A question on steering wheel
- Thread starter bmninada
- Start date
Lightest steering wheel weight was a 2010-ish VW Jetta. It was so light that in freeway driving the car would steer nervously at each slight movement. I find the CX-5's weight to be good esp for a FWD car. Low tire pressure could make it seem heavier though.
See you believe me huh
?VW artificially souped up those Jettas too much. The generation before that had better weight. I recall my 2013 CC had better weight although a tad bit boosted imho. Th CX-5 and Mazda6 have weight comparable to an E46 BMW. Meaning at 80...let alone 100 mph driving you're not swerving LOL......or on simple city street turning at 40mph you have precise control.
When my wife went from the boosted Jetta to the more weighted CX-5 it made her feel safer on the highway. Less tiring as well from not have to make corrections every second.
I came from a BMW E91 2009, with a exact, and slightly stiff hydraulic steering to CX-5 2017 with very light steering and not as exact as the BMWs. My biggest problem was adjusting to the very light Mazda steering from the start. I missed the BMWs stiffer and very exact steering and the road feed back in general. It took me two months to adjust! So it all depends on what reference you use.
My wife's Toyota Aygo's (small little car with electric steering) steering is far stiffer than the BMW or Mazda's. She likes every thing about the CX-5 except the light steering. And she is only a 55Kg lady! Generally speaking the European models tend to have a stiffer steering and ride (more road feed back) than the American cars.
My wife's Toyota Aygo's (small little car with electric steering) steering is far stiffer than the BMW or Mazda's. She likes every thing about the CX-5 except the light steering. And she is only a 55Kg lady! Generally speaking the European models tend to have a stiffer steering and ride (more road feed back) than the American cars.
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Right CX-5 is probably heavier than almost every thing in it’s class. However stuff like your E91, Focus ST, WRX are going to be heavier. I think Mazda has struck a good balance for a car that needs mass appeal. If it were as heavy as my ST soccer moms would complain for sure! I have no issue going back and forth between the two honestly.
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- State of Jefferson
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- 2017 CX-5 GT AWD+
That's the key.
When discussing steering, we have to talk about "stiffness" [assist] and "sensitivity" [speed, nervousness] as two separate characteristics. They are not necessarily dependent on the other, altho there's often an apparent correlation.
A lot of percieved steering reponse depends upon on center accuracy [wandering]. Intrinsic design plays a large part, but so do tires, inflation, alignment, road conditions, etc.
I find this thread amusing because something similar just happened to me. I went away on business last week and I had a rental car for the whole week. It was a 2017/2018 Ford Escape and right away I noticed the difference in the Ford escape steering wheel... it was just loose.. never really thought much of it after that... i came back and as soon as I'm taking out my CX-5 I noticed the difference... for a second there I too thought that there was something wrong with the power steering..but then took me a minute of driving to realize it was just normal and figured it was due to the size difference as the ford escape was smaller than the cx-5.
Most assist is needed during parking or slow speeds. Good thing Mazda recognises this
Old timers like myself remember the big cars from the late sixties or so that had such powerful power steering you could maneuver into parking spots with one hand or even fingers. Parallel parking was a breeze.
Today’s systems are indeed the best though. I like the Mazda system because of its road feel. I drove a Camry once and while the car was easy to drive the steering was very numb and disconnected from the road.
Over here at that time big cars had power steering as an option. Most were manual and quite heavy and slow. One advantage was you developed muscle in the arms
Drove a Ford Falcon here back in the early 2000s, couldn't tell where the wheels were pointing. It was that bad
You are right re Mazda steering - have to say has improved quote a bit. Current Mazda 3 has combination of mechanical/electrical steering. It's ok but newer electric steering in 6 was much better and I believe should be good in the CX-5 as well
Driven 2012 Kluger (Highlander to you guys) and it's very light at parking speeds and quick.
Driving wise can be a bit vague
Over here at that time big cars had power steering as an option. Most were manual and quite heavy and slow. One advantage was you developed muscle in the arms
Drove a Ford Falcon here back in the early 2000s, couldn't tell where the wheels were pointing. It was that bad
You are right re Mazda steering - have to say has improved quote a bit. Current Mazda 3 has combination of mechanical/electrical steering. It's ok but newer electric steering in 6 was much better and I believe should be good in the CX-5 as well
Can’t remember the make or model but someone we new had a big station wagon with no power steering. It may have been a base trim model for all I know. The mom always cursed that thing. Another station wagon mom had a Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser , a mammoth of a vehicle. It did have power steering.
During my days we walked to school but on rainy days the “station wagon moms” came to the rescue.
Also on a side note, air conditioning was not available as a dealer option then. There were shops that installed aftermarket air conditioners. Most people just rolled down their windows and or opened the wing vents if their car had them. Those provided quite a breeze at cruising speed.
Yep, I’m old.
Yep, I’m old.
