As the title really – should you disengage ESP / DSC (or whatever the particular manufacturer calls it) ? I have tried with it on and off in both our cars and really can’t see a difference.

And is traction control a part of it?

Definitely ON for me.

I don’t know about anyone else, but i can’t independently modulate the braking on all four wheels at the same time to keep the car going in the right direction. It can’t work miracles, but its a lot better than no ESP.

Yes, traction control is part of it (edit – it is on my Vauxhall, not the same on all cars)

On.

Many systems allow to you inhibit traction control separately if you wish. But bear in mind that all this information is logged so if you plow through a bus stop with the ESP switched off…

Depends on whether you have winter tyres on surely?

Personally I’d leave it on. It has never stopped me from being able to drive and assume it will help in a skid etc.

Whatever floats your boat.

last winter my front wheels spun less on short sections of (heavier) snow with the traction control switched off. turning it off sometimes helps to get up snowy slopes. only done this for quite low speed driving.
However, 99.9% of the time it can stay on and do what it needs to do.

ASR On my Vito sport (rwd) is always switched off,if nothing else it wrecks the prop shaft due to the constant grip spin grip spin it causes.

Its much better to drive with it off as you can get better momentum/grip/speed to get up the hills,setting off can be tricky though, just being smooth with the gas,plenty of weight on the rear axle and winter tyres is key. 😉

On, unless you have a particularly tricky situation in which to get moving. Sometimes gunning it is a valid tactic, and if you can’t you might be in trouble. However once you have got yourself out of your snowdrift or hilly driveway or whatever and are on the open road, leave it on.

One criticism of the MkII Prius from people living in snowy countries is that you can’t turn off traction control or the ESP.

However the traction control on the Passat allows a fair bit of slippage, which is a little less than useful on snow sometimes. The Prius TC allows zero slippage which is actually quite good if you are trying to find a sliver of traction. It’s when there isn’t that it causes problems.

On on my 3 series all the time…… Until I need to swing 90 degrees into my uphill cul due sac and power slide 100m to my driveway, where I try and stop in a parallel fashion and reverse park on the drive. Switched off seems to work better then ( I have bounced the kerbs more than once 🙂 )

off in the derp stuff in my merc and it was worse than useless on black ice.

Drive your car as it should be driven in snow/ice and ESP won’t bother you. Drive like a fool and the Especially for Special People will kick in and stop you being a tool….

What’s a special person?

One that can afford a car with ESP?

Definitely on.

(skip the first 6 min)