View Single Post
      10-14-2018, 07:21 AM   #4
skier219
Captain
United_States
607
Rep
969
Posts

Drives: X3 M40i, M2C, Ferrari 328
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: USA

iTrader: (0)

You know, I tend to judge steering feel by rotational feedback -- resistance to input, rate of response versus input, etc -- and don't really care about vibrations coming up from the road or engine. Modern cars have such good isolation of the steering rack and suspension components that it's rare to feel non-rotational jitters coming up through the wheel unless the rest of the car is super stiff and/or the steering bushings are very hard. Add to that electric power steering, which can also decouple some feel. So I'd say for a vehicle like the M40i, the feel is about normal but on the better side for a recent model BMW.

You want to experience numb steering in a BMW? Try the F3x generation of 3- and 4-series vehicles, especially before the 2018 LCI. The steering was completely emotionless. Hardly any rotational feedback, and very sterile feeling. It improved a bit with the 2018 LCI, and I had a 2018 F32 coupe with M-sport that had very accurate, surgical steering feel. But the lack of feedback was horrible, and very out of character for BMW. They have been building up to that with several models in recent years, with both steering and suspension -- may as well have been a Camry as far as I was concerned. I was thrilled that the G01 X3 takes us back to classic BMW feel, and from what I hear, the new G20 cars get it back too.
Appreciate 0