When I bought Jake, ESP came with him but going in, it wasn't one of the things on my "must-have" list.
Knew exactly what I wanted but there wasn't one on the lot, so the spieler took my exact specs and promptly located 3 with my color and option level within a ~200 mile (?) radius -- only catch: all three had the ESP option.
We had negotiated a price already at that point and the spieler's take was -- "Okay, add the $280 to the negotiated price and we'll have it here in 2 days."
My comeback was --- "Well, I really didn't want ESP; offer it to me for half price and we have a deal."
....took them about 5 seconds to say -- Done! YMMV
Personally, I don't like it when the ESP system kicks in and takes over control of the stop and/or go pedals. I find it particularly disconcerting to be tooling along in cruise control and suddenly have the system kill power because you traversed a small puddle or a perhaps a slush row during a lane change on a snowy day. I have also had it kick in on dry pavement due to a semi-aggressive lane change at highway speeds.....it just ain't natural I tell ya!
Oh, also, when it does "kick-in", it indicates this with a bright, rapidly flashing yellow light on the instrument cluster --- yet another annoyance/distraction I could do without.
OTOH, under extreme conditions (read: you've lost control and are about to dive into a ditch or bisect a telephone pole), it just might come in handy. So, as a one-time, $280 insurance policy ($140 in my case), I suppose it's not too bad a deal.....still, not a "must-have" IMNSHO.
JJ
TDI wedding bells in NH