"Normal mode"

[Megabrode]

My car is basic, notably with no M button or EDC. Since I have very little experience with those feature in other e9x M's, I sometimes wonder if I'm missing something.

Once in awhile I Google historic e9x M reviews. Today I saw this in the Motor Trend review of a 2008 Melbourne Red coupe:

"Oddly enough, the new M3 seems to work best in normal mode. For our hot laps around the technically demanding Ascari circuit in southern Spain (a stunning, privately owned 3.2 mile circuit with 26 turns and numerous changes in elevation) the fast setup seemed to be the standard throttle, shock and steering settings with the stability control switched right off so you could use the gas to counter the understeer in the tighter turns. The faster throttle settings make the car a little more difficult to balance, and the sport shock setting means the shock rate is fixed -- in normal or comfort modes, the shocks adapt to cornering loads."

I assume my car is perpetually in "normal mode." For those of you with the aforementioned driver's aids, does Motor Trend's experience and judgment reflect your own?

[Scharbag]

IIRC correctly, the ZCP versions have variable shock rates even in sport setting.

And I would agree, the sport and sport plus throttle settings can make the car twitchy, and use more gas...

Cheers,

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by Scharbag

IIRC correctly, the ZCP versions have variable shock rates even in sport setting.
,

This is the key difference.

In a Civic M3 generally Normal will be better on the track. In a ZCP one, Sport is better

Not a night and day difference mind you

[Montaver]

The passive damper stiffness is probably equivalent to 'normal', but they will not be as good as the adaptive dampers. Having M drive allows you to instantly dial in settings (I like sport throttle, normal EDC, comfort steering). It also gives you MDM traction which when coded to Euro spec is great for spirited street driving. There are no advantages to being poverty spec in these area's, despite proclamations this somehow makes the car more 'analog'.

[Redd]

I've had several cars with adjustable throttle maps, I've never ever used anything but Linear/Normal for track or spirited driving. Anything other than Normal makes the throttle too difficult to modulate/feather. If you need more power just give it more throttle.

As for EDC, I got my M3 with the intention to upgrade the suspension, so I never saw any value in EDC to begin with.

MDM was useful for me during the first few trackdays as I was coming from a FWD car and was not confident with my abilities yet. After a while, I switched TC completely off, and believe it or not, the car is much more predictable with TC off. Even with MDM on, the car felt a bit slow to react in an oversteer situation, and then suddenly you feel the hand of God correcting the car. With TC off, steering inputs result in immediate chassis reaction. Sure, you have no safety net with TC off, but the M3 chassis is so neutral anyway.

My 2 cents.

[6ixSpd]

I have hated the overly-sensitive throttle mapped "Sport" mode ever since it's inception in the E39 M5.

It ruins the delicacy of working with a highly responsive throttle, the idea of which is to be able to add minute, fine throttle inputs to adjust to your driving situation. Not just full blown WAAAAAHHHHHH everytime you touch it whether 30% of the way down or 90%.

That said, I always leave my throttle and steering as "Normal" in the M-Drive settings. EDC Sport and MDM on.

I feel like a car should be so well setup all the time and thus actually has a proper sporty personality, that the only thing one should ever need to adjust is suspension given we live in the real world and road conditions can be terrible. And slightly dialed-back but still-present traction control is also useful for those who don't have the greatest driving skills. A little safety net in this case is a welcome feature.

[roastbeef]

i've tracked enough with my oem zcp suspension to know that i'm at it's limits in certain situations.
i can see a non-zcp m3 doing better on certain courses because its suspension is softer. yes, you read that right. its because the zcp suspension is too firm and doesn't have good enough valving to keep up with the dampening that is required to do what you want it to do.
i can tell you exactly what tracks and why i need to run my zcp car in "comfort" mode for the softer suspension- turn 8-9 at big willow (bumpy), the 5-6 transition at autoclub, and the 14-15-16 combo at auto club. at laguna, it doesn't have good rebound to take turn 7 properly.

so yea, i wouldn't say its bad, but you have to know when to use it. track surface plays a huge role. its dynamic in all modes, but it just doesn't have the valving to keep up.

all that being said, i can see a non zcp car being faster on the right course. especially a non-zcp car with the forged 220 wheels (less weight). come to think of it, zcp is sort of a joke in terms of a performance package. i got it for the wheels. best oem wheel around and the stance is pretty good- you don't need to immediately lower it.

[Megabrode]

Thanks for these thoughts on different combinations of EDC, MDM, etc. in different driving conditions. As noted, I have no driver-adjustable features except the "Power" button, which I keep lit on all the time. With the Dinan engine tune, throttle modulation is much improved in both modes. Bottom line for me is I'm missing some fine-tuning subtleties, but the hard-wired standard set-up is a good, all-around place for 99.9% of my driving. I'll likely never see hard-core track time.

I will note that years ago I never used the brutal "sport" suspension setting on my 300ZX twin turbo. A little suspension travel seems preferable on all but perfect tarmac.