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TCS and ABS Posted by Snowmobile [Email] ![]() ![]() ![]() In Reply to: good tires and good suspension and, johnson ![]() |
While I largely agree with your sentiment ("wouldn't buy a car without ABS/TCS for a teen"), I have found that these features, as useful as they are, do not necessarily make a car behave better than some other different car. The case I keep citing here is our 1989 c900 vs our 2004 9-5 in winter. The c900 without even ABS (or even airbags!) completely outhandles the 9-5 in snow/ice with ABS and TCS/ESP turned on. It is not even close. My wife notices this also. Both cars have top of the line snow tires, but the c900's are at end of life vs the 9-5 which are basically brand new. That said, turning the TCS off on the 9-5 makes it behave even worse, and so clearly TCS/ESP is useful on that car... but having those TLA's alone does not a superior handling car make. Of course in dry conditions, the 9-5 outhandles the c900 - a bit less body roll etc (though the c900 feels more fun). Winter is the great equalizer, requiring different things to be good than in the dry - a Porsche's capability is wasted in winter! Lack of ABS can actually help you stop faster in snow.
In spite of what I have said, and although I think everyone should learn to threshold brake, nowadays ABS really needs to be a given. It would be hard to find a car now though without it!
I was really astonished by the atrocious handling of the Forester (2009?). I didn't roll it, but it sure felt awful. I can't imagine an Impreza drives that poorly (been in them, never driven one). Making a vehicle taller raises the CM, and an owner filling the back to the ceiling can greatly further increase the CM! Forester was simply too tall for it's platform. It wasn't just me that noticed this. Not sure that CRV or RAV4 are as bad though (might depend on generation). Neighbours have an older CRV and it feels ok.
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