Or is it a complete waste of an estimated $775?

Can this package actually be felt (impact) your G's performance?


discuss the topic here...

 

your choices are 2 opposite ends of the spectrum. the answer most ppl will choose is in the middle.

i have it on mine - not by choice, but this was in stock at the dealer and was the color/option package i wanted except the RAS, so i just got it.

can i feel the differnce? yes. is it worth $700 to 90% of drivers out there who just enjoy driving fast on the street? no. is it worth it to someone trying to shave a sec off their lap time? yes.

 

To those that voted no... you really need to drive the two, back-to-back. In fairness, the way the poll is worded makes it sound a LOT worse than it should. But that's another thing all together...

I waited 2 years before buying my G, driving the 03's first time around. I originally wanted a loaded aero package sedan. Drove a few of those. Really nice sedan and a super value when aimed at the 3 series BMW's. Then I made the mistake of driving a coupe a few months later. ****... I was hooked, through and through. This one was an auto and I still totally loved it. But the timing wasn't right as I didn't want any car payments at the time because we were selling our house and buying a new one. The last freaking thing you want to do when you're about to step up to a $300,000 mortgage (and about to file disability) is go out and finance a car. So I waited and waited, and waited. We moved in 2004 to the new house and only ended up with a $245,000 mortgage which helped a lot, but now on one steady income (hers), although I do home theater consulting and design on the side plus my investments. That's all good though.

Finally in Feb of this year I decided I couldn't wait any longer, had the cash to pay for the car and really liked the 06's. I honestly didn't go in that day to buy the car (although I did take my checkbook just in case), but honestly wanted to look at the new blue color that came out this year. But I just couldn't get away from my first choice of Laser Red. That was the color of the first coupe I drove in 03, and another one in 04. (Metallic Fire red for the sedan.)

Anywho... the day I bought my 06 I drove an auto without rear steer, and it was everything I remembered it to be. But that little bug in my ear kept reminding me that the manual had 298HP and I couldn't get away from it. So, I gave in and said I'd just 'try it' for a test drive to see if I really wanted an auto or not. The problem was that the only red one they had was with the rear steer. My sales girl was really into the car and we spent 30 minutes on a test drive the first time then when I mentioned I wanted to 'try' the 6 speed she was all over it. Come to find out, she can't drive a stick, and had not been in the 06 coupe with a stick yet so it was a new thing for both of us. Same test drive, same roads but with rear steer this time. (plus I burned off at least $100 of rubber from the rears checking out the limited slip rear end!)

Dudes... (and Dude-ets)... the difference isn't all that subtle to me. At least that day it wasn't. I was able to take a narrow hilly twisty switchback road at speeds that made her giggle. The darned thing doesn't even *hint* at tire squeal, it just goes where I put it. Pot holes and crap in the road... no problem, just flick it around anything and it goes.

Since then, I've had the best time driving the country roads around here at speeds that will surely land me in jail if I get caught. I'm talking about Go Directly To Jail, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200!!! Country roads at night are more fun than they should be. Thanks to the bi-xenon lights and the rear steer. Not talking about 60 in a 35 or 45, more like 85~95 and stable as it gets. Gotta' stop doing it at night though because the freaking deer don't care what kind of steering and headlights I've got.

I mentioned to my daughter how much fun it was on one certain road and that I'd have to start doing it during the day to see how fast I could really go and feel comfortable with it. Her reply was "Dad, there are cars on it during the day, LOTS OF CARS!".

Personally I think the way the system is designed is what makes it feel so natural. It's not like you take a tie-rod and turn the wheels left and right. It's a rack and pinion that ever so lightly pulls or pushes on the lower suspension arm. The rest are still stationary but by moving the lower arm you change not just toe-in/toe-out, but camber AND castor as well. The end result is the tire isn't just turning but leaning as well in the direction it needs to go.

As for the price of the system, I'm not sure if $775 is good or not considering it's just one rack, electrically driven. But then there's the computer interface as well. Compare this system though to the one that GM used on the Tahoe's, Suburbans and larger pickups, (2500 and up) where that option was $1900!!! Yikes! We drove Tahoe's for 10 years and almost bought a Suburban with the rear steer package. The wife loved it because she could whip that 3 ton sucker around like a Camry. Actually at the time they were comparing it to the turning radius of a Camry, (it will turn tighter than the Camry). That system though had a different axle (a front axle actually) in the rear. The Infiniti system is much more suited for what it's doing as it doesn't take much to make it really move the car. Does anyone remember the rear steering that Mazda had a while back on the RX8? It didn't have any moving parts at all. It had what amounted to a hunk of rubber with metal sleeves that the half shafts ran through and would distort a given amount when pressure was applied either under power or under braking while turning. Rather ingenious of them to come up with it like they did but the problem was the rubber would deteriorate with time which made it impossible to get the rear end aligned properly as it would change depending on the load in the car at the time. Still cool engineering at the time though. But nowhere NEAR AS COOL as the Infiniti system that we've got now.

I'm really glad I waited on the 06, especially glad that I paid cash for it. What with insurance literally KILLING us about now. I mean we've got a 90 Accord that my daughter has been driving to school (54,441 one owner, original miles), a 99 DeVille D'Elegance (my beater car with 88,000 miles), my wifes 05Envoy XL Denali (she puts 50 miles a day on it) my G35 I bought in Feb, (that sits in the garage with a cover on it and won't see 4000 miles a year, and never goes out in the rain) and finally my daughters new car I just bought her for college come August as she'll be living at home and driving to downtown Atlanta every day (a good 65miles a day), an 06 Pontiac G6 GTP Coupe (FREAKING $2300 a year premium on that alone!!!) and you can see where the insurance is getting pretty rough, hence why I paid cash for the last 2 cars and only financed 10K on the Denali last year.

Anywho... Getting back to whether I'd get this rear steer system in another G35... without a question, no doubt at all I'd not only get it, but wouldn't accept one without it. (Now if I'd only went ahead and gone for the NAV system...) My biggest decision now is do I want to start with the mods now on this thing and keep it for the long run, like till it's 10 years old. Or... just do something mild to it and pull the trigger on the new style 08 Coupe. Now THAT is a fine ride!!!!!!!!

 

You can get a set of tein basic coilovers for $850 or some front and rear sways instead. I've got both on my 06 coupe 6MT and it handles like it's on rails...Plus if you plan on lowering i've heard these can cause some issues...

 

RAS on just about any car had to be eliminated when modded... if you plan to mod your suspension, I would not get it because it is design to work with stock suspension.

 

I have the RAS and I love it. hey rookie84, what would happen?? would not just work properly?? When I do dounts both my slip and my RAS light come on, but as soon as i turn off/on the car it goes away.


Mahdi

 

markiev - i think you're taking a different viewpoint - if the question was "if you ONLY had $700 total to spend on mods, what would it be?", then i think your answer may apply. however i think the original question is: "does RAS really work, is it worth $700?".

yes, springs/sways will improve your car's performance. but springs/sways/ + RAS will improve it even more. like coupedaddy said, anyone that doubts this should drive them back to back. assuming you're not a poser and know how to take some pretty fast turns on twisties, you WILL notice a difference.

what's interesting to me is that there are a good amount of enthusiasts on this board that are willing to spend quite a bit of money to squeeze every ounce of performance they can out of our Gs, yet seems like they shy away from a simple $700 option (from the factory for that matter) that will improve your car's performance.

that being said, i don't think RAS isn't for everyone. trackers should be able to reap the most benefits from RAS. for the majority of drivers that enjoy daily 'street' performance (e.g. a good race at the stoplight/freeway, etc), it's prob not worth it. i dont track anymore but i love the feeling of RAS on hard executed twisties. i didn't like it at first, but now i love it.

i haven't heard of anyone having to gut the RAS for aftermarket suspension mods yet (specifically for the 06 G) but that could be a valid concern also. since our RAS is also ACTIVE vs passive like the older nissan Z, there is always the chance for a malfunction, etc also. each person will have to make their own call.

to end: my last car was the SMG M3. ppl used to always say "SMG is not worth $2k, i can shift just as fast in my 6spd", but you will almost always find that these were your average street enthusiasts, and for them, it prob isnt worth it. for the tracker, it's DEF worth it IMO. being able to do a perfect downshift with a simple click of the paddle on an approaching turn to set yourself up for an exit pass without having to worry about a mis-executed heel toe (plus in your $60k car that you don't want to crash) is HUGE.

my two cents..

 

wow, another low for dealers.... per the manufacturer, RAS is only activated above 30 mph. at low speeds, it is off.

what's kinda funny is that on the 6mt board, someone wrote a review on RAS and said "..i didn't notice any performance difference at high speeds, but i did notice that RAS makes it much easier to park the G into tight spots...."

 

not worth it.
i will never get it.

 

i've had two cars (88 prelude SI and a 97 vr4) with rear steering.

and i'd never pay for it. It doesn't help that much.. it would only shave a second of a lap time of more than 10 minutes.
i've found in high speed corners it actually makes the car feel a little skidish compared to same cars without the option.
But I've never driven infiniti's version.

 

I did. And it was back to back. First I did the regular G and was flying around the twisties. Felt great and I could and did sense when the back was starting to go. My sales guy was okay with it BUT had a look on his face like
After 40 mins of beating I felt enough.

Now with the RAS going down the same roads. I felt a "false sense of security" meaning I at 1 point thought I could push her a lil more with no problem but then realized we were almost out of control. Not a cool feeling at all.

Summary: Without RAS you know and feel what the car is doing and can adjust with it.

With RAS..your like "Days Of Thunder" on the verge of out of control before you know it.

FYI, I thought I wanted 1 with RAS until I test drove it. Car was instock but I declined and waited until I got my girl last week.

Hope this helps you!

 

sounds like a similar experience to my cars.
nice write up.

 

Thanks!

 

+1

........and might it make a difference in a critical 'avoidance maneuver'? -- quite possibly.

I'm glad to have it on my M.

C.