[doug_999]

Interesting - the fact is that BMW wants to sell more cars and that mainstream America (and possibly others) want less "feel" in the steering. If you take two BMWs from about five years ago...
2011 E90 3-series. Brutal heavy steering at low speeds - but damn, the car was fun, and I loved driving it. Regret not getting one of the last 335s back then.

2013 X5/X6. Even heavier steering - can't believe people bought the vehicle. And yes, Active Steering really REALLY helped here*.

BMW has really "lightened up" the steering in both cars now (F30/F15) - if I were in the market for an X5, this would be good. Unfortunately it has ruined it for me on the 335/340 now. I have driven several of them and they feel like a Camry to me! But heck, Toyota sure does sell a lot of Camrys....

If I think back to my previous and current BMWs....
My 650GC xi has hydraulic steering and I love it - felt so much better than the S6 it was one of the top reasons for me selecting the car over the S6.

My 2011 X6 had active steering. It actually felt really good and I thought I had a lot of feedback.

My 2008 M5 felt over boosted compared to my

2006 550 with active steering. I drove several 550s - with and without active steering and the feel was the same. *So I don't think that technology "takes road feel away", but it can lighten the steering - as in with the X5/X6.

Anyway, I think we can surmise that what many of us love about BMWs - the way they feel - is going away, because there are more people that like it the other way. Sad.