View Single Post
  #7  
Old January 20th 05, 03:08 PM
Zathras
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 15:33:31 GMT, "Dom" > wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I'm in a Alfa 156 1.9JTD 35k on a 2003 plate. When I set of from lights I
>tend to be a little over zealous with my right foot. When it is wet my car
>seems to lurge to the left and my wheels don't really grip the road. Any
>idea's?


ASR off allied to poor driving technique. If ASR is on, it may be
faulty or a characteristic of the JTD with ASR - I can't tell you
which (as I've not tried the 1.9JTD) except that the 2.0JTS I drove
was perfect with ASR on in very wet conditions.

>After a a second or so it seems to sort iself out and then floors it
>up the road...
>
>The only reason it bothers me is because the local Boy Racer population then
>get a head start on me !!! lol sorry i'm a bit of one myself but who isn't
>in an alfa?


...er..and you feel the need to put your nice Alfa up against sh!te
Corsas and the like driven by neds with their caps on back to front?!!
LOL! What's the prize? Your Alfa is in the 'Compact Executive' sector
- go find competition there and ignore the flies...

>It doesn't do anything when I brake so can't be balancing and on the
>motorwat it is as smooth as a prostitutes silk knickers...


I bow to your greater knowledge there mate!

>This don't happen in the dry and the corsa's and Saxo's tend to eat my
>diesel smoke...


I'd get that fixed then - I've never seen smoke from mine in 3.5
years.

>On a second note - does anyone know what the ASR button does on my centre
>console?


My Alfa came with an excellent manual. Seriously, it's better than a
lot of others out there and worth the read. On another even more
serious note, it can be very boring taking your broken Alfa to a
Dealer to be repaired only to be told they're not footing the bill
because you didn't follow the written instructions.

>Nothing seems to chage whether the light is on or off...


If you test it properly, it should show up like night and day! To test
whether Anti-Slip Regulation is operational, stop the car at a safe
place on a very wet day. Start off by revving and dropping the clutch
doing your utmost to (be an amateur driver and) gain the maximum wheel
spin. Try the same again but press the ASR switch before your start
off.

With ASR 'on' the car will surge away without complaint and the grip
should amaze you. With ASR 'off' the front of the car will just drift
off to the left or right depending on the road camber and you will
stay virtually still as the front wheels just spin away at high speed
(if you've done it *right*). This is what I found with a JTS a while
back. I hope Alfa haven't messed with that nice ASR program since
then.

I'm reminded of an incident a while back. I was in the Alfa following
a Nova (resplendent in all its barry-boy enhancements - big wheels,
several big exhausts, big spoilers, seriously lowered, cool paint job
and his cap round the wrong way etc etc) up an uphill on-ramp to the
M8. On this ramp, visibility is poor and cars come upon you fast from
the motorway so the trick is to build up serious speed on the ramp
before daring to go into the flow. Anyway the roar (or was it a
whine?) started as the chap set to for some serious acceleration. It
was pathetic the worst acceleration I've seen since I had the dire
misfortune to have to coax a Proton 1.3 to move. He must have had the
1.0 litre engine in there and even at that it wasn't really interested
in going. The exhaust note was fabulous though very high and sporty. I
totally flew past him without going above 2500 rpm. The red look on
his face as a whizzed past was excellent - I still smile about that
one to this day.

The neds round our area usually stick to car parks and the 30mph bits
(0-20 as fast as possible then sit at 40mph in second, hoping it
attracts the attention of the local bird life) so I don't get much
chance to 'test' them even if I wanted to.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)
Ads