Grip control ?

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Jay R
Posts: 310
Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 9:38 am
Location: Bracknell

Post by Jay R »

I'm a bit surprised by the number of people that have ordered a C3 Aircross with the grip control option. Can't help but wonder why. It's not an off-road car so how often would you really be using mud, sand, hill descent and all that, and if you are, why didn’t you buy a four wheel drive car in the first place instead of a two wheel drive one? The snow setting would have limited actual use in our climate and probably no better than just driving on the snow at a sensible speed with good quality tyres. Even if you live somewhere with more snow such as the Scottish highlands or Norway, again, why not get a 4 wheel drive car ?
This isn’t rhetorical, I actually want to know why people picked the grip option. Are they being taken off road more than I’d have thought ?
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AdrianC
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2018 10:22 am

Post by AdrianC »

I'll admit that was my reasoning for not getting it fitted. The salesman tried to convince me with a story of his daughter having "nearly" been stuck in the snow but for the grip control but honestly I've never needed it in the past and as you said its only for a handful of days a year I'd need it, being a south of England chap. Not cost effective, and helped me offset the other add ons I got.
Handy Andy
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Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:30 pm

Post by Handy Andy »

I ordered it on my C5 Aircross, the only reason was I didn't want a blanking plug looking at me in the middle of the console. A bit OCD I agree but I hate it when you have a car and it has empty switches/buttons locations that should be in use.
C5 Aircross Flair Plus 180 Petrol Auto, Platinum Grey with Red Accents and Black Wheels.
rdeknegt
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Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:27 am
Location: Eifel, Germany
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Post by rdeknegt »

It seems to work very well on snow covered roads. On YouTube there a chinese showing the difference on a slippery road.
I ordered it too, since I live here in the Eifel, although we do not have much snow, one never knows.
New ice age is around the corner ;-)
Cars: C5 Aircross 180 Shine ,BMW Z4 E89. 2.8i sDrive
sotnas
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:18 pm

Post by sotnas »

I have it as it was already in the car available. I don't use that much but last summer I tried it off road and it worked ok. It's not something I would do everyday but, now and then, I have to travel to a snowy part of the country and it can be handy. But, as I said, tha car was already configured with it.
Jay R
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Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 9:38 am
Location: Bracknell

Post by Jay R »

Handy Andy wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:07 pm I ordered it on my C5 Aircross, the only reason was I didn't want a blanking plug looking at me in the middle of the console. A bit OCD I agree but I hate it when you have a car and it has empty switches/buttons locations that should be in use.
Blanking Plug !!! That's a bit 70's. I don't have the grip control so they fill the space with an extra rubberised shelf to put stuff on. Same as the picture below but without the blue light. I keep a pen and some coins for parking meters on it.

Capture.JPG

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hkb5variant
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:45 am

Post by hkb5variant »

I have used it in snowy days. it works well. I saw a peugeot 307 could not go up the slippery slope but I could go up easily.
Handy Andy
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Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:30 pm

Post by Handy Andy »

Jay R wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 12:40 pm
Handy Andy wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:07 pm I ordered it on my C5 Aircross, the only reason was I didn't want a blanking plug looking at me in the middle of the console. A bit OCD I agree but I hate it when you have a car and it has empty switches/buttons locations that should be in use.
Blanking Plug !!! That's a bit 70's. I don't have the grip control so they fill the space with an extra rubberised shelf to put stuff on. Same as the picture below but without the blue light. I keep a pen and some coins for parking meters on it.
On the C5 Aircross it is next to the gear lever.
Without it you just get a slightly larger "bit box" which looks a bit bland. It also lights up at night which lifts the console.
I know it's a lot just for aesthetics, but hey, can't take the money with you.
C5 Aircross Flair Plus 180 Petrol Auto, Platinum Grey with Red Accents and Black Wheels.
mehturt
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:54 am

Post by mehturt »

@Jay R I'm considering buying C5 Aircross (with grip control), I could not find a 4x4 vehicle with 3 separate seats in the back, as I have 3 kids. Well I found some, but did not really like the design (Alhambra, S-MAX) plus they are only offered as diesels combined with 4x4 (I want to buy gasoline). Maybe you can recommend some other 4x4 vehicles to look at with 3 seats in the back? Thanks.
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Jay R
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Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 9:38 am
Location: Bracknell

Post by Jay R »

Sorry Mehturt, I don't really know that much about 4x4's as I never wanted to get one. I was just wondering why people were choosing what is essentially a 4x4 type option for a 2wd car. It suggested that people were taking them off road a lot more than I would have thought they would and I thought that curious. It doesn’t do anything over a couple of mph so it’s not a good replacement for a 4wd. From what I gather, it stops the wheels from spinning in the mud, snow, sand, etc… by putting the brakes on at the same time you accelerate to pull away. This enables you to get a slow and steady turn of the wheels on a slippery surface rather than them suddenly spinning. As such, it must turn off as soon as you are doing more than 3mph or so. For hill descent it’s much the same, brakes on while moving to stop the car from ‘running away’.
It may just be that the sort of people that join a forum are also the sort of people that go for all the extras as they want to get the most out of their cars. Possibly people don’t pick that option very often, it just seems so here in this forum.
Orange 110bhp Feel with City and Family packs.
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