Best Steering Feel

What are the best steering cars you've ever driven? Here are mine: 

Unassisted Division:

1. E72 Corolla

2. Porsche 914 (quite a long way behind the Yota, to be honest)

3. 88 Civic

Honorable mentions to an 84 Fiero and depowered NA Miata. 

Assisted Division:

1. Evo 8

2. Third gen MR2

3. NB Miata

Honorable mention to New Edge Mustangs, third generation F Bodies and, weirdly, second generation Hyundai Accents.

51. Ford Crown Victoria Police Package

52. BMW Z3/E92 3 Series/E39 5 Series. Maybe I just don't appreciate BMWs correctly.

945. Hyundai Sonata/Grandeur

1,000,093. Fourth generation Camaros.

1,000,094. Any full size truck or truck based SUV except the Chrysler products.

∞: Dodge trucks with solid front axles.

∞ + 1: Jeep Wrangler. 

I'd throw in modified GK Tiburons with the 2nd gen accents. You need enough camber/caster and tire, but once there the feel is fantastic.

Unassisted:

1. Caterham 7 Clone
2. Caterham 21
3. FSAE Cars
4. AW11 MR2

Assisted:

1. Various Miatae
2. FRS/BRZ
3. Various M3s

"Is this even connected to anything":

1. Ford Maverick
2. Oldsmobile F85
3. Merkur XR4Ti
4. Jeep TJ

1 - 991  GT3

2  - NA/NB Miata

3 - NC Miata

Unassisted - mk1 "Mercury" Ford Capri, '73 US market car.

My E46 ZHP had the best steering feel of anything I've owned. Felt like I was reaching through the firewall and grabbing the tie rods by hand.

My E38 is a mixed bag for steering feel.  With the snow tires on (235 width and squishy), the steering is pretty numb.  Weight is good, it returns to center well and generally feels natural, but there's not much feedback.  With the summers on (255s), the steering wakes up.  Weight increases a little, but feel increases dramatically.  Far from the best steering out there even then, but I'd at least call it "good". 

I eventually got the Jeep steering up to fairly decent with a steering box change, but then I went and ruined it.  Once I put an LSD in the front diff, the steering got even heavier (I'd now call it too heavy) and has an excessively strong return to center with a weird springiness.  You put in enough effort fighting that to mask most feel from the tires. 

Short of an NA Miata on all seasons which had pretty good steering, I don't know if I've ever driven anything with really good steering. 

Unassisted:

Any of the single seat race cars I've driven over the years

Assisted:

Miata

911 GT3-RS

Disconnected:

Maverick followed closely by Hyundai Elantra rental car I drove 3 years ago.

Personally driven?

Bone stock '80 RX-7.  Steering box was not worn out, because it had never been berked with.  Interestingly, rotating the strut tops to turn +.5 camber to 0.0 camber made the steering much heavier and more dull, so I undid it.

Replacing the 185/70-13 tires with 205/60-13 also hurt the steering, although not nearly as much.

I have never driven a car with "good" power steering, just varying degrees of bad.

Unassisted:

Ginetta G4

TVR Grantura Mk 3 (IIRC both used Morris Minor steering racks)

88 Fiero GT (better than the pre 88s)

MGA/MGB

Sprite/Midgets

Assisted:

BMW Z4M coupe (better than the converts as it had a faster ratio)

Lots of other adequate cars but none are stand-outs

Unassisted: s30 z car. 
assisted: R35 GTR. Like a video game controller. 

These are somewhat in order.  Most are mid-engine, and shockingly, the 128 has fantastic steering feel.  I have yet to find an electric power steering system that feels as good as a proper rack and pinion, but some are getting close now.

Fiat X1/9

Lotus Elise

Lotus Europa

Boxster S

BMW 128i

BMW Z4 M Coupe

AW11 MR2

R53 Cooper S

Lotus Elise

Honda CRX Si

NA/NB Miatas 

1970s gocart my Dad bought me. 

1.  Early Porsche 944 with a manual rack
2. B7 Audi A4 Quattro (seriously, it's a rear-steer setup with the rack mounted high up and 8 control arms, it has amazing steering feel)
3. Mazda 3/5 

All these posts and no one said E30?  Really? 

At the bottom of the list, based on personal experience, I'll go with a 1960 Rambler with power steering, a slipping belt, and bushings made of dust and memories. 

The 88 clubwagon work van is ridiculously over boosted. Some would say that's great but there is literally zero feedback.

Remember the old arcade games where you could spin the wheel all the way to lock with little effort? It's like that

Lotus Elise.

/endthread

My 914 race car was very good but it had a 911 rack in it.

I am pretty bad at assessing steering feel.  Of the cars I have owned, the S2000, Z32, 2.5RS, Veloster, NA and NB Miata all felt good.   My Saturns steering was fine/good .  The Saturns probably had the most feedback of the acceptable cars as they had a hard mounted steering rack on a hard mounted cradle.  The bottom of the list would be:  98. 1974 Plymouth Valiant, 99. 1985 Jeep CJ-7, 100. 1965 Mustang.  

In reply to Uncle David (Forum Supporter) :

Aren't E30's an old school steering box like a 70's truck? I've only driven one and don't remember the steering being anything good. The SA/FB RX-7 is a steering box with idler arm and inner and outer tire rods and it wasn't that great at steering either.

Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Uncle David (Forum Supporter) :

Aren't E30's an old school steering box like a 70's truck? I've only driven one and don't remember the steering being anything good. The SA/FB RX-7 is a steering box with idler arm and inner and outer tire rods and it wasn't that great at steering either.

I drove a 325i E30 and remember thinking "eh, it's okay" as far as feedback. Had the same experiences with a 524e, a Z3, a 540i and a 740i. I honestly thought the later Panther chassis cars had better steering, which isn't a knock on Crown Vics, it's just, idk, maybe I just don't get BMWs.

Steering boxes can be fine, btw. I lovelovelove the steering feel of 70s/early 80s front engine, rear drive Toyotas and those were all steering boxes. My favorite GM steering, by a mile, is the Gen 3 F-bodies and those were all steering box cars too. 

racerdave600 said:

 

R53 Cooper S

 

I forgot this! Yes, Minis have wonderful feel. 

Uncle David (Forum Supporter) said:

All these posts and no one said E30?  Really?

E30s are nice but the steering is slooooow.  Feels like an assisted manual rack.  That's a minus point for me.

Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Uncle David (Forum Supporter) :

Aren't E30's an old school steering box like a 70's truck? I've only driven one and don't remember the steering being anything good. The SA/FB RX-7 is a steering box with idler arm and inner and outer tire rods and it wasn't that great at steering either.

No, E30s have racks. I've installed one.

I drove a '69 Porsche 912 briefly, was impressed by the light, manual steering, it had a lot of feedback. 

MGB was pretty good IIRC.  O.G. Fiat 124 spider was on the heavy side and loaded up too much in corners IIRC. 

I had a 2nd gen '82 Accord hatch w/o power steering. It was pretty heavy at low speeds and vague on center at highway speeds. Could have been wear. 

'86 Civic (manual) was good, as was the '89 Civic Si. 

Boosted: 
I don't love the E30s steering feel.  It feels like it lacks caster or something, I like a bit more self centering.  I preferred the steering box in the E28 535i over the e30 rack, although I could do without the slight free play on center in the e28. 

I liked the '91 Accords, most enthusiasts would probably say it was too light. '99 Accord had some weird on center vagueness at high speed and the pump sometimes couldn't keep up when whipping the wheel around at low speed. 

Worst would probably be a '79 Sedan DeVille. 

wspohn said:

Unassisted:

Ginetta G4

Dare TG Sport (Ginetta G4 under the Dare body)

74 Europa

X1/9 -Might displace Europa when suspension is rebuilt and another -200 lbs.  Maybe.