They do have cylinder deactivation, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you were really against it, it's easy to disable.

As far as torque steer, it's not bad at all IMO. I think the original review blows it way out of proportion. If they'd go drive some actual high hp FWD cars, they'd get a feel for what bad torque steer is. With the LS4, you just make sure the car is fairly straight before getting on it and keep a decent grip on the wheel and you'll have no problems. Not much different than you'd do in a high powered RWD car anyways.