Quote:
Originally Posted by MaestroAl
Going from 15:1 to 14.5:1 != "a much sportier rack" so it's just marketing calling it sporty. There are only a handful of humans who would notice the difference and the feel would be identical since it's the Servotronic element that stiffens the steering up in the various adaptive modes.
You also then went on to say that Servotronic makes parking easier which, yes it kinda does because it makes the steering lighter at slow speeds, isn't what you're referring to, I don't think, since VSS is the topic. And VSS makes parking easier by allowing you to turn the wheel through fewer degrees to achieve tight turning angles so that's not a function of the Servotronic bit.
The reality is that the only benefit anyone will get from VSS is easier parking. That means that calling it Variable Sport Steering is misleading and therefore marketing BS 
-edit- You can do the maths easily enough on the steering angles we're talking about here. At 90* of lock, which is a pretty tight, relatively slow turn, the difference in steering angles between Servotronic and VSS would be 3*. Could anyone notice 3* difference in the lock on their wheel? Really? And that's the absolute maximum difference in normal driving. obviously it's much more in parking but that's kinda my point  At a normal 0 to 45 degree steering input which is where most of us spend our lives, even on spirited B-road driving, you're talking between 0 and 1.5 degrees of difference in the steering angle. It's bugger all and I'd maintain that a 3% difference in steering input does not a "sporty" rack maketh In fact, it's barely even visible. |
So nothing I said is actually wrong then. The rack ratio is not 14.5:1, that is just mid point. The
overall ratio is much faster than the standard rack.
I know which steering system I'd perefer up here, driving some of the twisty stuff, the VSS with a faster rack (overall ratio). Much easier to throw the car though 90-degree turns and hairpins.
BTW, I'm not confused with how servotronic works. It is the ability of servotronic to give the 'comfort feeling' with a faster ratio, that makes parking with a faster rack possible. Otherwise it would be very heavy with the speed of the rack towards lock. At speed in the twisty turns you have fast reactions with sensible weighting.
For me it is a 'win, win' piece of kit. A little faster mid position, faster on the turns, junctions, and twisty road driving. Easy parking thrown in.
HighlandPete