Why turn off ASR?

Test drives

 

It depends.

On the road, the programming in "normal" mode is a bit too soft for experienced drivers. ie, even little squirts which would never put you out of control cause the ASR to hold things up... but switch to sport mode and the programming is quite nice, to allow enthusiastic driving without lurid exhibitionism.....

BUT... put a car on the track and ASR, even in sport mode, can dramatically effect your control.

Until you have LOTS of experience, and really, some driver training, you probably won't gain anything by turning it off, probably the opposite (which is it's intention)... but once fully trained/experienced in high speed driving, you'll find it is not fast enough in it's reaction/operation time, and it over reacts in many instances.

Even quite tame drivers with 550's will notice over fequent "ASR ACTIVE" warnings come up on the dash, in normal mode. A switch to sport will make things "nice". 360's aren't so bad as they have no torque in comparison to 550, but still not my "cup of tea". haven't got any real experience with 430 ASR, but it seems better than 360 from what little I have.

 

Having the ASR off, i am feeling that the car has more power...........

 

You're feeling the full power... if you drive with ASR on, when you use full power unnecessarily, it will restrict you back into line!

But drive without inducing wheelspin, and you'll have same power in either mode.

 

I generally drive with the ASR off around town, but leave it on on the freeway. The ASR around town is a bit of a pain, because there are times when you want to break the back end loose just a hair and the ASR will prevent this. Also, if you are coming out into traffic and need to accelerate hard while merging, the ASR can kick in. True, the ASR keeps the back end from breaking free, but if you are experienced driving the 360, it's easy to flick the wheel back and forth and keep the car on track.

The sports mode is good on nice flat roads, but it tends to be a little too rough on uneven roads, etc.

Ray

 

If you'd like to know first hand, get behind the wheel of a Ferrari 550 and hit the throttle hard below 50 MPH......just as the G-forces increase and your smile begins to widen, that nasty ASR will rear it's ugly head and steal your fun away.....

IMHO, the biggest flaw of the 550 is the ASR (or more specifically, the level/extent of ASR intervention). Maybe it's different in other F-cars, but I find the ASR really hampers spirited/fun driving, especially in first and second gear. Any time I really hammer it at slower speeds and lower gears, the car literally has its balls cut off by the ASR-tainted computer. Frustrating as hell!!!

It's hard to say how many times (if at all) it's "saved my bacon", so to speak, but I find myself more and more driving with it turned off. Just don't hammer the throttle in low speed turns, and you should be OK as far as the safety factor is concerned. Any time I've ever seen the light that signifies its activation, it's always been in a straight line, heavy throttle application setting...never in a mid-turn or poor traction road patch....


Makes you wonder how people managed to drive at all in the pre-1980s without all these "computer nannies"

 

Put it in sport mode.... the difference is remarkable. After 355, some people are under impression the sport switch is for shocks only.... it's not.

 

Thats the beauty of the switch. If one doesnt like it, they can turn it off and not be hindered by the ASR.
More than one of my customers has found ice at the apex of a turn on a mountain road and one had the valley coolant hose blow. The antifreeze covered the rear tires right in the middle of a sweeping turn with no gaurd rail in the mountains. The owner was able to easily control the car and come to a stop with no problem. The outcome would have been far different without ASR.
Anything with this much torque should have some type of traction control as std. equipment. Even while using it the rear tires only last 3k miles on many cars.
I do believe it would be nice to have had the shocks and the traction control on seperate switches.

Dave

 

I actually tried some extensive, spirited driving today with the ASR on, but with sports mode activated. Your right, it did seem to make quite a favourable difference....much less intervention (at least, as far as I could tell)......and you still get to keep some of the benefits of traction control.

Still, I find I am able to get the best launch from a standstill with ASR and sport mode both off....you just have to be careful with the throttle....too much, your wheels spin, too little and your not getting your best accelleration. If you get it just right, it "feels" like the fastest takeoff of all the methods I have tried. I say "feel" because I am not timing my runs, and seat of the pants can be deceiving some times.

I guess from now on my default settings will be sport mode on, ASR on. If I need a quick launch from stop, I can switch them both off.....

 

Join the club! Default sport for sure. For quick starts, you'll find that throttle modulation with ASR still on will be just as fast as without.. but if you just floor it and expect the traction to give you optimum starts... think again.. it's not that clever.. it'll hold you back as it senses over agressive throttle position.

What infuriates me, is that I have never sold a 550 to anyone, and find the owners typically benefit from, and understand far more about their cars after a visit for a service/repair, than they do after leaving the showroom...

It can be little things too.. like waiting the split second for the glass to drop before yanking the door, or even putting the window down a bit before turning the battery isolator off.... (good way to break a window if unlucky), or making sure the handbrake light is actually OFF, and not just driving when the lever is down....

salesmen should cover the driving options/idiosyncrasies of these cars... but of course... the owners could always RTFM !!

 

Some people trust their driving skills more than Ferrari electronics in a situation where they may lose control of the car. Said it once I'll say it again ASR= Another Stupid Restriction