Manual Steering Will Never Return.

"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
11/13/2016 at 10:50 • Filed to: Comments from exile

Why? Tires are too fat and grippy. Tires will continue to be too fat and grippy because God forbid your car lose the hothatchapalooza VS hypercar bonanza shootout. It’s a well known that tires are the cheapest and easiest way to add grip/speed, for OEM’s and individuals. Look at the two best examples running counter to the general theory of grip and power uber alles, the Toyobaru and the Alfa 4c. “Well, they’re not as fast as other cars in their class.” Boom. Instead of fine tuning the chassis to a razor edge, people just demand ‘speed’.

DISCUSSION (22)

Autofixation > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 10:55

People need bigger arms and then we can keep manual steering?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:00

I prefer the handling characteristic of taller, narrower tires, not to mention that the ride is much more comfortable.

Kanaric > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:02

Drive by wire is fine when done well. Several companies have pulled it off successfully.

dogisbadob > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:04

Well if you just want speed, another reason to use narrow tires :o)

No really, less rolling resistance, less drag, so it would be faster (not to mention cheaper to rep[lace and better fuel economy). The original Countach had narrow tires for this reason.

Also, the RX8 had EPS in 2004 (when it was a new thing) and supposedly felt fine (I think it had 225 tires)

fhrblig > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:05

I totally read that word as “horchatapalooza”.

shop-teacher > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:07

I’m ok with this.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:08

If people want manual steering, they’re welcome to parallel park my pickup everyday as I do.

MUSASHI66 > Kanaric
11/13/2016 at 11:09

Really? Infiniti is the only company on the US market with it that I can think off and their version has not been well received at all

Dusty Ventures > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:12

I can’t imagine manual steering ever becoming the norm again, but I see no reason it couldn’t “return” in the sense that there’s at least a half dozen enthusiast vehicles on the market with manual steering. We already have the 4C in that category, and I’m sure there’s some others.

Kanaric > MUSASHI66
11/13/2016 at 11:12

Could have swore mercedes and porsche were using it, guess I am wrong.

MUSASHI66 > Kanaric
11/13/2016 at 11:14

I’d love to see an example but I am pretty sure you won’t find it - at least not in production models.

S65 > Dusty Ventures
11/13/2016 at 11:22

Lotus Exige I think

Funktheduck > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/13/2016 at 11:55

I loved my moms mustang because it didn’t have power steering.

McMike > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 11:55

Cars are also too heavy for it

nafsucof > Kanaric
11/13/2016 at 11:57

You are confusing electric power steering and drive by wire. Only Infiniti right now.

nafsucof > dogisbadob
11/13/2016 at 11:59

Countach just had narrow fronts. The backs were like rolling pins

Edit: oh wait like og countach?

dogisbadob > nafsucof
11/13/2016 at 12:16

yup. the LP400

205 up front, 215 in the back

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > McMike
11/13/2016 at 12:33

The Miata isn’t. It should do fine without PS. That said, I’m fine with my grippy tires and power steering.

duurtlang > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 13:05

I don’t see it returning anytime soon. And that’s coming from someone who drove 2 cars with manual steering today.

Manual steering really is great from an enthusiast point of view. It’s perfectly fine in a commute as well, as long as the car is light and the tires are narrow. The two manual steering cars I drove today were two Peugeot 205s I both own. A 1986 base model with a curb weight of 850 kg and 145 wide tires and a 1988 GTi with a curb weight of 920 kg and 185 or 195 (I’m unsure) wide tires. The steering in the GTi feels meaty and firm (I’d say: perfect), while in the base model it’s almost too light.
My point being: the contrast between these two is huge, even though the cars are very similar. Yet both are unrealistically light for a modern car and no new car will get 145 wide tires in 2016. Besides, non-enthusiasts don’t want too ‘feel’. Quite the opposite.

pip bip - choose Corrour > LongbowMkII
11/13/2016 at 19:33

Tata Nano has manual steering.

Batman the Horse > LongbowMkII
11/20/2016 at 12:53

You should see people arguing on facebook about someone’s fiesta st can out-drag someone else’s gti that can out-drag someone else’s mazdaspeed3. Everything is a dick measuring contest.

LongbowMkII > Batman the Horse
11/20/2016 at 13:21

I’ve got a Mazda5 with a k&n filter. I’ve got it hands down