What nannies do these cars have? Standard or optional? Can they be turned off? Are some desirable, others to be avoided? Thanks.

 

Well they all have abs, then you either have asc or dsc. Dsc is the more desirable I believe. There's a toggle on the toggle bank to turn it off.

 

My 2003 R50 has ABS (as do all) but I have neither ASC nor DSC.
Not missing it, either.

 

GEN1 S (R53) has ASC standard and DSC optional. There is a button to disable it, but this must be done each time you start unless the car is modified (there is a plug in module).

In simple terms ASC works for forward motion, DSC adds a lateral component. If you go back to the early days there were a lot of folks who REALLY disliked DSC which came as part of the SPORT package as I recall.

 

ABS is great, unless there's snow and ice, in that case, I prefer non-abs.

As for ASC (the one I have), I rather not have it at all. That thing was annoying me when I first bought my Mini (December) and had to drive it during winter. It was constantly preventing the tires from spinning and made it impossible to get up a small incline. Put that off and it was a great little car in the snow. It no longer see snow, but I have it auto-disabled by the Ian's Culls module on startups.

 

Answer ...
Depends...
I
On most years and packages (very early launch cars only had abs if I recall), ASC+t was standard, and DSC was an optional upgrade, that often came as part of a package...
Here is the trick...
Many cars had the switch panel swapped, so many cars are not even labeled right...folks just hated the blank switch spot....
So you want too look at the vin# and or the dsc pump located by the base of the driver side window vent area under the hood to be sure...

 

And one tidbit...
Untuned, the dsc sucks ..while capable, if reduces the power by about 50% if it senses wheel spin...
If you get the car tuned, the dsc can be tweaked...mine was by Jan of RMW...and it never bothered me again.....
Reality is, the actions of the dsc unit can be a lifesaver...activating brakes individually to keep the car on its intended path...something NO DRIVER CAN DO....when tweaked it is truely awesome...
In stock setup..it will annoy you every time you hit a patch of pavement with a bit of sand....