Driving a la Mode

Earlier this week I mentioned driving modes briefly in our feature of the Mercedes-Benz SL450. This reminded me of something that I have wanted to say for some time. Something that some people, particularly fans of modern vehicles, may find a little controversial. Old-School purists and perhaps some racing drivers, may agree with me on this though. My contrarian statement for today is this – Driving modes on cars is dumb, pointless and possibly even dangerous.

A few years ago, when I still had my Birkin S3 (Lotus 7 Replica), I started really focusing on my driving. Like most petrol heads I had always considered myself a pretty good driver, certainly above average. Also like most petrol heads though, I had never really put that to the test. So I started doing track days, training sessions and skidpan training, to really learn what it means to fully control a car. To be a better driver. As with most interests in life, once you start learning the really advanced stuff is when you realise how little you actually know.

knowing your car is 80% of the battle

One thing that became immediately obvious, especially on the skid pan, is that knowing your car is 80% of the battle. This is what racing drivers are talking about when they talk about ‘learning the car’. Everyone thinks they “know their car” because they’ve driven it loads of times and they can get it down the road with a reasonable degree of proficiency. But, have you ever had your car sideways? Have you ever lost grip on all 4 tyres and had to rely on the car’s handling rather than frictional adhesion to the road? Has your car ever been pushed right up to the limits of what it is capable of to the point where even 0.0001% more would cause it to lose full control?

Unless you can answer yes to all of those questions- and provide answers as to how to rescue yourself from said situation, then NO, you do not know your car. I grant you that for 99.9% of people out there, even petrol heads, knowing your car to THAT extent is probably excessive and unnecessary. For me though, it is key to being the best driver that I can be.

it makes you a safer driver

The skills you learn when being taught how to drive your car beyond the limits, are not only a huge amount of fun. I truly believe it makes you a safer driver. Simply put, if you ever drive down a wet road and something rolls out in front of you, you swerve to avoid it and lose control of your car. Knowing your car, and knowing how to control it, when it is “out of control” could help you avoid an accident.

So why the downer on driving modes then? Well until fairly recently I had an E85 BMW Z4 (featured HERE on my own blog), one of the first cars BMW ever built with a “Sport mode” button. It was a comparatively primitive system, especially when you look at what most modern cars have today. The E85’s Sport mode did not change suspension settings, or gearbox settings (manual car), or differentials or anything like that. All it did was reduce steering assistance very slightly and increase the sensitivity of the throttle pedal. On automatic gearboxes, it would also switch the ‘box into sport mode.

sport mode is not terrible

Whenever I was on a spirited drive however, I found myself keeping the car in normal mode, because the Sport mode rendered it nearly undriveable! The throttle pedal felt SO sensitive that it would basically become an on-off switch. Not ideal when you are smoothly trying to blend in the power as you exit a corner. On several occasions whilst trying the sport mode, I found myself getting far more power from the engine than I was wanting, or expecting. More often than not, at the worst times imaginable! In truth though, the sport mode is not terrible and does not ruin the car. What ruins the car is the fact that the sport mode exists.

You see, the sport mode is quite probably a good car in itself. But, because I spent most my time driving in normal mode, I didn’t “KNOW” the car in sport mode.

Newer cars are far more complicated and make much more fundamental changes to how the car behaves in certain situations. Suspension settings change, steering ratios are adjusted, braking response is adjusted, differentials are adjusted, engine power curves and outputs can be changed. In fact, play with the settings on a modern car enough, and you could have a countless number of driving experiences, all of which will be very different.

It will all depend on which driving modes the car is in

So if you are driving a car with multiple driving modes and you get caught in a dynamic emergency situation, how could you possibly know how the car is going to react to harsh emergency inputs. It will all depend on which mode the car is in. And given how long it takes to truly “learn” a car, I would venture it is virtually impossible for any driver to learn all the intricacies of all the versions of the car he is driving.

To add to the pointlessness of these systems, ask most petrol heads who have cars with multiple modes. Most of them will confess that they hardly ever change driving modes. They have most likely found one they like, and they stick with it.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for the idea of being able to customise your particular settings, to personalise the car to your driving style and requirements. However, those settings should be made once off, by a dealer or technician, and then locked off. Your car should just be YOUR CAR, and that’s the end of it. It’s the only way you will ever really get to know each other. Anything else would be like dating someone with undiagnosed multiple personalities. You’re going to spend a lot of time getting angry at-, and trying to kill- each other and not quite knowing why.

manufacturers will probably keep catering for them with driving modes

Sadly though, most modern car buyers like gadgets more than they like driving. They’re more interested in being able to beat their mates between robots, or in top-trumps down the pub, than they are in actually enjoying the driving experience. As such, car manufacturers will probably keep catering for them, and we are likely to see more customising and settings being made available to drivers. And drivers, will continue to become worse DRIVERS than ever before.