30 Jul 08
BMW has already offered Active Steering, which varies the power-assistance, weighting and ratio of the steering according to speed, steering angle and driving style, but IAS takes things a stage onward. As well as acting on the front wheels, it also adjusts the angle of the driven rear wheels - and each pair of wheels can even roll at different angles. At low speeds, this means that the already-tight turning circle is further reduced by up to 70cm: at higher speeds it leads to even greater agility, directional stability and accurate responses.
Four-wheel steering isn't exactly new - Honda offered a particularly adept system in its Prelude many years back - but this is a highly sophisticated development. Integrated with DDC, stability control and all the car's other electronics, it's a more fulfilling enhancement than the rather unnerving, unintuitive basic Active Steering found in the 5-Series.
Other new features on offer in the BMW 7-Series include infra-red night vision; a handy head-up display; subtle lane-change/blind spot warnings, with mild steering wheel vibrations to warn you when you drift; a proximity warning in the adaptive cruise control (one to go in the 3-Series to deter tailgaters, perhaps); and a speed limit display, linked to the sat nav to give a '95% accurate' warning.
All this comes in a cabin which feels more driver-focused: the gearshift lever has been moved from the dash down to its proper place in the centre console, there will be optional steering wheel-mounted paddleshifts and the dashboard design has been simplified, with fussy details removed and displays more monochromatic.
