4-Wheel Steering and other new technology

[BootHill]

I read an article in Car & Driver that stated that GM new ideas like 4-Wheel Steering and the Envoy XUV retractable roof were being discontinued because they did not prove popular enough with the marketplace. If that is the case, why has it been so hard to find any Suburbans or Yukon XLs out there with 4WS? When there is one, it sells almost immediately. Also, no dealer around me has had the XUV available, either.

 

Was there not enough sold because the dealers didn't have 'enough' of them for some reason? What is the real story behind this?

[MrQuadrasteer]

Ahhhhhh hellllllllll........ don't get me started !!!!!!!!

 

Actually, cuz it's time to go home.... I'll get ya up to speed on Quadrasteers and 4ws when I get home and have a few hours to kill !!!!!

 

 

But, really, 4ws flopped because of WAY CRAPPY marketing and GM GREED :finger:

[Z71-cummins]

I also wana know why they are discontinuing quadrasteer i always wanted my new truck to have it but now i hear 05 is the last year for it.

[vhato]

I also wana know why they are discontinuing quadrasteer i always wanted my new truck to have it but now i hear 05 is the last year for it.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

 

The turning radius on my truck is horrid. Had 4WS been affordable, I would have purchased it. It was more than the Vortec 8100/Allison 1000 combo. I would have paid $1000 for the 4WS option. But ~$4,000...for get it.

[PewterC3]

It was reduced to $1995 and still didn't sell....because GM didn't market it right....or to the right people. They went almost solely after the trailering crowd.

 

picture this: a soccer mom that just made that u-turn in her SUV that a friend couldn't make in her mini-van....instant chatter. If the price "hurts" as a single option....make it part of a bigger "safe and sound" package.

 

GM are you listening?

[MrQuadrasteer]

Thanks, C3- took the words right out of my... keyboard !!!

 

The option started at an ungawdly $7000 the first year. What the hell were they thinking ??? Trying to recoup all the development costs right off the bat in the first year ??? That ALONE put a bad taste in way too many people's mouths.

 

Then, it dropped to $4000, but the damage was done. When that didn't work...

 

They finally dropped the price to $1995. The leftover $4000 stickered ones got $2000 rebates on the QS option (that would be me).

 

The above alone put such a hurting on QS, it was almost insurmountable. But, done properly, they could have recovered.

 

That was part 1.

 

 

Part 2 of the failure was the marketing. Or lack thereof.

 

Just like C3 stated, they could have KILLED the market with the soccer moms ALONE. Imagine this commercial- mom 1 and mom 2 going to the mall. Show two slots. Mom 1, without QS, and dings and scrapes all over the bumper, in a Tahoe/Exploder-sized SUV, makes three or four attempts to park... bumping and "feeling" her way in. As she's cussing, walking to the store, mom 2 pulls up in her LONGER truck or 'Burban, pulls right in, first shot. Back to mom 1, SCREAMING at her hubby, that "Nancy" down the street has this 4-wheel steering deal- SHE WANTS IT !!!! Hubby looks at bumpers on his scarred ride.

 

 

#2- the recreational tow'ers- boats, jet skis, etc, the weekend warriors- show the *lesser* trucks jack-knifing, crossing-up, taking several attempts to get straight on the ramp, etc. Here comes a WOMAN, with a longer boat and truck, navigating her way AROUND the lessers, launches her boat, with the HUBBY in the boat. She smiles at the lesser MAN in his LESSER truck... as he gawks in shame.

 

#3- the contractors, navigating their way thru the lumber yard. Non QS-dude takes several attempts to get thru the tight spots in the yard, as QS-dude zips around him and right on thru the yard. With his trailer.

 

Of course, the big trailer types. Cutting figure-8s... in reverse...with his trailer (oh, wait... that's the ONE they did).

 

Speak of the added stability of the extended-width rearend ALONE.

 

Speak of how the crewcab QS has a tighter turning radius than a Camry or Saturn.

 

 

 

Now... bear with me...

 

Imagine QS in two or three generations of development, integrated with Stabilitrack. The truck *senses* a slide and corrects- on it's own- before the driver even realizes he was sliding. Individual braking at each wheel, the rear-steer STEERS on it's own.

 

Quadrasteer could have been- and can still be- the greatest SAFETY feature since seatbelts and ABS.

 

 

GM screwed the pooch so hard with this, it's sickening. Instead of trying to GOUGE everyone, instead of trying to recoup all the costs in the first year, instead of marketing to such a NARROW scope of drivers...

 

 

AND THEN, they didn't even offer it on the vehicles that needed it the most- the crewcab longbeds !!!! WTF were they thinking ?????????

 

 

 

Quadrasteer should have been a stand-alone option, available on ANY extended-cab short-box truck or longer. Don't bundle it with a bunch of other crap- STAND-ALONE option.

 

It was tested with diesels and had no problems. Make it available on the 'Maxes.

 

 

There were also those that whined (ignorantly) about the fender flares and wide-hips, so they made a narrow track version. WITHOUT cutting into bed space. They REVERSE-engineered it, taking away some stability, just to appease the whiners.

 

 

 

GM- are you listening ??? Pull your heads out of your corporate, greed-ridden butts, bring back the Quads, integrate it with Stabilitrak, make it a stand-alone option, REASONABLY priced, MARKET the thing to HILT, and watch it fly off the lots.

 

 

Why can't you find them now- because after killing it, the current owners can't shut-up about how great it is, that they'll never own another truck w/o it, word finally got around- NOT thru GM's efforts, but from the owners. Heck, I have one member that paid OVER $50k because the dealer FINALLY realized it's worth and wouldn't budge on the price. But the man WANTED Quadrasteer and bought it, cuz it may never be available again in this configuration.

 

Infinity's new flagship car has 4 wheel steering.

 

I TRULY envisioned, 5~10 years down the road, 4-wheel steering utopia, where almost ALL vehicles, anything bigger than an Aveo, had 4 wheel steering, for safety, for maneuverability.

 

4-wheel steering isn't gone forever. We'll see it again. The saddest part is someone else, most likely the Japs, will go down in history as pioneering the 4-wheel steering revolution.

 

 

 

Freakin' GM.....

 

 

 

Yeah... it's a sore spot with me. GM has blundered so many GREAT ideas in the past, but this blunder is unbelievable. Stupidity, greed, short-sightedness...

 

 

Sad.

 

 

 

I'll NEVER part with my truck. In 20 years, I'll still be driving Quadzilla. But by then, I GUARANTEE- 4 wheel steering will be common-place.

 

I've been a GM die-hard since I can remember. I've also been one of the biggest buy-American, anti-jap bastards I've ever known of.

 

I'd buy a Nissan tomorrow if it had a new generation of Quadrasteer.

 

 

Sad, sad, sad......

 

 

 

Did I miss anything ?!!!?

[MrQuadrasteer]

Good gawd

 

 

Did anybody actually read all that ?!!!?

 

Hell... I probably wouldn't

[MrQuadrasteer]

And yet another double post....

[Chronic]

Did you have a cig, or a drink, or both after all that?

[MrQuadrasteer]

Naaa.... went out and hugged the truck

 

 

Then I had a smoke !!!!!!

[BootHill]

I read the whole thing, MrQuadrasteer, of course I'm the one that started the thread. I think it would be a great thing to have on all their trucks. If it had come with the 8.1L or Duramax in 2002 model year when I bought mine, I would've gotten it. At that point I figured it was such a great idea that it would only have been a matter of time before all engines had it available. They really need to bring it back and suck up their mistakes BEFORE someone else 'comes up with the idea'.

 

Kind of ironic that Mitsubishi put it in their cars, along with a ton of other techno-gee-whiz features in the early 90's and dropped it, then GM picked up the ball and put it on the big trucks where it's benefits shined, now they're dropping it, and now the speculation is that the Japanese manufacturers might be picking it up again. Go figure.

 

BTW, one other rant of mine, I read a report last year (I think) that GM had a hybrid Suburban that got a real world 30MPG - that's better than my 4-banger commuter car - and had more power to tow than the gasoline alone engine. Then, GM comes out with a pickup hybrid (not full-hybrid mind you) that only gets 10% better mileage. What happened to the 30MPG? If a big truck got 30MPG, I'd dump my little sedan - if I could afford to, that is - It'd take a while to make up the cost difference between a 5 year old car and a new Suburban for 3mpg better, of course we could get rid of our 8.1L the hybrid could match it's power. The truck market is really where the hybrid or fuel cells can shine. Maybe I should start a new thread?

[MrQuadrasteer]

I can't tell you how many times I've heard, had it only been offered with this, or in this, or.... Makes me sick. GM could have revolutionized the automotive landscape and got all the credit.

 

Now, someone else will, and GM's will go down as a dismal failure

 

 

Boothill, Mitsu's effort, and the failed Honda Prelude, had completely different systems, nowhere near how the current Quadrasteer system operates.

 

The Prelude was a combination hydraulic/mechanical system, I believe the Mitsu was similar. Neither system caught on too well as they were both temperamental and sensitive to temperatures.

 

Delphi's awesome system is complete self-contained, was tested under many different conditions, is water proof, built to mil-spec standards, solid-state controls....

 

If you go to my homepage, you'll see a prototype truck in near hood-deep mud

 

And thanks for reading my mini-novel !! I'll be at Borders next week signing books and giving interviews !!!!!!

[BootHill]

I totally agree that GM's system is a vast improvement over what Mitsubishi and Honda had. Thanks.

 

Laters

[MS3DALE]

MrQsteer,I agree with everything you said

Thats the same with the Pro-Tec box,Great idea,but..... dumb GM didn't market it the right way,Hell nobody knew about it until they did away with it then everyone wanted one! I tried to get our sales manager to order a couple but he said they wouldn't sell,I said..."You can't sell something you DON'T have!"

I wanted a Pro-Tec box but they were done offering them when I bought my '04.

We did sell quite a few Qsteer trucks (More of the GMC Denali's than anything) and GMC Envoy XUV's.

[99-2door]

It's all about the public's inability to recognize the merits of new technology.

almost 20 years after EFI on every vehicle and I still hear people complain about "that computer crap"

 

The only thing I hear about QS is "just wait till something on that breaks, it will be expensive to fix". This is always from somebody who has never even looked at one of the axles on the trucks. Public perception was that this option added complexity, unreliability and future repair costs to the vehicle. GM did absolutely nothing to counter that mind set.

Same thing with the Pro-Tec bed, very few people even knew it existed. "A plastic bed...ah heck, that won't last at all" Nevermind that the Pro-tec is a composite material that would take abuse and still look new.