Best Steering Feel
Discussion
For me, it's still the Alfasud. Unassisted, high-mounted rack, proper bearings on the column (both unusual in those days), skinny tyres, light front end.
All helped by low centre of gravity, low unsprung weight good damping and relatively soft springing and a fairly lively back end.
It was so easy to drive up to and beyond the limits of traction, and muck about with understeer, four wheel drifts and lift-off oversteer.
And all the time you could detect the changing coarsness of the tarmac, feel the wheels crossing white lines, etc.
My mate's mum used to get out of her 318i (second gen) into a Sprint and say "I hate it - you can feel the road through the steering wheel". Which was the point.
After the Sud the 33 was a big disappointment and since then all the cars I've driven had had the corrupting effects of much fatter tyres, power assistance, etc and I've never come up against any steering quite as good.
What would you nominate as the car with the best steering feel you've driven?
All helped by low centre of gravity, low unsprung weight good damping and relatively soft springing and a fairly lively back end.
It was so easy to drive up to and beyond the limits of traction, and muck about with understeer, four wheel drifts and lift-off oversteer.
And all the time you could detect the changing coarsness of the tarmac, feel the wheels crossing white lines, etc.
My mate's mum used to get out of her 318i (second gen) into a Sprint and say "I hate it - you can feel the road through the steering wheel". Which was the point.
After the Sud the 33 was a big disappointment and since then all the cars I've driven had had the corrupting effects of much fatter tyres, power assistance, etc and I've never come up against any steering quite as good.
What would you nominate as the car with the best steering feel you've driven?
Edited by angusc43 on Saturday 18th June 07:52
Westfield FW400. It's incredibly light and precise with brilliant feedback. The Westfield Eleven is almost as good (but not quite as sharp due to the taller sidewalls on the tyres).
Of more mainstream stuff, the Elise S1 is fabulous and the Caterham Seven is excellent, if rather heavier than one might expect for the weight of car.
Of more mainstream stuff, the Elise S1 is fabulous and the Caterham Seven is excellent, if rather heavier than one might expect for the weight of car.
98elise said:
Elise, but I'm biased 
The Elise is romping away with this one.98elise said:
Seriously though, it was a revalation, everthing else seems so disconected aftwards.
That reminds me of the time I did one of those karting endurance races. I set off in my company Chavalier afterwards and stopped after a few hundred yards as I was convinced I had a major steering malfunction. No, sir, they all do that....Hate to say this being an obvious PH reply, and I'm not usually one for this...
My older Brother had a Mk1 MX5 many moons ago with a small, leather aftermarket wheel fitted. I always thought the steering on that was SO precise and positive to the touch. Nothing else really compares, including the likes of Clio 182, Clio 197, Clio 200, Twingo 133 etc. Perhaps the chassis isn't as good as the latter few mentioned, but the actual physical interaction/feel of the steering gets my vote!
My older Brother had a Mk1 MX5 many moons ago with a small, leather aftermarket wheel fitted. I always thought the steering on that was SO precise and positive to the touch. Nothing else really compares, including the likes of Clio 182, Clio 197, Clio 200, Twingo 133 etc. Perhaps the chassis isn't as good as the latter few mentioned, but the actual physical interaction/feel of the steering gets my vote!
ks about "thinking your way around a corner" is actually true.
GravelBen said:
Best I've personally driven is the Mk1 MX5, but I'm happy to accept more experienced opinions that say Elises and Caterhams are even better.
Same.. I've not driven them, but probably would agree that they're better. But, from what I've driven the MX5 is very impressive. I seriously thought my steering was broken when I had gone from my C2 to the MX5 due to how direct and how precisely it moved where I pointed the wheel. Now I'm used to it, everything else feels disconnected.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff