Just got a 08 c6 a6
The weather is bad and the roads are wet so not really able to "play" with it much.

Any info on the active handling/traction on, off or sport mode ....what does each do? The owners manual is unclear.

Thanks in advance.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1578215046-post20.html

 

Ok.. Thanks for that. Earlier today I was making a left turn and it went sideways on me...kinda surprised me. All the the defaults were on, throttle wasn't really heavy but was wet pavement.

 

It'll do that on cold pavement too, if you're not careful.

 

It's probably better to "play" in the wet if you haven't experience a car with this level of traction and performance. If your first experience playing in the dry results in you overcooking a corner or something, you're going to be going REALLY fast and the outcome is not going to be pretty. This is actually what some driving schools, like Spring Mountain, do - teach you skid dynamics and recovery in the wet early on so that when these things later happen in the dry, you can use your skills learned at the slower speeds in the wet.

 

The nannies will not overcome physics. It will help with small mistakes but will not correct big one until it is to late.

 

don't get me wrong; I didn't 'lose it', i maintained control, counter steered, regained traction and went from there. I was just surprised as it was the first time it hadn't acted as I suspected.

I've had a couple 70's corvettes and numerous muscle cars (69 Mach 1 Mustang 2/ the 428 CJ, several 65's & 67's, 2 GTO's, a SuperBee,etc. back about 30+ years ago) , I was just surprised with all the technology 'goodies' on the car that it happened. I have only had this car a little over a week and the weather has been terrible (wet/rain/ice) so I've driven it very little to get familair with it.

My wife's MiniCooper S will flat out not spin the tires with the traction control 'stuff' on. I've stopped on our gravel driveway (steep hill) and floored it; the car will walk up the hill and gradualy speed up as it gains traction; not a single wheel spin.

I've noticed the Corvette, when I romp on it even staight line, it has a tendency to want to 'kick out' a bit as it looks for traction even with all the 'stuff' turned on. Also noticed today my rear tire pressure is a little high so need to fix that....

I did notice today (we had a little bit of dry paved roads) the significance difference in the sport vs. touring ride control. WOW!

We have no tracks or skid pads, or such around here.. in fact not even many 4 lane roads, to really put the car to the test, so I'm stuck on 'on-road' conditions to get familair with it and my limits.

Thanks for the info!

The "nannies".... lol

 

Welcome to the Forum!!!! You're kind of isolated down south there but in case you have any interest in driving up north for events, get togethers and such, check out the Pacific Northwest Forum for local members and discussion:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/pacific-northwest-127/

Congratulations on your '08! Good luck, enjoy the car and the Forums.

 

GM learned a few things from when they installed the nannys in the C5's. They had the traction control set so tight that when you did break loose the tires (even at very low throttle applications), the traction control kicked in and closed the throttle. Pulling out into traffic and this happens is a disaster in the making, as you're giving the car more gas to acceralte and the traction controls is killing the gas. Guess who wins...Nanny. I almost got hit several times in my C5 before I learned to let off the gas when I wanted to accelerate, when the traction control kicked in. With the C6, they designed the traction control to softly decrease engine power, not to kill it like with the C5. That's why it's so easy to spin the tires, the traction control isn't as invasive on the C6.

 

Ok, that makes total sense. Thanks for that explanation