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EPS is fine for the appliances most people drive.
Most good cars use HPS, but if you've never driven a sporting car with Armstrong power steering, you should.
You will feel EVERYTHING.
hmm I've driven Toyota van with non powered recirculating-ball steering and it's actually fairly light once the vehicle starts to crawl. But that's probably due to the lower friction of that system compared to rack & pinion.
I personally prefer the feel or a sporty hydraulic setup
Not all hydraulic setups are the same. Within a specific model year gap, there were numerous changes to the racks Torsion Rod, and spool valve that really change the feel and assist level of racks on certain models. There's enough of a difference that changing from one rack to another's is a HUGE difference in road feel and performance and desirable for sporty feel.
Electric steering is a totally different animal. I've driven it, and it's like driving a forklift. No real feel or road input. IIRC, infiniti recently switched back to a hydraulic rack from the G37 in it's Q50 sport to get back the road feel a lot of driver's complained was lost in a full electric system
I personally prefer the feel or a sporty hydraulic setup
Not all hydraulic setups are the same. Within a specific model year gap, there were numerous changes to the racks Torsion Rod, and spool valve that really change the feel and assist level of racks on certain models. There's enough of a difference that changing from one rack to another's is a HUGE difference in road feel and performance and desirable for sporty feel.
Electric steering is a totally different animal. I've driven it, and it's like driving a forklift. No real feel or road input. IIRC, infiniti recently switched back to a hydraulic rack from the G37 in it's Q50 sport to get back the road feel a lot of driver's complained was lost in a full electric system
the discussion is EPS (electrically assisted) vs HPS. THe DAS from infiniti is a completely different system and i agree is overly complex and unnessary.
My three Toyota's have hydraulic assisted steering, and boy are then numb. I came across TTAC article that mentioned "on center dead spot" to identify my biggest gripe with them: any pressure on the wheel makes them turn. Overboosted, but with no dead spot in center it makes looking away for a second a bit iffy.
Not sure how EPS could be worse. Guess I'll find out in a few years.
My three Toyota's have hydraulic assisted steering, and boy are then numb. I came across TTAC article that mentioned "on center dead spot" to identify my biggest gripe with them: any pressure on the wheel makes them turn. Overboosted, but with no dead spot in center it makes looking away for a second a bit iffy.
Not sure how EPS could be worse. Guess I'll find out in a few years.
Yup one of the biggest advantage of EPS is that surface imperfections have absolutely no effect on the direction of the wheels.
Try EPS out, it's surprisingly very different to hydraulic.
I was raised on no power steering at all. They didn't have power steering on tractors or 2 ton trucks back then but then again, cars were few that power steering. My first car with power steering was a 60 Chevrolet Impala convertible 348. Smooth steering by comparison to no power at all. But you still had feedback from the steering wheel about what was happening where the tires met the road. It was a drivers dream. I've had many cars and trucks over the years but the newest have the electric steering and I'm not a fan. There is zero feedback and zero failsafe. There have already been failures of the drive units on the electric steering boxes and the results were not good for the drivers. At least when the hydraulic steering went out, you still had steering, heavy but it was still there. There is no "feel" for the road at all and it's numb at best. It does take some getting accustomed to, at least for me and the wife. Makes me wonder what if your vehicle dies in the middle of an intersection and the battery pukes. So how are you supposed to steer the POS out of the way? Sorry, this is a bad idea from top to bottom. The electrical demands on the current vehicles are incredible with electric everything- drive by wire, windows, doors, fans, HVAC, navigation, communications, ignition, transmission control, etc. They're putting far too much on the electrical system that's at least 60 year old technology. The current 12 volt system has been outdated for decades. Adding electric steering just expands the issue.
I used to hate EPS until I've driven several sporty versions and it's much more superior when computer assisted and programmed with multiple settings. Almost all new sports and sporty cars have different settings and programs to change the characteristics of the steering. It's a lot safer to have EPS for avg folks that don't have quick hands.
Yeah in general EPS feels safer. It may not seem like so, but if you try both HPS & EPS back to back - EPS allows for a far more relaxed, safe and predicable drive experience. Simply put the car points exactly where you shoot, just like a point n shoot camera.
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