ESP off, when you just get your mind to understand how ESP works and what it does. The fun in driving with ESP off is that you know what the car does. If you know what it does with ESP on, you can have as much fun (not from same maneuvers, but on some maneuvers you really don't get fun from with ESP off). Here in Finland you can train it quite a lot during long dark winter months wink.gif

- J

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Ah, juoko, that explains it.

I almost never turn off the ESP when I'm driving on the street, except for when our club (WARNING: shamless plug approaching), the Glacier Lakes Quattro Club, has our winter ice trials. On the ice it's not a problem, however, it's extremely annoying when the "brake clamp" happens in the Keyhole at Mid-Ohio, or turn 5 at Road America.

Now if I can only find someone who knows where in the wiring to splice in the toggle switch to turn it off entirely grin.gif

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