2002 GMC Sierra Denali with Quadrasteer

[Stephen S]

I saw this truck on a GMC infomercial at 2:00AM yesterday morning (couldn't sleep). I'm not too sure what to think about this. Part of me thinks, hey this is pretty cool. The first pickup truck with a full time all wheel drive system, and the first pickup ever to have 4 wheel steering! Looks like it uses an electric motor on a rack and pinion system. Front and rear CV joints, ouch. Owners will need to get front and rear alignments ($$$), like a high tech sports car. During the infomercial, they took a pretty in depth look at the design of the truck. The engineers said they wanted to make it have a more car like ride. Hello! It's a truck! What now? Are they wussifying the pickup truck? First, automakers gutted the SUVs and made them "big cars." If moves like this catch on, where is the future of the pickup truck headed?? But, this is considered to be a luxury truck with a sticker of $38,000+, so I guess "truck" guys won't have to worry about this invasion too much. Either way, it's kind of a cool design, and from the looks of the infomercial, it looks like it works very well. As long as they still make regular pickups with real 4x4 systems and motionless rear wheels alongside these new fancy ones, I'll stay happy. What do you think?

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[addkev]

All that is good for is some rich guy to drive through Beverly Hills, what a joke. Chevy put that quadra steer on their extended cab pick ups a couple of years ago. It is an extensive process to align all four wheels. There is a sensor that tells the truck that the back wheels are centered. Since they are designed to turn with the front wheels on the highway and against at slower speeds for parking lots, etc. If the sensor is the slightest bit off, then it is doing freaky things down the highway.

That compares to these guys that are buying the Lincoln Blackwood...that ain't a truck, it a cadillac with a good vantage point.

 

[Stephen S]

I was thinking the same thing. Just another luxury vehicle with a car-like ride, only in the form of a pickup. It looks pretty impressive when used for towing though. Those back wheels turn up to 15 degrees, which must make things much easier when backing a trailer, and manuevering in tight places. It's an interesting idea, but it's out of the reach of most of the truck buying crowd, I'd say. It's something for the richer folks to pull their big toys with.

 

[jimbo74]

Look at my qoute in my signature for my opinion...P.S. my tuck has been wrecked 3 times and crashed/hit like 4 other times

 

[Stephen S]

Die hard Ford fanatic, huh Jim? I know what you're saying, I don't like GMs too much either. I just thought it was an interesting and innovative move for a pick up truck application.

 

[Brian1]

Originally posted by Stephen S
and the first pickup ever to have 4 wheel steering!

Well maybe the first production truck because this s10 has rear steer :

http://www.larks.net/2001/farmington/photo_set2/large_photo.html?img=DSC00044

http://www.larks.net/2001/farmington/photo_set2/large_photo.html?img=DSC00051

I have also seen a production ford superduty with rear stear but havent read anything more about it.

 

[Stephen S]

Yeah, first production truck, I guess. That's a really cool rig, but I'm afraid that there isn't much left of an S-10 there. I've never heard about a super duty with rear steer, you got a link for it??

 

[Dan Whitaker]

The four wheel steering is also an option on the Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4. I saw a pic of one in 4WHEELER.

 

[Rick]

Can't wait to hear what it costs to fix one of those mutha's when it's out of warranty. I bet it has a seperate computer for the rear steer.

The yuppies are killing the truck market for the "real" enthusiasts. The over abundance of massive gas guzzlers is going to backfire and congress is going to all, but ban the things.

Senator John McCain (AZ R)is in the lead of doing just that with the proposed mandatory 38MPG corporate average.

 

[Stephen S]

The trucks have sensors on the front wheels that sense the wheel angle, and it monitors the vehicles speed with speed sensors...sends the info to a computer that decides how much and which way the rear wheels should turn. The rear wheels are moved with a rack and pinion steering system with an electric motor powering it. All computer controlled.

I think what's really gonna hit the owners in the wallet is the 4 wheel alignment, instead of just the front end. It's not much of a truck anymore in my opinion. They may be getting too fancy to be used for thier, dare I say, intended purposes.

 

[Brian1]

Originally posted by Stephen S
I've never heard about a super duty with rear steer, you got a link for it??

No i dont but it was in a 4 wheeler mag last year with a pic of a superduty with rear steer and the article was about production rear steer in general.

 

[espnfreak]

Not a GM truck, but on the Pontiac Grand Am Gt site most of the '99 owners were *****in how GM is crap. I'm with him, I think GM is horrible quality. Ford and Dodge are much better.

 

[FORDisKING]

FORD still makes the best trucks overall in my opinion. Chevy Silverado have a tinge of Dodge Ram in them. That was the first thing I noticed. Dodge cannot build a tranny for the life of them. Ford. One last thing, The Blackwoods, Excursions, Cadillac Escalade EXT's and Chevy Avalanche's are wasting gas for people that go off-road. There is not a need for a "convertable" truck. If you want a truck, buy a truck. If you want a SUV like style, here;s a novel idea, buy an SUV. Sorry if I cheez anyone off here.

Jason

 

[ok89]

I saw that Ford SuperDuty with 4-wheel steering as well but they aren't going into production with that for a few years. I personally like the idea of quadrasteer. It makes the trucks more maneuverable. Even the people that just use the trucks for hauling the bales of hay or the cows around have to goto market sometimes and when they goto market the Quadrasteer will help them get around in the parking lots.