urbo73

Sorry, but a perfect example why AS is S T U P I D. Lazy people... Christ!

jochet

When the E60 was first released I had to test drive the car that I had been reading about for over a year. I did not like its looks inside or out, and thought active steering was dangerous. The 545's weren't out yet but from that test drive I could see no reason to trade my 2002 330i in early. Eleven months later with my lease almost up and having read many posts from member of this forum I drove a 2004 545i. I was blown away, this car cannot be appreciated from a 30 min test drive. This car gets better everyday, active steering and suspension are very cool technologies. My car is glued to the road, it does not wander on the highway, and road feel is not sacrificed. I have owned four BMW's in the last five years, this car is just amazing. Some drivers may not agree, thats fine, maybe some drivers just could not come up with the extra bucks, that fine too, but saying that having active steering is for lazy people is assinine. IMHO

streak

I tested the steering in the car park, less than a full turn from stright to full lock. So I guess it is working but in the tight parking lot I park in frequently I dont find it any easier with the loan car with AS.

Where there is a huge difference is between our X5 and my E60 as far the lightness of the steering is concerned, same lightness with or without AS.

Streak

GER_545SMG

I totally agree with KenTOm, but acknowledge that it's a personal taste thing. I recognize it's benefits, but I'd prefer not having it as I too feel that it diminishes road feel. I'm guessing that BMW M feels the same way since AS is not part of the upcoming M5.
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Right on! I agree completely. AS is lame - sorry! The M5 got it right if it doesn't have this gimmick. It's the only reason I opted out of the sports package on my car. It's up there with Adaptive Cruise Control in terms of sillyness to me. *I* like to drive my car.... how lazy are people getting? It's scary. I like the BMW ad where they show a guy driving through cones in one instance with and in one instance w/o AS. I almost burst out laughing at how lame and pointless it was.
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NOT lazy...Efficient!

KenTO

I think it is the type of driving you prefer. Let's face it, the only benefit of AS is in parking situations. And I agree, how hard is it to turn the steering wheel? In the recent issue of Motortrend (March 2005) the BMW 530i came in third in a sports sedan comparison test, and one of the reasons was the AS (the first place finisher was Infiniti).

I like a sportier ride with a predictable feel. The problem with AS is that the steering angle is speed dependant. This can cause problems in which you are both steering and slowing down, for example, going into a turn where you are turning but are also slowing down, now you have to correct for AS, which makes it less predictable. I know, that ideally you are accelerating through a turn, but nobody drives perfectly all the time.

I still feel that BMW without AS has the best steering wheel feel. The M5 does not have AS.

It is a technological solution that never really had a question. How many times in your previous cars did you think that the steering in parking situations is really difficult?

BMW's should be driver's cars. Some technology works well, for example, dynamic drive, to keep the car planted. Some not so well. Some are not as important.

Had I had to pick my car again, I still would have gotten the 545, but with a manual transmission and dynamic drive, with aftermarket F1's on 19" rims, and still with Nav and PDC, but I still would leave out the AS. To me, this is the ultimate sports sedan (short of the M5).

P.S. Don't drive the car with one hand, it's a BMW. Both hands at 3 and 9 clock, thumbs hooked around the wheel, its what the race drivers do. This allows you to control during emergency situations.

DR.Z

I have posted to this subject before and after 6 months of driving my feelings are unchanged.
There were three issues that made me opt not to get AS.

1) When I straight line excellerated I could feel the streering ratio vary , now this wasn't as startling as FWD torque steer, but was a weird sensation behind the wheel of a BMW.

2) During an extended test drive I traveled over a very high level highway bridge on a windy day. I waited for the right day to do this, winds were pretty gusty. I was being pushed around
and again this felt un-natural to me, now it didn't cause me to white knuckle the streering wheel
but any correction that might be needed I would like to make myself. It made me wonder how it would feel if the bridge was ice covered, which it is many times during the winter, and I travel this bridge many times a week.

3) Long term reliability, a new technoligy, with many sensors, software, motors and added gears gave me second thoughts. The DC motor that controls the planitary gears is always running, either with the angle for added assist, or against the angle for less assist. This makes me question long term life of said DC motor.

I do miss not getting Sports Package as I really dig the active sways, but at the time AS was not a stand alone option in the US , as I understand it now is. Maybe coming from a 330Ci I liked the heavier streeing, or more wieghted feel if you will, it felt more secure to me. I do agree AS does make the E-60 feel much lighter and agile to some, but that's not really why I moved up to a larger BMW. Even the AS didn't make the E-60 as tossable as the 330, just added a layer of technology , inovative as it might be, that I didn't ask for.

DR.Z

300TTto545

People are definitely opinionated about AS (and a little rude IMO). We might as well make up a poll. I am in the definitely like column. As for someone who said it is only useful for parking - not really true. Helps with high speed maneuvers as well. As far as high speed stability - I have to think some people are regurgitating magazine articles.

This reminds me a lot of the debate about 4 wheel steering on the 300zx. People would disable it (and call it unnatural and dangerous etc.) Most of the people who disabled it were interested in driving at the track. Yes - I agree - that I would not have AS in a track car. I wouldn't have dynamic drive either. Nor DSC. Nor Logic 7. Nor .......

There are plenty of track racers who did think the 4WS helped once you got used to it but in the end, you could save weight with it disabled and nothing beats that.

For most of us, life is not a track. It is about maneuvering in a variety of situations. AS and Dynamic Drive are 2 of the most driver oriented innovations in the last few years. Driver-oriented does not have to equal track-oriented. I'm sorry - my life requires that I drive with one hand sometimes.

I do think purists should be able to order the sport package without AS and dynamic drive. But then again, you can just add a tighter suspension later. The dynamic drive is a little unnatural too when you get right down to it....

ULtraPLanet

That's just scary What happens when your car corrects for a sudden gust and the car in the lane next to you doesn't?

I was really excited about trying AS during my test drive but could get past that feeling. No AS here.

colejl

What would be great is the ability to configure it via iDrive

You could change the sensitivity or even 'disable' it by giving a constant ratio.... I guess some feel would still be lost even in 'constant' mode.

I love mine but it can feel a bit vague especially on slippery surfaces - it's hard to judge the amount of grip at the front. Once you're used to it you just can't drive other cars!

swajames

Not sure about the suggestions that it was active steering which was somehow responsible for "correcting" the car in crosswinds. Here in California (Bay Area) we have some freeways where you get a little tramlining from time to time (seems to be more prevalent on run flats), I never get the sense that AS makes any "corrections" for that and I wouldn't have assumed it would (in itself) do much re crosswinds - the car as a whole keeps itself on track. Did I miss something?