Hey guys,

So this question I couldn't find an answer anywhere on the web or here. So I thought I'd ask to see if anyone could get me an answer. So here it goes, when Motor Trend did the review on the SS/TC, they obviously broke the record for the best front wheel drive handling car on the track, now the question is, what assists did they have on the car at the time? Was traction control on or off? Was ESC on or off? Thanks guys.

Inder

 

It wasn't Motor Trend;
It was 'The Performance Division'...
(The GM division responsible for the cars)

lemme find you a link or two...

 

Sounds and looks like everything was turned off.

2008 Turbocharged Chevy Cobalt SS (full version) - YouTube

 

hmm, maybe I was wrong... but it was driven by GMPD driver/engineer John Heinricy.

2008 Turbocharged Chevy Cobalt SS (full version) - YouTube

 

Lol @ 2:44 does it say **** right on the road?

I was like wow is he really NLS'ing 4th <-> 5th and yes the announcer i think said 140mph so that's like 225kph? Or did the balt get up even higher since on the vid (near ending) he was WOT for awile after he said 140mph...

 

Wonder if they rocked the high rise spoiler for that test.

Likelyhood of the story is that all driver aids were off. Driver aids generally slow you on a track if you are an expert. That doesn't mean though that you should be turning off your ESC cause you think you are a badass. No reason to ever turn it off on the street. This guy knows what he's doing round a track.

 

hey!

don't you be raining on my parade!!!









actually often I find the ESC/ect to be an annoyance;
this is my first car with any kind of traction control or whatnot - so often I personally find the ESC/Traction control to be an annoyance...

That being said, if it's crummy driving conditions I leave it all on...
and normally on the street I use 'competition mode' as it seems to disable all but ESC...

I read this great article on a Mopar stage2(?) Neon the other week (older article that my brother emailed me) ~ the jist of it was the writer suggested that Dodge had found the cure to torque steer or what not... the answer was simply more power

 

Haha well yeah I don't mean don't turn off traction control, that can cause obvious annoyances. But your ESC is only gonna help you stay on the road if you go into a turn too fast haha.

 

That cobalt video is great, I always wondered how that car would do with the GMS1 attatched,
any guesses?

 

Probably not that much faster.

 

I never turn esc off. And I only go into comp mode if I'm nervous about not being able to take smeeone easily (for NLS). I love ESC coming from never having it before. You point to where you want it and it goes there. I believe it had saved me during one point driving with a friend to work, I was passing a tractor and he turned left without signaling or blind spotting. Everything happened so fast half in the ditch half on road yanked it left on a small dirt road and came out without a stratch or problem.

Traction control on the other hand. It's always off in good conditions. But always on when it's raining or snowing. One time early spring last year drove the car to work on a beautiful day, but was working nightshift, that night it was still above 0 but slushy, I took my normal mountain route (fastest route) like a ******* instead of playing it safe on the highway. Needless to say I was going 50kph most the way until one bigass hill came up. I got the momentum going and started to slowly lose speed. Going back and fourth TC ON/OFF to see which was best it was TC ON all the way pulled me up that hill going about 5kph with my wheel cranked all thr way to the left still going straight Stock Conti's belong no where near freezing temperatures.

 

Why would you turn off TC when just cruising around?

 

Incase I gotta move quickly. When I first drove the car pulled out into traffic 2nd gear went nowhere with TC on just bogged right down. Turn it off and bam fast accell with a bit of wheel spin.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I usually don't care to turn all the aids off, but I noticed sometimes when taking turns that the esc hindered successfully coming out of a turn strong, instead slow me down and mess up momentum of the car.

 

Everything off in the dry with my summer tires on.
Otherwise everything on when in the wet or snow.
And you can NLS anytime. Don't need to be in Comp Mode.

 

Damn I was pretty sure I read in the owners manual you need to be in comp to NLS. Have you done it IRL? I can't try it's too snowy here

 

NLS is available anytime you're at WOT and haven't yet hit the rev limiter.

 

Thats what I thought too. Dont really want to try it either!

On a separate topic, I sent an email to Top Gear UK last year telling then to drive the cobalt TC, and also mentioned the gms1 tune.
No reply of course, and chances of it getting on the show are slim since they dont make it anymore.
Anybody know of cobalt tc's in europe at all?

 

Comp mode just for Launch Control then...? Or does it do more to TC/ESC then just having the TC off?

Thats what I thought too. Dont really want to try it either!

You are my hero. Everytime I watch Top Gear the mind wanders with what if Keep trying!

 

Probably a repost but there's a live came at the main entrance of the 'ring. It only refreshes once a minute but sometimes you get to see some pretty cool cars lining up.

Nurburgring Live Webcam / Web Camera - Updates every minute!

 

I don't use the competition mode at all. Launch control absolutely sucks lol. I have TC off in the snow unless it's an extremely steep hill or something like that. Having it on it will bog you down way too much under normal acceleration. ESC only comes off in the winter when I'm dreaming that my car is RWD haha

 

I have found that even with hitting the traction control button once (which puts you into "traction controll off" mode) that the car will still often use a degree of traction control ~ and bog you down...

but putting the car into 'competition mode' TOTALLY disables the traction control ~ while leaving ESC active.

 

Really? Any time I just have the traction control off the only thing that kicks on is the ESC.. i can spin like crazy until that kicks on

 

*shrug*

I can still spin ~ but I am pretty sure that the timing is getting retarded... or something is happening ~ because iut seems to react in a manner which limits spin...

*shrug*

 

In the summer i drive with everything off but wet or winter everything on.