As Clear as Mud
I think VDC is one of the more essential features of the Murano. You never know when you will need it, but it might save your life when you do. Can't really say the same about the Nav system or heated seats, so I think VCD is money well spent.
Okay, I used the US Nissan config. site to determine that FWD and VDC/TC package are compatible. Now that becomes theoretical since, in Canada, I expect that SL FWD will still not be available with TC/VDC.
Of course, my objective is to tell myself that I'm buying the SE for safety reasons, and not because I want $7,000 leather.
On a lighter note, I did a mental review of events where vehicle safety features saved my life or decreased the extent of the injury.
Before minivans were bought and used as family vehicles, high-back seats were optional, and not required safety equipment, as they were in cars, in Canada, at that time.
I bought a minivan and immediately added high-back seats. In a serious rear-end collision, I suffered a concussion and whiplash injury, but did not suffer spinal cord damage (can you say paralysis and/or death?). Nothing in my skill set could have prevented that incident, and I have to credit vehicle equipment for saving my life.
When a truck drove in front of my Volvo, I had no choice but to hit it broad-side. I was able to reduce speed, but that was it. The accordion front-end left the passenger compartment so perfectly intact that the door opened like a new car's door would, and I walked away from that one: vehicle equipment again.
Although I was taught brake pumping (a la ABS), I had never
had to use it. The one time I did, I panic-braked (Slam foot on brake. Freeze.). Until you do a thing, you have not learned it. ABS would have done the pumping for me.
I always (now) buy good, matched tires, with a spare set of winter tires (no M+S in winter in Canada). M+S let me down
once and it nearly cost my truck, my dog, and me. Never again.
So, now that I've convinced myself, and maybe contributed to someone else's decision, I just need to understand the difference:
VDC: individual power to wheels and individual braking to wheels (makes sense)
TC: ???
When it first rains, and the oil slick on the road is floating on the water, I figure the only driver skills that work are:
- get off the road
- drive very slowly
- buy a car that handles well under adverse road conditons (skill set is between ears)
- all of the above.