What's your preferred driving mode?

[Blacksheep]

We're having a blizzard here in Jersey. I had to back the 5.0 from our long drive way, drive it in reverse in the snow into the street and up into our one-car driveway. Of course, I shoveled a path for it to go over. I couldn't get it up the slightly inclined one-car driveway for a bit due to snow so I put it on race mode and I was able to power it up into the driveway. That was scary. I thought I was gonna have my car stuck on our dead end 1 1/2-car wide street. So at that time my favorite mode was race mode.

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[jtiedemann4]

Sport+ for the mode, Sport for the steering. Winter mode for rain and cold days. Don't have to worry about the tires breaking loose.

 

[Twenty15]

If I auto cross my car should I go to track mode?

 

[ETCH]

does the car have to be stopped before you can change modes, or can you do it on the fly going down the road? I have just been leaving it in whatever mode the car defaults in.

 

[OppoLock]

If I auto cross my car should I go to track mode?

I'd suggest it. You'll have enough leeway with the electronic nannies and more suitable throttle map.

does the car have to be stopped before you can change modes, or can you do it on the fly going down the road? I have just been leaving it in whatever mode the car defaults in.

You can change them on the fly. Basically at any point save for while in reverse.

 

[minjitta]

When I'm crusing, normal steering, normal mode.
When I'm racing (on a closed course), sport steering, track mode.
When I'm spirit driving, sport steering, sport mode.

Hope Ford have memories setting for driving mode

 

[OppoLock]

Hope Ford have memories setting for driving mode

All cars must legally reset to the default fully functional TCS/STM mode if there's an option to alter or disable them.

Good news is that changing modes changes steering weight in a logical manner, so it takes all of like two flicks to get your appropriate settings for the most part.

 

[wjones14]

I wish I could share our southern "winter" weather with you guys. Even with all of the curtains disabled, I'm having a hell of a difficult time getting the rear end to break free at all. It's taking some low speed, second gear hammer drops to get the tail to swing wide, and even then, it's like everything happens in slow-mo. This car is so forgiving beyond the limits.

I'm surprised about this, with all that power on tap. It's so easy to break the rear free in the S197, especially second gear low speed 90 degree corners like you say. Doesn't matter if TC is on or off really, except that TC will shut down the throttle before you do a 180.

But one difference with my car is that it's running all-seasons. With summer performances tires, it would definitely take more effort to break that rear loose. Betting I could still do it pretty easy though.

 

[OppoLock]

I'm surprised about this, with all that power on tap. It's so easy to break the rear free in the S197, especially second gear low speed 90 degree corners like you say. Doesn't matter if TC is on or off really, except that TC will shut down the throttle before you do a 180.

But one difference with my car is that it's running all-seasons. With summer performances tires, it would definitely take more effort to break that rear loose. Betting I could still do it pretty easy though.

It was easier to get the tail arcing in my old 3er than it is in this car... seriously! I think the tires make the biggest difference.

It's not that the rear is perma-glued to the road surface or anything, but if you're just trying to induce power-on oversteer, it takes a lot more than you'd expect. And I'm not comfortable enough throwing the nose around to try and upset it yet. lol

Can't tell if I like that about this car or not. I was hoping for a more playful tail.

 

[Husker]

I'm surprised about this, with all that power on tap. It's so easy to break the rear free in the S197, especially second gear low speed 90 degree corners like you say. Doesn't matter if TC is on or off really, except that TC will shut down the throttle before you do a 180.

But one difference with my car is that it's running all-seasons. With summer performances tires, it would definitely take more effort to break that rear loose. Betting I could still do it pretty easy though.

I do that all the time, I love kicking the rear out...FUN_FUN_FUN!

 

[racer24crm]

Sport+ for the mode, Sport for the steering. I'll try Track mode in the spring, although I'm not a fan of turning off stability control all the way on public roads.

I tried Winter mode when there was a lot of snow on the road. I didn't like it...quite apart from the throttle being dead the engine power was cut too aggressively upon traction loss and I would bog down when I really needed to motivate. So I just do Sport+ all the time. Between the Blizzak LM-32 tires (which are fantastic by the way) and how beautifully controllable the yaw is on this car thanks to the lovely steering and throttle calibration, it works great and is huge fun.

I'm picking up some LM-32s this week. Haven't driven the car in the snow yet because I don't trust the all seasons. I'm glad to hear that the LM-32s work well because I wasn't sure how great they would work in the snow since they are more performance oriented compared to other Blizzaks. Just trying to decide between 225/50r18 or 245/45r18 for the stock GT wheels.

 

[DivineStrike]

Can you guys really tell the difference in driver modes? I can't

I and I'm sure most can easily tell the difference between each driving mode. Unless you just drive like miss daisy even then track mode is a bit touchy.

Most of the time I keep it in normal, no need to turn anything off every time I drive. Granted I do change it more than once in a day. And that just depends on my mood. I don't generally turn off advanced trak unless I'm wanting to hoon. That isn't too often as its hard to find a place to get feel of the car. I can't wait to take it to the autocross to really feel the limits of the car. Then I may keep it in track mode more often. I've got autocross experience but not in a rwd car. And it's no where near as easy to correct as a kart.

Steering modes however I have a hard time telling the difference. Probably due to me not really pushing it much in turns yet

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

But I still firmly believe that you have to not know what you're doing or be distracted to get into a mess simply because the computer isn't around. The biggest distinction that has to be made here is that there are times to leave TCS and/or STM on, like sketchy surface conditions, unknown areas, and driving with traffic around. Aside from that, I don't think there's any appreciable difference in risk with or without the nets on.

Unless you're Ted Kaczynski, isn't ALL driving going to be done "with traffic around"?

Times in my life I've gone into an unplanned, uncontrolled skid where stability control would have saved me (with pre-1990 cars that had no traction control or stability control) (none of these actually resulted in an accident, but they easily could have and it was pure luck I was safe):

- Two-way road, one lane in each direction, going 35 mph in a 30 zone, cars parallel parked on both sides of the road. Car directly in front of me on the right decides to pull out of his parallel-parked spot and make a U-Turn to go the other way. No time to stop; would have t-boned him. Accelerated and swerved left into the oncoming lane to loop around the guy, then quick back into my lane to avoid oncoming traffic... rear end slid right to about 40 degrees slip angle, caught it because I know skid control from extensive snow driving, a lot of people wouldn't have caught the skid amd would have slammed into driver's side of an oncoming car.

- Rural-ish two-lane with grass on both sides, moderate traffic, going in to a blind downhill left curve after a rain storm. Was going too fast (40 in a reccomended 25) because there are never cars there normally; see cars stopped, brake too hard for the wet pavement, rear end slides loose and I can't catch it because it's a counter-clockwise spin on a downhill left curve. Did a 360 and was a miracle I didn't hit any oncoming cars before I went off on to the grass on the wrong side of the road onto someone's front lawn.

Both times were unexpected; both could have been prevented if I'd had stability control. It was pure luck I didn't kill somebody both times (had my then-80 year old grandmother in the car for the first one; she raved for weeks about what a good job I did saving us from an accident with U-Turn guy without realizing how close we came to hitting somebody after the subsequent skid).

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Steering modes however I have a hard time telling the difference. Probably due to me not really pushing it much in turns yet

Steering modes are VERY noticeable. At parking lot speeds, in comfort mode, you can steer with one pinky. Not so in Sport mode.

 

[Norm Peterson]

It was easier to get the tail arcing in my old 3er than it is in this car... seriously! I think the tires make the biggest difference.

It's not that the rear is perma-glued to the road surface or anything, but if you're just trying to induce power-on oversteer, it takes a lot more than you'd expect. And I'm not comfortable enough throwing the nose around to try and upset it yet. lol

Can't tell if I like that about this car or not. I was hoping for a more playful tail.

I'm going to guess that your actual alignment specs are too conservative (maybe read "understeerish" and "insufficiently negative front camber" into this)

I'd also consider trying some tire pressure tuning, something like 3 - 4 psi more up front for steering response and reduction of front slip angle.


Norm

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