Am I stupid for not getting VSC?

I'm glad I have although I've only felt it in action once. You'll lose a few thousand dollars trading in your 06 for an 07, and you should decide if it's worth it or would you rather just punish yourself (as I do) after the fact for "yet another dumb decision"........ I sincerely doubt that a Prius without VSC is unsafe. VSC is a nice feature but you yourself drove a Sienna without it, and the Sienna is likely to be more of a handful in icy conditions than a Prius.

Good luck,
Bob

 

I've been driving my baby through some pretty nasty winter weather now and I've got to say that I'm about ready to smack the engineers silly. I don't know how much better or worse it would be if I had the VSC, but the dratted traction control is driving me nuts. It's killing me. It drops way too much power, especially since my own reflexes always beat it to the punch. Every time it kicks in I'm afraid of getting rear-ended. I've even had cases where I've felt traction slip just a tiny bit, gotten traction again, and then have it kill my power after I've regained control. It's very screwed up. It might work wonders for grandma. It might be a necessity for people that don't know how to drive. For me, who actually can drive, it's gotten me wondering how to disable it because for me it's caused more problems than it's solved. It's a very bad design indeed. A simple limit to the RPMs would have worked much better than cutting power. Evil device. If the VSC goes one step further to annoy skilled drivers then I'm glad I don't have it because I'd be safer without its 'help'.

 

i do agree that VSC has a slow reaction time

 

I would also agree the "Traction Control" is the thing I like least about the Prius. It's one thing if every other car is helpless, then you can't complain about the car. But if some old rusted out s*** box with studded tires leaves you in the dust, and you're barely creeping ahead on studless winter tires, something is clearly wrong.

With my new Canadian Tire Goodyear Nordic studded winter tires, I finally have a decent enough winter car again. No problems launching at all, though something like an AWD Audi or Subaru will still leave me in the dust.

Over the xmas break we had a blizzard and I got stuck at the hobby farm. The wheels refused to turn at all. Ok it was a blizzard, but a neighbor with a 2003 Ford Focus wagon - running the same studded Goodyear Nordic tires - had no problems coming to my rescue.

 

I don't have VSC on my Prius and don't think I would ever need it.

I come from driving a 270 rwhp 1994 Ford Tbird without ABS or traction control. For the first 4 years of owning the car I didn't even have a trac-lock/posi differential. I got around in Michigan lake effect snow just fine.

I like to be the one controlling my car without things essentially taking over for me. I've driven my wife's Mercedes that had a similar type of VSC and I absolutely hate it. I've driven too long without it and would rather not try to get used to it. As well, I've never gotten stuck or lost control in bad weather, and I've driven through a ton of it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ceric @ Nov 25 2006, 11:25 PM) [snapback]354110[/snapback]</div>

When I was comparing, I fond that VSC was not even an option for Civics (except the Si). It's on Accords and CRVs (some other ones, too, but I didn't check one those). It's definately not a standard option on ALL Hondas.

I paid the extra $$ so I'd have VSC. I get scared drving in the snow & ice during the winter, so I saw it as a psuedo-alternative to All Wheel Drive. I know it doesn't help you start, but it helps you not slide, and that's up on my list. Also, my dealership didn't have any Package #1s (2 was the lowest) so it was a non-point anyways.

 

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...1024/LATESTNEWS was a decent article on stability control and the statistics that show its benefits (despite some doubters here on this thread).