Slightly off subject, but what do people think the wisdom is in disabling the ABS? I would say it's an urban myth that pulling the ABS fuse in winter will result in safer motoring.
I have read on here people complaining that some earlier Impreza's had ABS which virtually disabled the brakes in icy conditions. I haven't driven the type of Impreza's cited so I can't comment on whether that is accurate or not.
The Scoobie's ABS system is honestly a very poor system. It leaves a lot to be desired in terms of it's true effectiveness in on poor road surfaces and grip conditions. Especially wet uneven roads - it's operation and the extreme at which it removes braking effort to all the wheels is highly alarming. And in more cases I would like to mention for comfort, it has got me into more trouble than getting me out of it (simply put in most cases...could not stop (on a wet/damp road)... and had nowhere to steer to safety).
But..I will agree that pulling the fuse because you think you can stop better quicker and still control the car safely is very questionable....we are our own worst judge. If you haven't been taught or experineced and gained skill in controlling cars then simply don't do it on base of what people on a BBS says. (For the record though, I do pull the fuse in snow and black ice - 8 years of non-abs motoring and a skid pan and lots of off-road driving has taught me plenty
), but only on the scoob. The Honda, the Toyota, the BMW's, the Vauxhalls, still have theirs active, and IMO work far better than scoobs, which just seems to completly remove all braking effort regardless of grip - when there actually is grip...but somewhat limited.
It's down to experience and skill, of driving and controlling non-abs cars in emergency situations. If you cannot do that, then don't pull the fuse.
Even the most skillful driver cannot match the 4 channel ABS braking on modern vehicles, let alone beat it.
It is known (can't find the source, sorry) that a human can out perform ABS in the dry and wet. But this human is a racing driver...and has had plenty of test runs and practice beforehand in trying to beat the ABS. So in a one-off situation a good ABS system will win hands down, racing driver or not, wet road or dry road.
Also the principal of steer-to-avoid..which is the whole point of ABS - it does sacrifice overall stopping distance in favour of retaining steering control. Which is great if you have an escape route to steer towards, however sods law states otherwise
Now I'm going to sound like a I'm on the goverment's side here...but if everybody didn't drive so fast on damp, wet or icy roads, relying on gritters, and concentrated on the road ahead and took into account how little grip wet and icy roads provide. Then there would be no need for ABS. I mean the original topic of this thread mentions 65-70 in icy conditions, round a bend onto a bridge..FFS that is taking the p155 IMO...30mph is far too fast in most cases. Blatant lack of due care an attention to road conditions. Because a road sign says you can do 60mph it doesn't mean you can actually travel at 60mph without crashing.
I will admit that in the cases where the scoob's ABS has got me into trouble...the intiating factor was down to me not reading the road ahead enough and travelling too fast. For instance, a car waiting at a junction. Asumming they will give way and not pull out, and continue driving at speed limit (40mph in the last instance) takes far too much for granted (i.e the other driver), and then to your suprise the car pulls out infront of you. Or another situtaion, going round a fast slightly blind bend, you don't expect to run into a car straddling the white lines. Most of the time, it never happens, which is why we get compliacent. And it's when we least expect it that it will catch us out.
It's a way of thinking that needs to adopted and maintained whilst driving. If you can judge a potential danger you will slow down...just incase. Then the unexpected never happens
