Best steering feel?
Author
Discussion

white_goodman

Original Poster:

4,521 posts

220 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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I haven't driven a car for ages with great steering feel. Is steering feel dead forever? Even exotic driver's cars like new Ferraris have been criticised for overlight steering and lack of steering feel. My old 205 1.6 GTi and even my mum's Fiat Cinquecento Sporting had great steering feel. You could feel every single detail of the road surface through the steering and could feel exactly how much more grip was available. This made both these cars totally absorbing to drive and I felt like I could drive them confidently right up to the limit and know exactly when I was going to run out of grip. What did these two cars have in common? No PAS. Admittedly they were both a bit of a pain to park but really this was quite a small trade off.

The (hydraulic?) power steering on my Impreza is quite weighty and don't get me wrong the handling (not to be confused with steering feel) is fantastic but I don't get much communication through the steering wheel. However, I think that the limits of the car on the road are way beyond my driving ability and I just have to trust in the abilities of the car and my 14 years of driving experience. I think that the first thing that I would know about breaching the limit would be when I was sat in the ditch! The electrically-assisted steering on my wife's Fiat 500 feels even lighter and disconnected (I don't think we've ever used the City button).

So are there any more modern cars with great steering feel or is it just a necessary trade-off with power steering (especially electrically-assisted steering)?

otolith

68,715 posts

233 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
quotequote all
Elise? Caterham?

retrorider

1,339 posts

230 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Elise has good steering feel...

Jacobyte

4,768 posts

271 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Lancia Delta Integrale and Lotus Elise are top of the tree in terms of steering feel for a standard road car.

LukeBird

17,170 posts

238 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Caterham. I have never felt anything that feels as good to drive as a Seven.

BrewsterBear

1,548 posts

221 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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My 1982 911SC had the most communicative steering of any car I've ever driven. You could tell how spherical a piece of pea gravel was at 70mph by the way the wheel moved.

CraigyMc

18,369 posts

265 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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LukeBird said:
Caterham. I have never felt anything that feels as good to drive as a Seven.
It's up there, but I'd vote for an elise (preferably an S1).

C

falkster

4,258 posts

232 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
quotequote all
Clearly biased but the best feel I've had is a toss up between my E30 and my 968.
As mentioned before the Integrale is very good and exactly the same as the M3.

fareaster

234 posts

208 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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falkster said:
Clearly biased but the best feel I've had is a toss up between my E30 and my 968.
As mentioned before the Integrale is very good and exactly the same as the M3.
Interesting.... when Lancia were developing the steering for the Delta they were using BMW as a benchmark

kambites

71,458 posts

250 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Of the modern cars I've driven, I'd say Elise > Caterham > Exige >>>> anything else. Of course I haven't driven everything, though.

thinfourth2

32,414 posts

233 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Old lotus Elan is slightly better then a Caterham

falkster

4,258 posts

232 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
quotequote all
fareaster said:
Interesting.... when Lancia were developing the steering for the Delta they were using BMW as a benchmark
Great piece of info! Clearly the delta is 4wd but it is alarming how similar they are to drive.

MrQuick

130 posts

189 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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falkster said:
Clearly biased but the best feel I've had is a toss up between my E30 and my 968.
As mentioned before the Integrale is very good and exactly the same as the M3.
Is the e30 really that good? Not an m3, but just the lower models. Don't people tend to change it out for the e36 rack, so I was kind of under the impression that it wasn't that great
I'm thinking about getting a 325is as a track slut/hoonmobile.

My nomination is mk1 Elise.

davepoth

29,395 posts

228 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Morris Minor.

interloper

2,747 posts

284 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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I can't believe nobody has posted original mini? One of the best steers this side of a Caterham/Elise etc...

otolith

68,715 posts

233 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Why are people talking about long out-of-production cars when the OP was specifically asking about modern ones? He didn't ask for a list of all the cars ever to have good steering, he said that modern cars don't seem to have it and asked if any do.

"So are there any more modern cars with great steering feel"

justin220

5,740 posts

233 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Evora

SwankBaton

763 posts

201 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Noble M12

garycat

5,377 posts

239 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
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Lotus Evora, incredibly detailed feedback from the wheel

falkster

4,258 posts

232 months

Sunday 24th July 2011
quotequote all
MrQuick said:
falkster said:
Clearly biased but the best feel I've had is a toss up between my E30 and my 968.
As mentioned before the Integrale is very good and exactly the same as the M3.
Is the e30 really that good? Not an m3, but just the lower models. Don't people tend to change it out for the e36 rack, so I was kind of under the impression that it wasn't that great
I'm thinking about getting a 325is as a track slut/hoonmobile.

My nomination is mk1 Elise.
Mine is an M3, its been a long while since Ive had a different e30.

Im also thinking of getting a track car but wouldnt think of an E30 when you can get smaller, lighter cars that have much more power (ssshhh FWD)