It's 9.00am and I'm standing on a test track somewhere between Milan and Turin, woefully rueing this morning's bleary-eyed three o'clock start.

Before me lies a nausea inducing set of hairpins and chicanes lined with armco and, occasionally, steep grassy banks. Beside me sit four of Alfa's top-spec 166 Super Lusso saloons - each thirty-grand machine packing 226bhp, an 8.6secs 0-60mph capability and a top speed of 149mph. And the crowd of onlookers includes a dozen of the company's top representatives. Ulp.

I am here to test Alfa's VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control) system, which is much like the stability programmes cropping up in the likes of BMW; with the exception that this is, apparently, a sports option not a safety feature.

Alfa's technical engineers are keen to stress that, rather than yanking your car to a halt when the limits of grip are about to be passed on a winding mountain pass (see BMW), VDC will allow you to plough on through regardless, keeping the car as stable and controllable as possible. But as one of my colleagues drily observed as a Czech test-driver bounced agonisingly down a bank, threatening to roll on top of our photographer: ?physics is physics?.

VDC is computer software developed by Bosch which closely analyses the yaw rate of a car at the limit, correcting over- and understeer by braking the relevant wheels, exterior or rear respectively, and fractionally reducing the throttle to get you through the corner without noticeably slowing the car. The intervention occurs early and gently enough to maximise driveability and allow immense amounts of power to be put on during the turn. This, it occurs to me, may still be seriously risky.

Now it's my turn. I climb in and settle behind the wheel. An Alfa rep sticks his head in, through the driver's door, saying with a cheery grin: ?test zee car's handling, hokay, not eetz structure?. This rapidly becomes my mantra as I find myself in the first corner at breakneck speed, struggling to change down whilst maniacally turning the wheel.

All my instincts tell me to keep my foot firmly planted as the corner gets ever tighter and my one-handed steering has me leaning across the passenger seat. But this massive beast just sails through, its tyres squealing like mad things. As both car and driver straighten up, the results speak for themselves. We are still on the track when, in all fairness, we should be tits-up in a ditch.

So VDC does work, and with more confidence in the set-up, I drove the car with respectful vigour in the wet and it recovered every time. But I worry that this confused hybrid of sports development and safety programme may lead to a misplaced assurance in some drivers that the car will bail them out of any and every predicament. As a safety feature, VDC would be an inconspicuous addition that steps in when things get messy, but through Alfa's insistence that this is a facility to improve the 166's performance, suddenly we are invited to ignore our own limitations and trust technology.

Whilst the 166 can be taken to an otherwise unimaginable limit, that limit still can be, and today frequently is, crossed. By lunchtime, Alfa's reps are wincing as two of their cars are forced to take early baths; perhaps they too are questioning the clarity of their rather zealous 'sporting philosophy'.


Top Gear

cik sens tas teksts ir?
Tev tā VDC fīča ir?
Vai tāda ir tikai FL modeļiem...


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@Scmic

Nezinu cik sens raksts, bet šitais VDC ir arī manam darba spainim...


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in Busso we trust...

teksts 2001. gada. man VDC ir. par 156 nezinu, FL ir, paarejas modelim ar veco seju, bet jauno salonu arii vareetu buut. man pagaidaam attieksme neitraala, kaut gan, kad izsliideeja uz taa alpu celja, savaacaas ljoti smuki un ziemaa pa sniegiem, pa putraam arii viss bija

vdc ir riktigi labaa lieta..., tikai taas negatiivaa lieta ir tajaa, ka vadiitaajs pie tas pierod (ta pat kaa parking sensoriem, asr un citam labam lietam), zud pareizo refleksu, un var rasties iluzija, ka taa fizika nemaz tik neapgazama naf....
intensiiviem vdc lietotaajiem ikdienaa butu obligati jabut kadam spainim ar ko pilnveidot savus instinktus... baidos, ka jaunai "vdc paaudzei" varetu but gauzam slikta izpratne par spekiem, kadi iedarbojas uz automasinu, kad ar to iekraamee liikuma, kas diemzel, galu galaa satiksmes drosibu tikai pasliktina nevis uzlabo

Vai vdc tad ir labais, vai tomer sliktais? Butu jaliimee briidinaajuma uzliimes, lidzigi ka uz cigareshu pacinjaam: "Lietojot vdc jusu instinkti notrulinas, tas nogalina".

159 to fishku var atsleegt. Taa vismaz liekas, jo Brerai var 156FL/147FL - nevar


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Alfa Romeo Spider S3
Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
Maserati Quattroporte V Automatica

xls99 rakstīja:

vdc ir riktigi labaa lieta..., tikai taas negatiivaa lieta ir tajaa, ka vadiitaajs pie tas pierod (ta pat kaa parking sensoriem, asr un citam labam lietam), zud pareizo refleksu, un var rasties iluzija, ka taa fizika nemaz tik neapgazama naf....
intensiiviem vdc lietotaajiem ikdienaa butu obligati jabut kadam spainim ar ko pilnveidot savus instinktus... baidos, ka jaunai "vdc paaudzei" varetu but gauzam slikta izpratne par spekiem, kadi iedarbojas uz automasinu, kad ar to iekraamee liikuma, kas diemzel, galu galaa satiksmes drosibu tikai pasliktina nevis uzlabo

Vai vdc tad ir labais, vai tomer sliktais? Butu jaliimee briidinaajuma uzliimes, lidzigi ka uz cigareshu pacinjaam: "Lietojot vdc jusu instinkti notrulinas, tas nogalina".

To pašu taču var teikt arī par
pečku salonā
labām  ziemas riepām
logu tīrītājiem
utt

pie visām šīm lietām esam pieraduši un bez tām brauciens att apstākļos kļūst mizerabls ja ne bīstams - kad jūs pēdējo reizi ziemā esat braukuši ar vasaras riepām vai ar nestrādājušu loga appūtēju? Vai lietū bez logu tīrītājiem?


Tākā - viss ok ar to vdc. Nepaies ne tik ilgs laiks, kad auto vispār vairs nebūs pašam jāstūrē...


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@Scmic