Numb and overly light steering - is it deliberate?
Discussion
A drive in a C180 (worst steering ever) recently has made me wonder:
(1) Do a lot of people want extremely light steering? I can see the sense of it for a city car that spends all day being parked and unparked, but it is surely nothing but bad news in any other car. I assume MB did its customer research, but the level of assistance is absurd, and I have noticed the same in a lot of new cars.
(2) Do people want numb steering or is it just the downside of dialling in lots of assistance? I am struggling to think of any 2013/2014 car that I have driven that has more than a tiny bit of feel in the steering. The Mazda 3 has a tiny bit, but there was nothing in the various BMWs, Mercs, Audis and VWs that I have driven recently.
Am I being naïve to think that quite a lot of drivers would prefer to be able to feel what is going on with the front tyres? I am not talking about 1980's unassisted sports car levels of feel, just something better than total detachment. I find it quite scary to be driving at any real speed in a car that doesn't communicate with me at least a bit.
(1) Do a lot of people want extremely light steering? I can see the sense of it for a city car that spends all day being parked and unparked, but it is surely nothing but bad news in any other car. I assume MB did its customer research, but the level of assistance is absurd, and I have noticed the same in a lot of new cars.
(2) Do people want numb steering or is it just the downside of dialling in lots of assistance? I am struggling to think of any 2013/2014 car that I have driven that has more than a tiny bit of feel in the steering. The Mazda 3 has a tiny bit, but there was nothing in the various BMWs, Mercs, Audis and VWs that I have driven recently.
Am I being naïve to think that quite a lot of drivers would prefer to be able to feel what is going on with the front tyres? I am not talking about 1980's unassisted sports car levels of feel, just something better than total detachment. I find it quite scary to be driving at any real speed in a car that doesn't communicate with me at least a bit.
I had a seat Ibiza and was convinced the steering wheel wasn't attached to the car, the steering was so light and there was zero communication from the front wheels.
Tried new tyres, new pressures and new geo. Nothing at all! It was unnerving at times, especially in the wet.
I suppose the general public just want an easy to drive car, they don't care for a car that talks to them through the wheel.
Tried new tyres, new pressures and new geo. Nothing at all! It was unnerving at times, especially in the wet.
I suppose the general public just want an easy to drive car, they don't care for a car that talks to them through the wheel.
Yes, in a word, it is.
99% of people driving a car aren't skilled enough or interested enough to know what to do with any information or "feel" in the steering. They want to be able to park with 1 finger (and drive with one as they text on their phone!!), don;t want any noise of vibration to be transmitted to the wheel, and because they have such a poor handwheel input "style" (sudden, eratic inputs, poor hand position etc) having a heavily damped, low response system means they don't veer all over the shop to badly.....
99% of people driving a car aren't skilled enough or interested enough to know what to do with any information or "feel" in the steering. They want to be able to park with 1 finger (and drive with one as they text on their phone!!), don;t want any noise of vibration to be transmitted to the wheel, and because they have such a poor handwheel input "style" (sudden, eratic inputs, poor hand position etc) having a heavily damped, low response system means they don't veer all over the shop to badly.....
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