[Cwatt79]

The lack of an LSD is pretty disappointing. This is my fifth RWD car and by far the most expensive one I've owned, but it's the only one with brake-based traction management. My most recent car (Acura TLX with SH-AWD) spoiled me with its punch-and-go anywhere capability. I learned this the hard way the other day when I was turning out of a parking lot onto a busy uphill street and punched it, only for the inside wheel to lose traction and the car to cut all power before it slowly started moving forward while the traction light flashed at me. I was pretty disappointed with how my $50k "sporty" coupe handled that. Almost makes me wish I had gotten xDrive, which is even more disappointing because I don't live in a snowy climate and truly enjoy the dynamics of RWD. Of course all they need to do is offer the Dynamic Handling Package again, but that won't help me!

[surstromming]

Originally Posted by abc

so the dynamic handling pkg is primarily just upgraded brakes?

Yes. It makes sense to get it only if it's convenient up-front and you'd like the Brembos at some point; you will most certainly pay more to have the M brakes retrofit onto the car. Not for nothing you will get access to whatever the 'M Diff' sport mode configuration of the rear differential is; seems to make the car a bit more playful in edge cases ie. very aggressive track usage, powerslides. For typical daily-driving and even the most illegal spirited road usage, based on what I heard from BMW and reviewing the documentation for the differential, you will still benefit from the rear locking functionality even bone stock. It's not just the brake pinching, which occurs via DSC in every G42 and is not restricted to non-Dynamic Handling vehicles. Am happy to be fact checked here, but it came from the horse's mouth. I am a bit displeased at the lack of transparency from BMW as this information took several phone calls and emails to get a hold of; I expect part of that is to help sales of DH-equipped G42s. I imagine most buyers go into it thinking they're getting a limited slip diff for their money, when in reality it's the same open-diff rear locking hardware as the stock vehicle under the hood.

For me, I bought the car off the lot and didn't want to wait the 4-6 months to have one built to spec - I live in an area where 90%+ of the cars they ship here are built as xDrives and I wanted the RWD one, so finding one anywhere local was a blessing. I'm also going to throw a limited slip diff into the car once they're available, and have so far found the stock brakes to be more than sufficient (they're huge). Can't tell you whether to get it or not, all ya can do is try and make an informed decision that works best for you.

[surstromming]

Originally Posted by Cwatt79

The lack of an LSD is pretty disappointing. This is my fifth RWD car and by far the most expensive one I've owned, but it's the only one with brake-based traction management. My most recent car (Acura TLX with SH-AWD) spoiled me with its punch-and-go anywhere capability. I learned this the hard way the other day when I was turning out of a parking lot onto a busy uphill street and punched it, only for the inside wheel to lose traction and the car to cut all power before it slowly started moving forward while the traction light flashed at me. I was pretty disappointed with how my $50k "sporty" coupe handled that. Almost makes me wish I had gotten xDrive, which is even more disappointing because I don't live in a snowy climate and truly enjoy the dynamics of RWD. Of course all they need to do is offer the Dynamic Handling Package again, but that won't help me!

This is user error. You need to enable 'Traction' mode under DSC. This will disable power cuts and brake pinching unless you're waaaay out of control, and will allow you to drive more freely. You can even try 'DSC Off' but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're very confident in handling oversteer and weather conditions are good, because at that point the stability controls are completely off and where you end up (ie. wrapped around a tree if you're driving like a moron) is entirely between you and Sir Isaac Newton.

[Evilmoretea]

Originally Posted by surstromming

This is user error. You need to enable 'Traction' mode under DSC. This will disable power cuts and brake pinching unless you're waaaay out of control, and will allow you to drive more freely. You can even try 'DSC Off' but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're very confident in handling oversteer and weather conditions are good, because at that point the stability controls are completely off and where you end up (ie. wrapped around a tree if you're driving like a moron) is entirely between you and Sir Isaac Newton.

That’s good to hear, I was also disappointed at the lack of LSD. So I’ve been driving in “Traction” mode more often. You’d reccomend leaving that on all the time then really?

I’m still finding it a bit tough to get the rear to slide out without under steering but maybe it will just take more practice and being more confident with the throttle.

[Cwatt79]

Originally Posted by surstromming

This is user error. You need to enable 'Traction' mode under DSC. This will disable power cuts and brake pinching unless you're waaaay out of control, and will allow you to drive more freely. You can even try 'DSC Off' but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're very confident in handling oversteer and weather conditions are good, because at that point the stability controls are completely off and where you end up (ie. wrapped around a tree if you're driving like a moron) is entirely between you and Sir Isaac Newton.

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely give this a try. Hopefully it will improve the experience, but I don't see it being as good as a true LSD. The other problem is having to activate Traction mode every time I start the car or need it. Definitely not ideal, but good to know nonetheless.

[Evilmoretea]

Originally Posted by Cwatt79

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely give this a try. Hopefully it will improve the experience, but I don't see it being as good as a true LSD. The other problem is having to activate Traction mode every time I start the car or need it. Definitely not ideal, but good to know nonetheless.

It’s even more of a pain to activate it on the new MY23 models. Instead of just pressing it once, you press it and then it opens a menu on iDrive thay you have to use to confirm which mode you want. Dynamic or DSC off

[surstromming]

Originally Posted by Evilmoretea

That’s good to hear, I was also disappointed at the lack of LSD. So I’ve been driving in “Traction” mode more often. You’d reccomend leaving that on all the time then really?

I’m still finding it a bit tough to get the rear to slide out without under steering but maybe it will just take more practice and being more confident with the throttle.

I do not recommend traction mode all of the time. If you're casually commuting to work in traffic, driving around with an elderly family member who would not be impressed by seeing you hit redline, or driving through a rain storm, you will either not benefit from having traction mode on or will wish you had the power cuts and brake pinching to catch mistakes or unexpected situations if you lose control of the vehicle.

That being said...if the weather is nice and you're out to enjoy a spirited drive, sport+ and traction mode is the way to go. The only time you'll notice any marked difference from enabling it is if you're pushing the car so hard that the stability control system would otherwise step in and say 'woah buddy you shouldn't be doing that' - exactly the kind of scenarios you're looking for in that state of mind. It's can also be beneficial in snowy scenarios where your stability control might want to, at an inopportune time, cut power to a wheel you'd really like to be spinning.

[Evilmoretea]

Originally Posted by surstromming

I do not recommend traction mode all of the time. If you're casually commuting to work in traffic, driving around with an elderly family member who would not be impressed by seeing you hit redline, or driving through a rain storm, you will either not benefit from having traction mode on or will wish you had the power cuts and brake pinching to catch mistakes or unexpected situations if you lose control of the vehicle.

That being said...if the weather is nice and you're out to enjoy a spirited drive, sport+ and traction mode is the way to go. The only time you'll notice any marked difference from enabling it is if you're pushing the car so hard that the stability control system would otherwise step in and say 'woah buddy you shouldn't be doing that' - exactly the kind of scenarios you're looking for in that state of mind. It's can also be beneficial in snowy scenarios where your stability control might want to, at an inopportune time, cut power to a wheel you'd really like to be spinning.

So far I’ve been running traction mode pretty much all the time but even when driving slow but don’t think I’ve pushed it far to require it to step in, I’m quite light on the gas.

Any idea if changing traction mode secretly effects engine or fuel economy?

[mvd_rsti]

Originally Posted by abc

so the dynamic handling pkg is primarily just upgraded brakes?

Originally Posted by surstromming

Yes. It makes sense to get it only if it's convenient up-front and you'd like the Brembos at some point; you will most certainly pay more to have the M brakes retrofit onto the car. Not for nothing you will get access to whatever the 'M Diff' sport mode configuration of the rear differential is; seems to make the car a bit more playful in edge cases ie. very aggressive track usage, powerslides. For typical daily-driving and even the most illegal spirited road usage, based on what I heard from BMW and reviewing the documentation for the differential, you will still benefit from the rear locking functionality even bone stock. It's not just the brake pinching, which occurs via DSC in every G42 and is not restricted to non-Dynamic Handling vehicles. Am happy to be fact checked here, but it came from the horse's mouth. I am a bit displeased at the lack of transparency from BMW as this information took several phone calls and emails to get a hold of; I expect part of that is to help sales of DH-equipped G42s. I imagine most buyers go into it thinking they're getting a limited slip diff for their money, when in reality it's the same open-diff rear locking hardware as the stock vehicle under the hood.

For me, I bought the car off the lot and didn't want to wait the 4-6 months to have one built to spec - I live in an area where 90%+ of the cars they ship here are built as xDrives and I wanted the RWD one, so finding one anywhere local was a blessing. I'm also going to throw a limited slip diff into the car once they're available, and have so far found the stock brakes to be more than sufficient (they're huge). Can't tell you whether to get it or not, all ya can do is try and make an informed decision that works best for you.

It's not. The ZDH Dynamic Handling package does indeed include an upgraded differential, which I was able to visually verify with someone's non ZDH equipped car, with theirs having the aluminum housing and mine having the cast housing. This was also the case with the pre-LCI G20 330i's (post LCI 330i's no longer include the upgraded differential) which was what prompted me to take a look under.