Ahmed

My 2000 CLK55 comes with the ESP button. Although you can press it and switch it off, it's never completely off. It will eventually kick in if you get too sideways.
My question is....

Is it the same for a 99+ R129? I haven't tried it yet but curious to know after reading FATHERTIME's thread.

AndreasHannover

ASR is part of ESP. With the ESP button you only switch off the ASR part of the ESP. So the wheels can spin, but not put the car on the roof.

mahunt

If you go to the track to drag your car, you toggle off ESP so you can take a dry hop to clean the tread before launch. Remember to drive around the water box, unless you have slicks.

Then switch it back on because it's the factory's electronic form of a limited slip differential.

ESP enabled is really the fastest way to get the car moving from a standstill.

Ahmed

So the answer to my question is:

YES, R129 has ESP and works the same way as W208.

mahunt

Yes, Mercedes ESP is the same system across the entire product line. If you have it, use it.

AndreasHannover

No. With ESP, the ASR tries to avoid tire slip and throttles the power. This was a quick try:

ESP on



ESP off:

ChrisB

Are you driving an SL 500?
I thought 0-60 mph (100 km +/-) was 6.2 seconds on a good day

AndreasHannover

No, sorry, this is an R230 SL600, it should be the answer of better accelerating with or without ESP, no matter what kind of car.

RScott

Your results confirm Mercedes' claim of roughly 4.5 seconds zero-to-sixty, though oddly, Car and Driver magazine got 3.6!

Obviously you have proven that the quickest acceleration is achieved with ESP switched off. However, I think you'll agree that a quick time requires judicious application of throttle and thus some skill. Someone inexpertly flooring the accelerator instantaneously would have tremendous wheel spin and a slower time with ESP off.

AndreasHannover

The R230 would need a limited slip differential to get the power on the road. The times are not the fastest the car do. On a blocked road it runs 0-100 in 4 seconds (with a little help from a tuner). 3.6 seconds, maybe the SL65 with LSD.

The ESP is very clever, even with the ASR switched off, the car does not turn around itself and brakes still selectively, but without limiting the engine like the ASR. It's nothing for the road, we were able to try it out during a training session on a closed lane. With a little practice you can drift at full throttle for a while without leaving the road. But it is not the driver who does it but the ESP.