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I realise that the amount of assistance of power steering depends on many things. However, it's a pity that car manufacturers haven't come up with a way of quantifying it for their particular models and variants. The recent reduction in my strength has made my car seem hard to manoeuvre, and I'd like to be able to gauge how good other models would be in comparison.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Fri 27 Aug 10 at 07:12
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Get yourself a Fiat Panda with the city button (aka girly button).
Almost no force needed by the driver to steer at low speeds with this device.
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My 05 focus Ghia had 3 levels of driver selectable assistance, this may apply to other Ford models. My current car varies the assistance with speed.
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It's configurable on some of the electric ones.
In fact it's configurable on some of the hydraulic ones too (at least BMW).
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>>The recent reduction in my strength has made my car seem hard to manoeuvre.
Some years ago a good friend of mine had their cars power steering "IIRC revalved" to make it very very light so his wife, who had little strength could use the car.
May be worth exploring this if a vehicle ticks all the boxes except steering weight.
I too have tried the Fiat girly button and it was most helpful in multi storey carparks.
It was quite odd when I forgot to turn it off when back on the open road as the steering was so incredibly light.
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As most know I broke my elbow in the ice earlier this year it was only a minor fracture but ever since then when driving my dads MK4 Fiesta with PAS I would always get elblow ache and struggle in low speed turning.
Now I have my Panda doing things like reversing around the corner is a delight. I sometimes use the city buttom because it just means I can do it a lot faster which is great in the city. I do rarely use it though.
Although feel is lacking it has a lot more feel than my old Corsa B which also had the electric power steering system.
I may sound like an old man but lightness is always more important to me than feel because I am driving in the city so lots of tight turns.
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"I too have tried the Fiat girly button and it was most helpful in multi storey carparks.
It was quite odd when I forgot to turn it off when back on the open road as the steering was so incredibly light"
I thought that this feature was supposed to cut out at a certain speed, 20 or 30 mph, or something like that ?
Last edited by: AndyP on Fri 27 Aug 10 at 11:45
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Yep I thought it was 18mph, not dared to test it though!
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You've not been over 18mph!
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In a truck maybe not, but the fastest (indicated) I have been is 71mph :). I rarely exceed 35mph though as most the roads I drive on a 20/30/40 zones and the 40 zones are so busy that 40mph would be too fast.
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its news to me that fiats turn off the city at 18mph because it certainly doesnt feel like it in the ones ive driven with ithe ce skating feeling steering button on
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It was a hire car in Jersey a few years ago that I drove and I feel sure the Fiat did not auto switch off the girly feature so I agree with Bellboy
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The CC3 has three levels of assistance, although you have to search for it in the trip computer menus.
I have it on the girly setting, although it's not nearly as light as my brother's Panda with the city button pressed.
My old Focus was, I think, a similar spec to L'escargot's.
It was a diesel, and I thought the steering was too heavy, although it was nice and direct and had bags of feel.
I've driven a Corolla, Auris and C'eed - all had much lighter steering than my old Focus.
The Japanese/Korean hatchbacks are much lighter to drive all round than the European ones.
Last edited by: ifithelps on Fri 27 Aug 10 at 21:18
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>> The Japanese/Korean hatchbacks are much lighter to drive all round than the European ones.
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My Cee'd steering has about the same level of assistance as my Focus had on its lightest setting. All the controls are lighter, making the car easier to drive than the Focus, you don't realise how "heavy" the Focus feels until you drive a different car.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 27 Aug 10 at 21:51
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...you don't realise how "heavy" the Focus feels until you drive a different car...
Agreed, particularly a diesel.
I test drove a 1.6 petrol Focus and that was much more nimble.
Cheaper too, as is the fuel, mmm, buy a petrol car, now there's an innovative thought....
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Amount of assistance of power steering. - Notdoctorchris
