I drive my 500 around with sport mode off. Have done so daily now for a year since I got it.
The reason for this is mainly the steering -  it feels much better that way. The lighter steering has more feedback and feels more suited to the cars weight, and you can feel where the car is pointed, don't have to guess.
I'd rather make better use of the 'lesser' power and be able to feel it and use it properly, than have lots and not know where I'm going with it.

I'm with you on that Harley, it's not how fast your going that makes it fun it's how your doing it! Throttle response is pretty dodgy without! Arrggghh so frustrating, perfectly good car spoilt.

Any indie specialists know how to free the power without the steering interference?

Cheers,
 

Now there's a question ..... I think someone smart with a laptop can plug into the diagnostic thingy and do some magic?......

I used to think the same, until I changed the front tyres from the P Zeros to some Toyo Proxes... That made a HUGE and positive difference in the handling and the feel of it

I've learned two valuable tyre lessons in the last few years:

Cheap, junk tyres ruin vehicles
Pirelli make junk tyres

They make the most over-rated, poor-wearing, expensive, noisy, random-handling strips of black rubber.
While initially handling beautifully, the grip falls off precipitously on some random Wednesday when you're just popping to the shops for a pint of milk.

The KTM came with scorpion syncs which were great. Until I realized that I was spending more on tyres than fluids each year, the centre of the tread seemingly evaporating away in the bike shed, revealing a hidden layer of what could only be described as coal.

The Cinq shipped with p700zs, which always made it feel dead, unless it was raining, in which case the car behaved as if possessed by the ghost of Huggy Bear's Cadillac, especially on motorways. But thanks to some careful negotiation on behalf of the mafia, they were the only people who made the obscure 165/55r13 size at the time so we were all stuck with them until the Seis, and bigger wheels came along.

The wife-to-be's Seat has the zeros. They're so noisy that it sounds like the wheel bearings are filled with grit.

My 16s are fitted with what are supposedly Pirelli's snow tyres (Not the sottozeros, which according to me bro are surprisingly awesome). They're ok, but me mum can still out-handle, out-climb and out-break it in her Michelin-equipped Panda.

And don't even dream of putting them on a track, lest you want to be black-flagged for leaving FOD.

Terrible terrible rubber.

I don't like 'em. Can you tell? </rant>

Now that's very interesting, thanks for that. That's exactly the sort of detail that could make a huge difference and make the most of what we've got and stop me trading the car in this Spring for a something else.

What's your grip like on day to day? In particular wet/cold/icy days? Do you use your car every day? My cousin uses those on his Elise SC but that's a weekend toy!

 

Yep - I use my car most days..

The Pirellis lasted 8000 miles / just over a year and I had got totally used to all of the handling 'quirks'... But when they ran out of tread I decided to go for something else and can honestly say it was like driving a different car!

I've had the Toyos on for just under 2000 miles so haven't had them on any ice yet - but living in the North East we've had plenty of rain! The grip in the wet is better than the Pirellis by a loooong way.. There was always a little bit of panic that set in when cornering in the wet.. The car felt like it was sliding rather than turning! The Toyos have none of that though - they feel just as planted in the wet as they do in the dry.

I also found that the car liked to find tracks in the road (it even did it with lane markings) which you had to fight to get out of.. Making for some interesting overtaking! I tried changing tyre pressures etc a few times, but nothing was any better.. Until I changed tyres and then this problem vanished!

In my opinion changing the tyres has made a bigger difference than the TMC box did.

(Having said all of that - I did love the car before I got new tyres... But I love it even more now! )

Quote from: Aviator on October 07, 2012, 11:01:21 pm

Now that's very interesting, thanks for that. That's exactly the sort of detail that could make a huge difference and make the most of what we've got and stop me trading the car in this Spring for a something else.

What's your grip like on day to day? In particular wet/cold/icy days? Do you use your car every day? My cousin uses those on his Elise SC but that's a weekend toy!

 

Yep - I use my car most days..

The Pirellis lasted 8000 miles / just over a year and I had got totally used to all of the handling 'quirks'... But when they ran out of tread I decided to go for something else and can honestly say it was like driving a different car!

I've had the Toyos on for just under 2000 miles so haven't had them on any ice yet - but living in the North East we've had plenty of rain! The grip in the wet is better than the Pirellis by a loooong way.. There was always a little bit of panic that set in when cornering in the wet.. The car felt like it was sliding rather than turning! The Toyos have none of that though - they feel just as planted in the wet as they do in the dry.

I also found that the car liked to find tracks in the road (it even did it with lane markings) which you had to fight to get out of.. Making for some interesting overtaking! I tried changing tyre pressures etc a few times, but nothing was any better.. Until I changed tyres and then this problem vanished!

In my opinion changing the tyres has made a bigger difference than the TMC box did.

(Having said all of that - I did love the car before I got new tyres... But I love it even more now! )

Just re-read that..

Toyo's going on next time for sure!

Cheers,
A

Quote from: harrytguy on October 07, 2012, 08:39:03 am

I used to think the same, until I changed the front tyres from the P Zeros to some Toyo Proxes... That made a HUGE and positive difference in the handling and the feel of it

I'm glad that you found such an improvement with the Toyos, but surely the self centring pull is an electro-mechanical feature which will apply whatever the rubber (though I should add that I'm nooooo engineer.)
I read a 3 car comparison review in September's Car magazine (at the dentist) yesterday, and they criticized the steering and the ride on the SS. The ride can be addressed with different dampers etc., but the steering in Sport seems to be something we just have to adapt to.
I'd been permanently in Sport mode since having my car SS'd in May but I've found over the last couple of days that, for me, less is more as in Normal the steering is so much more natural, and I enjoy working the throttle as you need to in Normal.
I appreciate that this is probably a minority position, but each to their own.

Wheels72,

Your not at all, I feel exactly the same. Working the throttle, feeling the steering and simply enjoying driving is whats it's about for me.

I'm defo going to make a call or two to see if would be possible to have the full range of throttle response all the time without the steering resistance.

Thanks for your comment, your not alone!