Spoke with John about this lastnight, he was shocked too. When the first brochure for the Cougar came out I of course read all the fine details and one was the "Quadralink suspension" which allows for "passive rear steering"

At the AutoCross the other cougar owner immediately said "Yeah I feel that when I take a hard turn, it's the quadralink suspension" which was the first cougar owner I've met that actually knew about it. It's a feeling of your rear giving a little in a tight turn, almost like mild drifting.

Well I found an article that doesn't get into the details (still a mystery to me after removing 3 linkages that felt totally solid in the rear) but confirms it's there:

http://autoweb.drive.com.au/cms/A_51602 ... ticle.html

What, doesn't everyone know about this?

Funny thing, I've actually heard the term many times in the past, just never really thought much about it, nor ever figured it was on our Cougars. Very cool stuff. :D

From Ford Vehicles:

"Allows each wheel to react independently to the road, moving both upwards and rearwards to absorb and reduce impact harshness."

So perhaps its not side-to-side motion, but back and forth that you're feeling. Since you'd be in the middle of the turn it could react like you explained, tho.

E1

That's describing how all independant suspension works. Most literature on quadralink explicitly states passive rear steering. However, I've been known to imagine more exotic things, needles to say the cougar setup performs well in AutoX

I'm now convinced we are NOT special. Even the ZX2 came with this, Brad. Whenever its a factory option on an Escort its no longer cool...

E1