kigerka

Either steering is not bad. It is BMW. I prefer Active Steering. It is a good thing to have.

chicosy

I didn't know that AS had bugs... are there any?

Anyways... like all the above posts said, once you get used to AS, there's just no way you ever want to go back. It takes one day to get used to and much longer to get used to living without it.

If you have a lot of other cars you want to drive, maybe not having AS is a good thing. It allows you to switch vehicles with ease.

If you only have one car, then you shouldn't have forgotten to include it.
It's a totally different driving experience.

KariFi

Why don't you just test drive both of them? I did, and even if the regular one is far better than E39?s, AS was an easy decision. It's so fun to drive, and after getting used to it (which takes 5 min or so), you don't want to drive any car w/out it.

On slippery surfaces AS gives you a big extra advantage by correcting the steering angle automatically. This feature sounds so weird that I had to test it last winter. I was really convinced after putting it to real test on ice, w/out spikes on tires. It seems that the system has been thought through and fully tested before releasing.

Kari

kigerka

I never heard of any AS bugs either.

530E60NL

This was my biggest issue with AS. I drive several other cars and don't want to adapt every time I switch from one car to another.

DR.Z

Well I opted for standard steering on my 545i.
Believe me it wasn't an easy desision, many extended test drives , and questions like yours on the forums.

It came down to these these points for me.

1. I didn't like the feel or ride of the 18 " run flats on Cleveland roads.

2. When driving over a high level bridge on a very windy day the AS equiped car demonstrated
a correction to cross winds which was alarming to feel in a BMW.

3. Coming from a Sports equiped 330Ci the regular steering felt more connected, with better feedback. Sure the AS makes for a lighter/smaller feeling car that seems to glide on the freeway, but coming from a very agile coupe I wanted more road feel and less isolation.


4. Feeling the ratio vary while excellerating was also odd, not the same as FWD torque steer, but slightly the same in loss of road feel, the car was doing something I didn't ask it/want it to do.

5. Not that I have many cars to drive, but I do have others at home that will drive it, this too helped my decision.

6. My criteria for judging a car are Safety, firm linear Brakes, high levels of feedback from the Steering, combination of smooth ride and well calibrated suspension, and plenty of power.
The standard equiped 545 did all of these things for me, naturally, with out me having to question
my choice.

Many love the AS, and it is an increadable inovation, but bottom line it was my choice and I'm very happy both without it, and that BMW allows us a choice.

DR.Z

willbedone

Everyone, thanks for the feed back. AS sounds wonderful! But from what I have read, I will be very happy with regular steering, it still is great.

amigo525

I have a 525i with out AS and to be honest. She rides so sweet and smooth. I can hardly hear any noise.

I heard the sport package has a price to it, it adds some noise?

I have never been in a sport package 5.

saurabh

yea but you will be happier with AS...trust me its a whole different experience

Evenflow545

If "regular" steering was available with sport package, I would have gotten it.

Active steering feels a bit unnatural to me, to be quite frank.