Prior Convictions: Back seat steering
Four-wheel steer seems like a win-win on paper, so why isn't it ubiquitous yet?
The theory behind active rear steering is straightforward enough. (M'colleague Lewis Kingston will, perhaps, be along at some point to outline it in one of his excellent 'PH Origins' columns.) When you're at low speeds, it makes the rear wheels turn against the fronts, to improve the turning circle and agility. At higher speeds (from 40mph and above, typically) it turns the rear wheels in the same direction as the fronts, to improve stability. A win-win, right?
Well, not always. Early systems were sometimes too sluggardly to turn, or made cornering too unpredictable, like a 3D movie shoving a freaking shark in your face one minute but being visually entirely bland the next. That was until five years ago, when ZF launched its AKC (Advanced Kinematics Control) system - the acronym for which kind of makes me think of fried chicken every time I read it. Mmmm...
Typically the range of adjustment can be up to five degrees or thereabouts, though most dynamics engineers will tell you that the vast majority of their work is done at considerably less than that. On full 'oppo', AKC keeps the new Rolls-Royce Phantom 8's turning circle down to just over 13m; but it's the little movements, on the way into a corner, of around one degree, possibly even less, where manufacturers seem to like the extra agility AKC can bring, or that they can fit a more direct steering rack and yet retain better higher speed stability.
But while AKC has been picked up and used by manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Porsche and Ferrari, to much greater success than any previous systems, it is still on the fringes. Since AKC's introduction, about 300 million cars have been produced worldwide, yet AKC (three piece meal with an extra piece, please) has only found its way onto around 125,000 of them.
With what success? A fair amount, mostly, although not entirely. There's that F12 Tdf, for example, where, branded as Virtual Short Wheelbase, it wanted to oversteer a lot, but seldom with any particular indication about how much it was going to. The Rolls Phantom has few dynamic vices for a car of its kind, but I wonder if some mid-corner, mid-speed steering stiction is down to its rear-steer's hesitance. And while the Porsche 911 GT3 is one of the most magnificent driver's cars on sale, and while AKC tends to be advised to just stay out of it if you're sliding, I do wonder if, in those transient cornering moments, it's making life slightly harder than no-rear-steer.
The advantages are there, then, but at the end of the day it's a by-wire system that will decide how much steering to apply how it wants, and when it wants, based on how it has been tuned during development. Perhaps little surprise, then, that Porsche does it best so far. And it'll also be interesting to see how Renaultsport - whose latest Megane gets active rear steering - will do when we say what it's like next week. If things keep progressing, perhaps active rear steer will start to become widespread on premium and sports cars, rather than a set of automotive red and blue lenses which we'll drop into the bin on our way out of the door.
Its a fascinating product (Well to me anyway haha), and watching some very large vehicles doing high speed lane changes with it with very little body roll is mind blowing.
Am I over-simplifying?
Well, not always. Early systems were sometimes too sluggardly to turn, or made cornering too unpredictable, like a 3D movie shoving a freaking shark in your face one minute but being visually entirely bland the next. That was until five years ago, when ZF launched...
Yet another copy-and-paste press release from PH. Well done guys - great checking of facts there!
I don't recall ANYONE moaning about delayed responses when the Honda Prelude was launched with 4ws in 1987. In fact, i seem to recall none other than LJK Setright praising it to the heavens and owning a Prelude pretty much from that point on.
Please see here (for a generally better article on the subject altogether, actually...not often you can say that of Autocar):-
https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/new-cars/why-ret...
Well, not always. Early systems were sometimes too sluggardly to turn, or made cornering too unpredictable, like a 3D movie shoving a freaking shark in your face one minute but being visually entirely bland the next. That was until five years ago, when ZF launched...
Yet another copy-and-paste press release from PH. Well done guys - great checking of facts there!
I don't recall ANYONE moaning about delayed responses when the Honda Prelude was launched with 4ws in 1987. In fact, i seem to recall none other than LJK Setright praising it to the heavens and owning a Prelude pretty much from that point on.
Please see here (for a generally better article on the subject altogether, actually...not often you can say that of Autocar):-
https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/new-cars/why-ret...
Long John Kick Start did a far more erudite job of explaining why it is so very good.
Well, not always. Early systems were sometimes too sluggardly to turn, or made cornering too unpredictable, like a 3D movie shoving a freaking shark in your face one minute but being visually entirely bland the next. That was until five years ago, when ZF launched...
Yet another copy-and-paste press release from PH. Well done guys - great checking of facts there!
I don't recall ANYONE moaning about delayed responses when the Honda Prelude was launched with 4ws in 1987. In fact, i seem to recall none other than LJK Setright praising it to the heavens and owning a Prelude pretty much from that point on.
Please see here (for a generally better article on the subject altogether, actually...not often you can say that of Autocar):-
https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/new-cars/why-ret...
Long John Kick Start did a far more erudite job of explaining why it is so very good.
The Honda Prelude was different in that it was a purely mechanical system. It used (IIRC) a planetary gear system to vary the amount and direction of turn based on the steering lock applied. Little lock = same direction (you could crab the car out of a tight parallel park spot); Medium lock = nothing, Large lock = opposite. From the back seat on a roundabout, it sometimes felt like oversteer (which it was, but controlled!). Because it is mechanical, it is predictable, and hence exploitable.
out the extra for that option for a second! While the tighter turning circle
than a Clio is useful, that occupies so little of my driving time it barely
counts.
At 4am I can set the cruise control to 62mph and just steer until I reach
the lower speed limits - we don't have motorways in East Anglia - but
other than on roads with tight 90 degree bends the car just goes where
I point it with me rarely touching the brake pedal. On more "spirited"
runs I can steer with a confidence not found in other cars I've owned.
I'm disappointed that the new Alpine A110 doesn't have 4Control, but I
don't think it'll be long for it to appear as an option on future models.
Regards,
Steve
Check out this link - the rear steering is shown at 2 minutes....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNhQzeIGZ_8
I believe that LJKS said it was more relevant to everyday driving that 4 wheel drive.
I actually preferred the older mechanical 4ws to the later electronic system.
The first time I brought a 4ws car home, I got to my usual turn in point, chucked it on full right lock and nearly parked on my neighbour's drive
Loved it!!
Also had a Volvo 850GLT with passive rear wheel steer for a few months and it's a toss up with that and R19 16v phase 2 for best front wheel drive car I've driven. That includes 205GTI, Golf GTi mk1 and 2 and Mi16 405.
Actually I've drive some fun cars, maybe there's a t-shirt there...
I might be old but I got to drive all the great cars.!
Ruined reversing for me though. Ever since I've struggled with 'ordinary' steering, especially reversing into tight spaces - the ludes were so much better.
And I completely lost the ability to reverse-park a 2WS for a while.
Much as my wife loves driving the 86, she still reckons the 'Lude was the better-handler. I maintain they're just completely different.
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