Maybe it was just a Friday afternoon sugar slump and failure to indulge fast enough in the posh biscuits Matt kindly bought for the office. But when a press release landed today announcing Ford's new steering system I felt a genuine sense of gloom and despair.
I had a brew and a biscuit. No, still there.
Vorsprung durch technik Lambo could do without
Why so downbeat? Well, the press release proudly revealed a new active Adaptive Steering system to be rolled out from next year on as-yet unspecified Fords. Like BMW's Variable Sports Steering and Audi's Dynamic Steering (the latter 'gifted' to the Lamborghini Huracan), Adaptive Steering constantly varies the gearing between the input at the steering wheel and output at the tyres according to speed and need. And I reckon this is the far more pernicious threat to steering feel than the
much discussed
move to electric assistance.
"This new steering technology can make any vehicle easier to manoeuvre and more fun to drive," says Raj Nair, Ford's VP for Global Product Development.
I should probably wait until I've driven a car fitted with it before passing judgement. But I won't. I think that's complete tosh. Furthermore, where exactly is the demand for this gimmickry coming from? Who drives a mainstream modern car and feels strongly enough that the steering effort and gearing is so intrusive they need to lobby the manufacturer for further electronic intervention? For crying out loud, if you really can't hack arm twirling at parking speeds you can already spec your Focus with a self-parking system to spare you the effort.
BMW M doesn't like variable racks either
What's the problem with these systems? The Dynamic Steering on the Lamborghini Huracan highlighted it perfectly. The idea is that at low speeds the gearing is as high as 9:1, reducing the amount of steering input to help parking and low speed manoeuvring. Above 30mph it relaxes to as low as 17:1. Fine for city driving. But the Huracan is a supercar, supposedly for keen drivers.
With further time for reflection much of the understeer reported on in pretty much every Huracan roadtest - including mine - can I think be attributed to this variable rack. If you're a driver of even moderate track ability you should, after a couple of laps, be able to confidently say 'at a given speed if I hold half a turn of lock from turn-in point x, it should carry me to apex point y and then exit point z.' But what if you arrive at the corner a little bit faster than the previous lap? The steering 'relaxes' to give you your Autobahn sneeze factor, you get less steering angle at the front wheels for the same wheel input and it feels like the car is going to go straight on. Panicked you try and dial in a bit more lock but with the rack now literally half as direct as it was the previous lap you feel like there's nothing happening. Even if the front tyres were letting go and the car understeering you wouldn't feel it through the wheel - exactly the sensation in the Huracan.
AMG is resisting the move to variable steering
First world problems for Lamborghini drivers who ticked the wrong option box but one of the great joys of even basic Fords like the shopping trolley Shed Fiesta I bought recently is the positive and predictable handling widely attributed to the influence of Richard Parry-Jones. You don't need a 610hp V10 to appreciate that. Maybe Parry-Jones needs to stop playing with trainsets (OK, he's in charge of the UK's entire rail network - some trainset) and get back to steering the, um, way Fords steer.
Maybe I'm being unduly pessimistic. Maybe Ford's excellent track record for democratised dynamics will deliver a system that covers all bases. But after driving the Audi system in both the RS5 and Huracan and noting that M binned the BMW equivalent for the M3/M4 and developed its own rack I don't think it's unreasonable to act a bit Luddite. There are rays of hope - respect to AMG for sticking to its purist guns, ditching the standard A-Class family variable rack and equipping the A-, CLA- and GLA45 with a linear one instead. But with Ford now joining the premium brands in offering this technology that kind of diehard mindset is going to become increasingly rare as these systems spread to more everyday cars.
Bah humbug. Pass the biscuits.
