Comments on: 2009 BMW 7-series to offer four-wheel steering

By: maddawg0

maddawg0 — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:56:03 +0000

Its still ugly

By: JohnnyBlazE

JohnnyBlazE — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:05 +0000

The 87 Skyline was the only car earlier than the 88 Prelude to have 4WS, but this was only for high speeds… Prelude had both…

Quality stuff – yeah wiki is the way sometimes

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:33:58 +0000

JohnnyBlazE- The only reason why they had used all wheel steering on the Prelude was because it had under steer, and why it wasn’t available on the 4th gen with a new independent susp. configuration. Nice quote from wiki, by the way, wanted to look up what year

I remember a while back seeing some guy park his Prelude, it was an older model that’s all I know, and kept thinking to myself why the rear wheel was out of alignment. Maybe that was it…

I’m surprised that 4 wheel steering was available on a lot of cars in the 80’s. Honda Prelude, Nissan Skyline, Isuzu Piazza, Mazda MX-6 and RX-7, Geo Storm (not totally sure about that one), and even passive rear wheel steering on current Subaru’s. And yes, the Infiniti M and G cars have passive rear wheel steering, unfortunately only at high speeds.

By: JohnnyBlazE

JohnnyBlazE — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:47:18 +0000

My mate still has a 3rd Gen Prelude with 4WS and the pop up headlights… bless.

“In 1987, Road & Track published a test summary that shows the 1988 Honda Prelude 2.0Si 4WS out slalomed every car of that year, including all Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Porsches. It went through the slalom at 65.5 mph (105.4 km/h), an amazing result for the time. For reference, the 1988 Corvette took the same course at 64.9 mph (104.4 km/h).”

By: sportmode

sportmode — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:10:21 +0000

Probably just be offered only on the long wheelbase car Ex. (750il).

By: eliteski2

eliteski2 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:12:01 +0000

I agree that this will be a slam dunk. BMW does know what they’re doing, and generally develop very useful and practical gadgets to put on their cars. If nothing else, this option will make parking lot maneuvers real that were never possible on sedans this big before. Hell I’d get a 7 with 4 wheel steering.

By: autonut

autonut — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:37:19 +0000

I don’t understand, why RWD which inherently has shorter turning radius needs 4 wheel steering, but I am not buyer for luxury market. Perhaps it does. I’ve seen 7 being aggressively driven only in a movie.

By: shaver

shaver — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:13:59 +0000

Dont forget Infinity has active rear steer option on M45 (not actual steering). GMC with quadrasteer is amazing while towing and in parking lots, loved it. Yes they killed it, too expensive an option. I have seen one guy put the system from GMC truck on Jeep rock crawler, amazing turning radius. Very useful on trails.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:01:01 +0000

Oh… and I almost forgot, most of the original Hook-and-Ladder Firetrucks!

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:59:02 +0000

Add the Mazda 626 GT 4WS to the list of cars that had 4-wheel steering.

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:55:32 +0000

Soarer: yeah, the new 7 will be a grand slam …. it has to be

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:14:23 +0000

LexusSoarer- Yes, they canceled it not too long ago. It was pretty expensive, I believe that’s why they discontinued it; nothing to do with the reliability or performance.

By: 400horseSS

400horseSS — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:13:54 +0000

Agreed johnnycanuck

By: inline6

inline6 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:23:27 +0000

Great. More German over-engineering to go wrong and leave BMW service bays full of 7s.

By: jumpoffit

jumpoffit — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:22:13 +0000

4 wheel steering is on the Infiniti G37 and from my understanding it helps the cars performance

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:18:36 +0000

Gimmick and nothing more. Many have tried but none are still around. There’s a reason for that. That said, if any group of buyers are into complicated, unnecessary and expensive features that would be BMW’s.

By: e36m

e36m — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:52:57 +0000

4 wheel steering will certainly make auto parking easier.

By: xkr

xkr — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:45:40 +0000

great car, can’t wait to see it.

By: LexusSoarer

LexusSoarer — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:39:19 +0000

Frylock: hasn’t GM cancelled out the Quadrasteer for it’s larger trucks now? I thought I remembered reading that and wondered why as I thought the system was well made and a great idea.

By: frylock350

frylock350 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:37:17 +0000

Having driven a Silverado with Quadrasteer, its certainly useful and the 7 could really benefit from such a system. Currently the 7 has a lamer turn radius than the longer wheelbased and wider Lincoln Town Car.

By: LexusSoarer

LexusSoarer — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:29:18 +0000

4-wheel steering does have its benefits on bigger vehicles like this. It’s generally laughed at because for whatever reason it was put on vehicle in the past such as the Honda Prelude, completely unneeded on such a small car. BMW knows what it’s doing though, and I’m sure this new 7 will be a Grand Slam. The only thing that will possibly hold it back is if the styling is as “controversial” as people made the current one out to be.

By: doghis

doghis — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:22:44 +0000

this thing will rule….

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:20:24 +0000

Reminds me of the old Z, 300GT and Prelude