bigs

Yesterday I got to thinking about the first time I ever saw - and took a ride in - a GTS, as the passenger. It was a brand new one, back in the day, at my local dealership.

The owner of the dealership, who is a pretty good personal friend, took me for a little demo ride in a brand spanking new GTS - A/T

During the ride, he made the comment that the computer instructs the car to respond based on how you drive the car. If you drive the car quite aggressively and in a sporting manner, the computer will gradually "sense" that style of driving and will make throttle response and gear shifts quicker.

OTOH, if you drive the car sedately, the computer will also sense that and will change throttle response and gear shifts to a more leisurely timing.

Is this true? Or was he handing me a line!

Randy V

Yes.

Re-set the brain by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes.

Then drive the car like a madman.

The brain re-maps the parameters to a more aggressive engine management profile.

Git 'er done!

Ron_H

I don't have the slightest idea about that computer business, but I think there are lots of people who get things for which they are not working, 'cause I certainly don't get all the things for which I work. There. Whatchathink about them apples, bunky??

bigs

AMEN!

No, wait... AMEN!

justin

Is this just on GT's and GTS's?

Imo000

As far as I know the early 32Vs are like this and maybe the '85-'86 Euros too.

John Speake

The early 32v 85/86 and 84/86 Euros have no "adaptation parameters".

All 928s >MY87 have LH ECUs that adapt. But they are not adapting to driving style. They adapt to, and store correction values that are used to keep the car running as best as possible under all conditions. This is done by monitoring the O2 loop and then adding compensation values to keep the loop centred as much as possible under all conditions. So you need to drive the car under a variety of conditions for 10 miles or so to fully adapt. And part of that adaptation will require you to put the pedal to the metal.....

But it is not exactly "adapting to driving sytle" just "adapting to all driving styles".

bigs

So...

Presuming the previous owner indeed subjected the car to pretty much all driving styles, is there anything to be gained by my disconnecting the battery, "re-setting" the computer, and then driving like a bat out of hell?

daveo90s4

I too 'feel' that my car performs better after an 'Italian tune up'. So do many owners. I am also very very inclined to accept the comments that the 928 does not actually learn to perform better, the harder it is driven. My rational mind therefore brings me to the debatable view that my car does not necessarily perform better at all after a spirited drive - rather it is more that I am feeling the dopamine / endorphine high of having driven like hades and not having got caught / killed (just like our distant forebears felt when they'd escaped from a wolf / leopard). In other words, maybe it is all in the mind, but as they say, perception is reality. Irrespective of the thruth, I'll still go with the Italian tune up and legal drug hit next time I get the (legal) chance!! :-)

Ron_H

I think Dave's reasoning is correct. It just "feels" better when you're loaded from a spirited run.

bigmac

Last fall after a spirited drive chasing Andrews SC'ed GTS, both Chaad & I noted that our 88 and 90 S4 ran better. Is this real?? Mac

chaadster

Yeah, and in addition to that, after I got my LH rebuilt by Speake/JDS, I felt that it was running even better than before. She's still going strong, too.

jon928se

OK so we've proved the "adaptive brains" theory is false (JDS told us so therefore it is false)

my personal theory - 928s just get grumpy if they are not driven - therefore they are female - so what

the brakes seem to go mouldy (I can't think of a better description) when they don't get used - A few hundred k's (bugger I've started talking like an OZy already, read miles for ks) of spirited driving seems to get rid of the damp that causes the mould.

In short don't neglect your 928 - constant driving attention will reap rewards.

John Speake

I think there is a consensus that ideally a 928 should be driven regularly - anyway that's my excuse for going on unecessary journeys in mine :-)

928drvr86.5

I totally agree with this consensus. At some point probably many years from now i will be able to say that i wore out a 928 as opposed to becoming it's "previous owner". Call me crazy but if that car sits a few weeks for whatever reason, when i drive it again it does not run as well as it did when i parked it.