Regarding driving with VSC disabled.
I purchased my LX a few weeks ago with a bad LF wheel speed sensor and have been driving with VSC disabled (and ABS and TRAC) since that time. To test out what behavior to expect without all the nannies, the other night I drove the truck quite hard on a section of familiar but empty, snowy mountain back road to induce understeer and kick the rear end out. No problem, with all of the driving aids disabled it reminded me of driving vehicles I grew up in: The driver may actually have to counter steer into a slide vs some electronic control removing or reducing that need. It was actually FUN to drive as long as you're comfortable with that type of driving. However, if not pushing it and driving smooth, looking ahead and braking early, non of the electronic controls are induced anyway. Even in bad conditions so VSC is somewhat moot in most driving scenarios and even less relevant in such a heavy, low power vehicle.
Hard braking tests without ABS in hard packed snow required some modulation of the brakes in a few tests otherwise same result, I, the driver, had to put some thought into driving: don't brake hard while turning in a snowy curve. Don't wait until the last minute to brake. Common sense kind of stuff. ABS comes in handy when you don't do those things or something happens unexpectedly but is really quite unnecessary if the driver is smooth, looking ahead, braking early and anticipating vehicle behavior. Of course good tires, especially snow tires in snow, make a big difference.
I took my wife out and we went through some similar scenarios as above so she knows what to expect, how to correct, etc.
I've done a bit of autocross and some HPDE open track events and usually would just turn off the ESC/ESP if possible (MkV GTI) as those tend to be quite invasive. Especially in the snow when trying to do clean hand brake turns
All this to say, I would have no problem driving with VSC, ABS and TRAC disabled and part of me feels better without it after reading some folks experiences with VSC engaging at unexpected times. ESC/ESP wasn't really common until the early 90's anyway and most folks got along just fine without it.
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