To sharpen handing, the front scrub radius is reduced from 2,5 to 0.5 inches; there's less friction in the
rack-and-pinion steering; and the turn circle is righter by nearly two feet.
More like a car than a gulley-climber, response so far has been uniformly approving with paeans of praise lavished on the gutsy 4.3 V8 and positive
rack-and-pinion steering.
To improve steering performance, Woychowski's team threw out the old reciprocating ball system, replacing it with a modern
rack-and-pinion steering unit, which is now mounted directly onto the engine cross member, reducing vibration.
**The Grand Cherokee now has a
rack-and-pinion steering system, too.
The
rack-and-pinion steering is perfectly weighted, at last a Merc has a manual gearbox that doesn't feel like it's come out of a Peterbilt truck, and the chassis is so forgiving, so taut and solid that it's probably one of the most undemanding sports cars in the world.
Mechanicals come courtesy of the new C-Class, with improved
rack-and-pinion steering. Mercedes insiders reckon the new SLK will offer a much more exciting driving experience than the softness of the current car.
Supplied by ZF Lenksysteme, a joint venture between ZF and Bosch, this
rack-and-pinion steering unit adds a planetary gearbox and electric motor to increase or decrease the steering angle of the front wheels.