Hey Guys.

So my lease is coming up and I am leaving the 5 series world for a bit to try out the new F30 335. I am coming here as I know you have all the info about our beloved E60 and maybe you can help me out.

I have my final build almost done. I am on the fence about variable steering but I am not sure if it will help what Im worried about. I am coming from an 09' 535i and really liked its steering. The car definitely had fluid steering and at low/all speeds took little effort to steer but still kept good feel on the road.

Anyway I took the 535i in for service yesterday and was given a stock 2011' 328i with almost no options. The steering on this car really took me back. It felt heavy/raw to steer especially at low speeds (ie: pulling out of a driveway, parking, etc.). Almost as if it did not have power steering. It had the some of the same feel at high speeds as well.

I actually would have thought it was just the 328 they had given me but I was given one loaner first but had to bring it back right away as it had a check engine light turn on right away. The steering was the same in both.

My 09 535 has the following options:

Premium Package
Sport Package
Sport Automatic Transmission
Navigation
Heated Steats


Not one of these has to do with steering directly. Why is the steering on my 535 so much smoother? Is it a totally different system? I was looking at the Variable Steering in the 335 I am going to order but I did not have this in my 535 and had no problems with steering at slow speeds.

Is the new steering system in the 335 going to be similar to my 535? Is variable steering the answer or is that just another added feature?

 

Yes, I have now 335i as loaner, so it has a hard steering. But I remember E46 M3 steering, that was something, very hard. I guess, 3-series don't have variable steering.

 

i have/had active steering on my 550/545 which came standard on the sport package. I have had mulitple X5's without active steering. The wife did not want the option on her X5 and didn't really feel it added anything and would rather get other stuff than the AS. It is nice but I did have major issues on the 545 and had the entire system replaced thankfully under warranty. You will need to drive one yourself to decided if it is a must have option. If the wife can handle it on an X5 with 20/275's it must not be that awesome.