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      06-20-2012, 02:46 PM   #77
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Drives: 2011 328i LMB 6MT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tony20009 View Post
This may be a stupid question, but what are the benefits of EPS? And here's my next stupid question: what's broken about hydraulic steering?

I'm just curious. I've heard the rants about EPS. I've driven with it myself and, compared to what my e92 feels like, I'm not nuts about it, but I can live with it.

As a practical matter, I'm not likely to buy an M3 (or M anything else) unless there arises a new reason more compelling than those that existed over the past quarter century.
You do save a little gas with the EPS. For a high powered luxury cars like BMW, this is a very tiny effect. But if you have a small, light car with a small engine, every little bit helps.

In addition, EPS is more compact, easier to tune, and also cheaper to produce. Again, none of these is critical to cars like BMW, but they matter a lot to mainstream cars.

So why do these factors affect our cars? I would guess that the suppliers will simply not develop or produce HPS any more. Keep in mind that both Porsche and BMW are buying their steering system from ZF. If parts companies like ZF no longer wants to maintain HPS line, which would be a wise business move as 99% of the market would not miss HPS, then you have no other choice but to tune the EPS the best you can.

Or you can make your own steering rack, but apparently nobody does that any more.
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