Hi,

I was wonderin' why Mercedes and BMW remain true to recirculating ball, especially in the upper-model cars. I am aware that MB switched to rack & pinion for the new E-class, but was the switch made in order to save production costs, or was there some OTHER logical advantage for the change (I think there was another thread where somebody asked why MB switched to 3-valve technology, and a moderator posted that it was purely to "cut costs", so I am unsure if MB is makin' changes nowadays to IMPROVE cars, or just to SAVE $$$)? In my experience, I've always found rack & pinion to be more responsive and "quicker" to driver input relative to recirculating ball. However, recirculating ball seems to do a very good job of isolating the driver from the imperfections on the road, so that the steering is very clean and smooth, worthy of a luxury car. I don't know how accurate this description is, since the rack & pinion vs. recirculating ball comparison is between a BMW vs. MB. Anyhow, any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you.

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1995 Mercedes-Benz E420 (W124 - Black Pearl/Black)