Do you feel active steering help in the snow?
 

Has anyone with active steering noticed any benefit with it in the snow? I read about how it ties in with stability control and that the active steering can actually counter steer when the car detects the rear end coming out. But is this only at high speeds? That's where the literature is vague.

Its not hard to tell the difference between a car with stability control and one without. I am just curious if you can feel the active steering "saving" you, as you can with the dsc.

I have a 4.8 on order for the wife with active steering, and I'm just curious about how it works in the real world.

Thanks,
David

I think you must be driving like an ass to oversteer the X5 in the snow...
I drove mine through the snow last week and had to shut off DTC and all the bells to have her oversteer (intentionally)
Under normal driving conditions on snow, having dynamic steering (I don't have it) will not get you out of trouble, the DTC and DSC however will...

The active steering doesn't counter steer for you. The only mechanical operation of active steering is a change of steering rack ratio. It will compensate if you over correct by reducing the ratio.

"Active Front Steering is able to stabilise the car by intervening in the steering angle of the front wheels, thus providing a slight correction of the yaw angle. And by dampening yaw movements at an early point, Active Front Steering reduces intervention by DSC in the lower range, the two systems thus forming a perfect team." - www.bmw.com.au

"If the vehicle is threatened with instability, such as by oversteering or braking on a changeable surface, DSC identifies the problem and can use Active Steering to help overcome it. For example, in order to reduce unsafe yaw, Active Steering can increase the angle of steering wheels faster than even the most expert driver." - BMW automobiles - website of the BMW AG

I agree that more oversteer would make the car better in the snow. Plowing, or push understeer, is the scariest thing to me. My 550i with snows is a joy to handle on snow. I turn in, the little front tires bite and the rear swings wide. The DSC intervenes and straightens me out. This happens in 50% of the turns I take in snow (I don't drive slowly in the snow). But with our old E53 X5, if you went in to a bend too fast in the snow (with snow tires), the front washed out for a few seconds before DSC kicked in . The solution was to crank the wheel and hit the gas. Does the active steering help in this situation? (I'm asking b/c I am taking delivery of a 4.8 w/active steering in 2 weeks)