ABS or not

I thought ABS was standard on the model, an expensive option at $2000 I would not bother. If you learn correct threshold braking technique you will out brake ABS on dirt roads anyway. Cheers Rob

abs great on bitumen but can be nightmare on dirt especially when towing so much i sold my patrol with abs and repurchased patrol without abs.didnt know you could disable abs by removing fuse,some people on this site have installed a switch in their vehicles to turn off abs as desired.

off the topic but does this model have 17 inch rims,very limited tyre choices and virtually no 17 inch replacements away from cities

The effectivness of ABS can vary quite dramatically from car to car. I've never driven a patrol with ABS on dirt but I have driven a number of vehicles with ABS and had to use it. (I do about 1000ks a week).

My expereinces on road with ABS are nothing but supurb. In fact if I was buying a family sedan or wagon I would never skimp on paying the extra for ABS. It's truley a life saver. (yes threshold braking works, but there are somtimes other facters. eg braking while turning on uneven surface while hitting some oil etc etc etc). It only takes a second of wheel lock up to loose your steering at the most important time and hit somthing or someone.

My experiences on Dirt roads and in Mud have been quite scarey. Strangley Enough I found the BA Falcon's ABS better in Mud than the Subaru Forrester! ?? work that one out!? (Mind you it was the only thing I could find that I would call good from the BA) LOL

I've also driven a GU in the wet and had to stop in a hurry. The thing locked up faster than I could poke my toung out and it was like watching a kid on a slippery dip.

Considering the majority of most people's drivig is done on road I'd pay the extra if I had the option of disabling it.

Hi Paul,

I have a GU ST and went the option of the safety pak (now the ST-S model). IMHO ABS brakes should be mandatory on every new vehicle these days. They are such a life saver on-road that it should be thought of just like seat belts. Unlike airbags, which only help you in a collision, ABS may prevent a collision in the first place.

My wifes vehicle is a people mover and ABS has saved her and my 2 kids in a freeway incident. A vehicle slightly in front of her crashed into the guard rail and richoceted into her lane at 100 km/hr. She hit the brakes hard and managed to steer into the next lane. Without ABS she would have skidded straight into the vehicle. So what could have been a tragedy was simply a near miss. While she also had airbags which "may" have saved her, the ABS prevented the collision in the first place.

I have used my ABS on gravel and I reckon it stops as quick, if not quicker, than I can without it! It has a very long "on" cycle and is supposedly tuned for gravel roads by swapping to a different progam (not sure how, maybe by deceleration rate). Bottom line is, I actually now prefer it on gravel. Others have a different opinion, but they may have the earlier model ABS with different programming.

While I bought my vehicles, I got ABS for the type of reason my wife experienced, the fact this happened has confirmed my opinion that ABS should be mandatory. Even if they do compromise offroad performance, that is such a small price to pay.

While you may think you can use threshold braking (I have been to Driver training courses and practised it), in a real incident it would be hard to actually use. Also, do you think your wife would be able to use threshold braking in an incident? There will be times when you are not the driver and a less expereinced person will be at the wheel.

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now, but I do hope you seriously think about getting ABS.

Cheers

Captain