Scirocco Central

Volkswagen has equipped its most potent Golf GTI and R models and its entire Scirocco range with a new ESP system that allows the driver to fully disable electronic aids.

VW has responded to criticism from media and customers that said the models were not adjustable or sporting enough, were too sensible compared with rivals and did not allow the driver full control of the vehicle.

All 2012 model year Sciroccos and Golf GTIs and Rs built from May will be fitted with the new system and will reach showrooms from July. The new ESP set-up is a two-stage system that controls traction control and braking. Pressing the ESP off button once will disable the traction control, while holding it in for more than three seconds will fully disable both traction control and electronic braking systems.

The system will only cut back in should the driver press the brake pedal in the middle of an ‘emergency’, be it if control of the vehicle is lost by the driver or if they want the car to straighten up by itself. If the brake pedal is not depressed by the driver the ESP system will remain inactive.

The new ESP system is a standard fit to all Scirocco models, plus the Golf GTI and R, and is available for no extra cost over the standard car. There are no plans to fit to the Polo GTI at this stage however.

When they say pressing the brake pedal will re-activate do they mean hard braking (emergency stop) or just a touch (like the cruise control), as if its the latter then surely this is pointless?!

I do hope they can/will update my 2011 model aswell...

I am hoping the same. It sounds like a software update, so lets keep our fingers crossed.

most likely they will not update the MY2011's...

Finally though, Audi and even SEAT have had this for the last 5 years!

intersting article from Steve Sutcliffe at Autocar who is running a long term R

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/stillatt ... o-esp.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i would agree with that.... i will switch off ESP in mine on a track day. so its not fully off...but i can't say it gives me any probs. when its on, u can defo feel it working, so that is a hindurance.

but this "fully off" thing...is it really that necessaary? are there that many VW GTI/R owners who are have enough talent to make full use of this? I doubt it.

I'll stick to my current system thanks.

I could understand fully off ESP back when manufacturers didn't optimise the setup for the car. However VW have obviously spent many hours getting the setup right tbh I can't think of a everyday situation where I'd want to fully disable the system. The new fully off option sounds as if all he ESP / TCS tricks are disabled, I wonder if XDS as a function of the braking system remains on?

I would think that fully off would be that ie. XDS et all off.
The more I think about it, the less I find a need for this.

For day to day driving you shouldn't need to turn it off but if like chungster your taking it on the track then you want to be in control of the car, all the time the engine is cutting power or braking when traction is lost your not going to win anything

I suppose its a good idea if you want to take it on a airfield and do like top gear do. Only time I found ESP came on whilst on track was; inside wheel slip on tight fast corners, and in sport mode when surface is a little bumpy and your doing over 100 (cuts power a bit).

The real issue with not being able to disable ESP fully is, that on tracks the rear brakes heat up after 20-30 corners and you'll have to pit not to loose your brakes entirely. That's not only annoying but also sort of dangerous :-).

Just this week I was attending an event driving 40 laps in Formula Renaults and 40 laps in Scirocco Cup (950 kg/ 240 bhp), which had ESP disabled mechanically (censor cables unplugged). Afterwards I was allowed to take my own Rocco on the track and after 3 laps my rear brakes gave up completely. Luckily I had been warned by the driving instructor that this would happen, because even when ESP is turned off in my MY2009, the ESP still locks the rear wheels in most corners.

I consider buying the MY2012 just to be able to disable ESP completely......

Rear brakes?

I found only time EBS activates is when you slide the car quite a bit, i.e. if the front understeers heavily, come off the power, back steps out, EBS cuts in. It limits you, but It does what its designed to do.

Other than the above situation, the EBS doesnt cut in on track, because the back end of the car closely follows the front (even on the limit), your pretty much always on the throttle. Coasting into the apex will push the back out and cause EBS to cut in.
I had TCS off, on Wednesday on track, and the car felt less restrictive (in fact, a lot better). Back slides and moves a bit, but EBS doesnt cut in unless its a big slide (you can feel when it does).

I have checked newest ETKA with 868 update and I have found that ABS modules are the same with 2011 models, so maybe it's only change in coding, it could be interesting if it's true

My friend have Golf R MY2011 with one stage ESP, in few weeks he should be able to read coding from Golf R with twwo stage ESP, I will write if i will know something new

Any news? I have a Scirocco R my'10, I'd like to improve my car with the two stage esp I hope that it is possible throug vag code Thanks!

Some people was trying to improve ESP but it's not possible with only coding.

I have found a topic on vwvortex about coding the two-stage turning off ESP:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.p ... P-for-FREE!!!!" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;!

Yep... there's even page calculating new coding based on original long coding give (officially Golf R only)... so question remains which rocco will be first brave to retrocode.

http://www.goapr.com/support/esp-defeat.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If ABS module have 1K0907379BL/BJ number it can be made on 100%
Byte 6 have to be changed to 80
Byte 14 have to be changed to 01

Older modules probably can't have this function.

I have checked this with my 1K0907379AJ and for sure it can't be done. Controller won't accept new coding.