Biggest frustration… track mode!

[young at heart]

Sorry, don't shame me, I'm new here. What are the nannies?

No shame.

Not all-inclusive but they’re features like TC, ESC, automatic involuntary braking, general collision avoidance, lane departure correction and so on ad nauseam. Basically things that our governing bodies and I suppose society in general have determined that unlike in the past, today’s drivers are no longer capable or trustworthy of doing for themselves. I’m sure many will disagree with my admittedly cynical description and they‘d be right. Well at least for themselves, by definition. IOW, if you like it you probably need it.

Sponsored

 

[NegativeMultiplier]

Basically things that our governing bodies and I suppose society in general have determined that unlike in the past, today’s drivers are no longer capable or trustworthy of doing for themselves.

If only people would get off the damn phone while driving...

 

[jml]

Not disagreeing: as a proud EU owner of a Mustang GT (talk about going against mainstream here) I have to turn off at least 3 EU security alerts each time I turn on the car.
However, giving a bit of credit to the regulators: with the power that today’s performance cars have, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to drive them without some of these aids.
I loved my Civic VTI of 1991, but it had 150hp… seemed a lot at the time, and I never needed TC, ESP.

With my Mustang GT, when it rains, I’m very happy to have all these “Nannie’s”!

 

[AzkAdAsh]

Hi,

I have a Mustang GT 24+, EU spec (performance + premium pack) with magnaride suspension.

I was deciding btw a Mustang and a BMW 440i, and definitely don’t regret my choice, the Mustang is a GREAT car!

I do have one major frustration. Where I live the highways are rather curvy, so suspension is key. In my experience, the track mode handles this beautifully: the car is glued to the road, amazing and not any worse than the BMW.
However! I track mode traction control seems to be OFF, and the ESC in “mild” mode. This puts me in the situation of choosing between having a nice handling car and a potentially less safe one. In public roads this is not a trade off I’m willing to make so I end up driving it in sport mode, frustrated because I know the car can do much better.
2 questions:
- Why does Ford puts us in this situation to have to choose between driving pleasure and security features? Doesn’t seem a trade off a car company should want its clients to do (the Mustang already has enough wild stories polluting its image);
- Has anyone found a solution for this that does not involve significant suspension upgrades?

Thanks and here is a pic of my car

Because Track Mode is for the track where these extra safety features can actually lead to serious accidents and injuries if they activate when they're unwanted. The car assumes if you're in track mode that you're on the track and turns the safety features down so the vehicles sensors don't throw you into a dangerous situation at 130MPH.

 

[Q6543]

Pedal commander will help with these complaints…

dial it all the way up, just tap gas…boom WOT

 

[AZ_Ryan]

When you go to custom mode based on track you have the option to turn Nannie’s on or off. So if we’re in a track or an empty road by all means turn it off.
It’s just that if are in a somewhat busy road and you want it turned on, in fact it’s in big part turned off, even if that’s not what you want. And in my Mustang least the only way you find out is a small sign in the dashboard.

I don’t get why we can’t have the option like in sport mode. Just makes no sense to be limited on when you can use the stiff suspension setting.

I suppose that is a good argument to not get mride…

So what exactly are you wanting to do? Are saying you want normal mode with track suspension and no traction control?

 

[keithwalton]

I suppose I can add some actual facts here. The "track mode" pedal is far from linear. The only pedal demand pedal mode that's truly linear is the normal driving mode pedal. The rest are weighted differently and very non-linear. Top left is "normal", top right is "sport/track" but only track for base cars with no actual track mode. Bottom left is mud mode which is real track mode on the mustangs and bottom right is sand mode which is drag mode on the mustangs. This is from the 24 Mustang GT tunefile I have in HP Tuners.

If that's accurate then it would explain a lot. I'm slightly surprised they all cross Zero at zero, usually normal modes will cross a little above and sporty modes will cross lower to increase engine braking. All depends on how Idle Air Control works.

I was going to post this in the regret thread but this one is much the same ...

All the talk of track mode being 'linear' would be perfectly fine if that was the description in the manual. I've attached both from the latest online manual for reference.
My main point is if people have been putting their cars in track mode as by the manual its the most aggressive, and then lamenting it's lack of response they should try sports mode instead it's a lot snappier.

Also, pedal commanders mostly work by spiking the driver input briefly to make the ecu think you floored it then lifted and thus reduces the transient damping effect.

Another note, an 'easy tune' for tuners to make on drive by wire cars (cars without modes) is to increase the Butt Horse Power is to tweak the throttle maps to be more aggressive.
If you drove your car into the shop in normal mode and it came out feeling like it was in sport mode you'd think it has more power when it doesn't really it just feels more responsive

 

[jml]

So what exactly are you wanting to do? Are saying you want normal mode with track suspension and no traction control?

I would like to use the stiffest suspension setting in other modes than Track and/or have track control / full ESP available in track mode.
I understand that these Nannie’s can be a constraint when driving at 150MPH in a track, but a they help when driving at 80mph in windy highways. And based on experience the track mode of the Mustang is great even compared with a 440i … but as for the other modes, the suspension is too soft for fast highway driving.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

I would like to use the stiffest suspension setting in other modes than Track and/or have track control / full ESP available in track mode.
I understand that these Nannie’s can be a constraint when driving at 150MPH in a track, but a they help when driving at 80mph in windy highways. And based on experience the track mode of the Mustang is great even compared with a 440i … but as for the other modes, the suspension is too soft for fast highway driving.

Ok. Maybe just settle on Sport mode then? There's not much difference in stiffness between Sport and Track.

 

[jml]

Sport mode is 25% stiffer than normal, Track mode 45%. Makes a big difference in a windy road with some bumps. Come to the south of France and you will see what I mean

 

[GrabThatBlue]

Because Track Mode is for the track where these extra safety features can actually lead to serious accidents and injuries if they activate when they're unwanted. The car assumes if you're in track mode that you're on the track and turns the safety features down so the vehicles sensors don't throw you into a dangerous situation at 130MPH.

I think you missed the point. He is not complaining about the safety features. He is complaining about the fact that you can't control Magneride to your own preference. The stiffer suspension on the Magneride is only available you choose the track drive mode.

He want's to use stiffer suspension whenever he wants, since Ford gives you the option to make a costum profile and choose different drive modes, different steering wheel modes, different exhaust modes and different suspension modes.

But when choosing a drive mode that is not track mode, you can't choose the track suspension mode. This is just plain stupid.

Sponsored