I gave the Infiniti G35 another shot. My first outings in it left me cold to some of its control interfaces, leaving an overall impression of being underwhelmed. One of those interfaces was the steering. Last night, I put my initial impressions aside and drove the G again.
Numerous previous blog entries have beaten to death the subject of the G35's clutch. Let me assure you that this blog entry has nothing to do with the clutch action, which is so godawful that it alone conspires to ruin the driving experience by making the driver's every gearchange feel like the first he's ever done. I promise to make no mention whatsoever of it. Cross my heart.
No, this entry pertains to the steering. First, the good. It's a great steering wheel, with well-placed "pads" for the hands at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions and wrapped in leather of a high tactile quality. The rim is shaped right, too.
My quibble is with the variations in steering effort. In short, the weighting changes too abruptly from turn to turn. A low speed turn has light effort, and the next, slightly faster turn is met with a drastically disproportional increase in effort.
Scrutinizing it further, it feels as though the steering assist is ramped out too aggressively as engine speed increases. The G35's steering assist "mapping" could use some finishing school.
Call it nitpicky but subtleties of this nature are partly what separate great steering from a system that's just okay. Truly great steering is transparent and natural--it should never call attention to itself.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor @ 8,345 miles
jkavanagh says:
12:51 PM, 08/15/07
...and I just realized that editor Brent Romans blogged about this exact characteristic last week. Doh!
http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/1333
bromans says:
01:20 PM, 08/15/07
Thankfully, Jason's wording gives a bit more description as to how the G's steering varies from corner to corner. - Brent
redliner says:
01:41 PM, 08/15/07
Let me guess, the BMW 3 series is better.
elbee says:
04:15 PM, 08/15/07
Infiniti will NEVER beat BMW at their own game, so I would imagine the Infiniti will forever be the darling of the "bang for the buck "crowd.
drewsrx says:
09:01 PM, 08/15/07
I find it amusing that someone can make such a bold claim as "never beat BMW". Never is a strong word.
Do you honestly think BMW is going to be on top forever?
Every generation of BMW gets worse and worse as a true drivers car, while the others are getting better and closer.
joefrompa says:
06:54 AM, 08/16/07
"Truly great steering is transparent and natural--it should never call attention to itself."
This is definitely one of the best statements I've read so far that explains to people of all stripes what makes great steering. If I can expand a little, I'll throw in my .02 cents.
Great steering never feels artificial, or programmed.
Great steering has nothing to do with heaviness or lightness (despite what alot of people like to say). Great steering gives you the feeling that you can feel the condition of the road at each front tire through the steering wheel rim, with each incremental turn of the wheel, while at the same time damping out unwanted feedback. That last part is personal taste for each person: The Elise driver wants everything, the BMW driver wants only the good stuff....
Good steering has to do with the quality of the steering wheel as well. As noted, it'll be thick-feeling (but not too thick) and well padded. It should be slightly oblong in the middle, and not perfectly round. Extra thickness in the shape of a thumb rest should reside at the typical upper hand positions (such as 10-2...even if you don't like this position, typically ONE of your hands resides on either 10 or 2).
Great steering has the feeling that, when on-center, you can let go of the wheel and the steering wheel won't move. It feels solid and connected to the road on-center. And as soon as you turn the wheel left or right, the car responds exactly to the amount of input you gave it.
Alot of people get sick of hearing how BMW has the best steering, but MOST years of the BMW 3-series has all of the above in quantities greater than an equal-model-year competitor. A few years of the 3-series had terrible steering (read edmund's reviews of the 1999-2001 328i to 330i switch and the resultant complaints of what BMW did with the steering)
Joe
carlisimo says:
12:10 PM, 08/16/07
Was the previous G35's steering so far from perfection, or were expectations just lower?
I agree with the comments above, and I have to add that I've never driven a Nissan with great feel. My old manual-steering Sentra had feel, but too much effort to make it pleasurable. The manual-steering Tercel was much better. Hondas mask their feel behind too much power boosting. Mazda's got it just right (so I bought one). And while I don't think BMWs are as perfect as the media does (for me, anyway), their steering is pretty darn close.
redliner says:
12:13 PM, 08/16/07
I agree with drewsrx, "never", is a strong word.
joefrompa says:
03:25 PM, 08/16/07
I wanted to add one more thing to my description above. An important aspect of great steering is at-the-limit feel. A great steering system will let you know just when the tires are about to give out, when they are just giving out, and when you've regained control....
Drive a car like a Saturn Ion (EPS steering, vinyl steering wheel, never the slightest bit of feedback) and you don't know what's going on, at the limit or otherwise. Drive a car like a BMW 3, Mazdaspeed 3, or prev. gen STI....
Joe
stephen987 says:
07:03 PM, 08/16/07
Nissan used to know how to do this great. Both my '90 240SX (with power steering) and my buddy's 71 240Z (without) had terrific steering feel.
jkavanagh says:
10:02 PM, 08/16/07
Here's where I get all geeky-like again.
There's a difference between steering feel and steering weight. A car can have terrific feel and the weight could be all jacked up, and vice versa.
Come to think of it, that distinction is sometimes lost on some automakers, whom at times mistake 'feel' for weight. The result? Heavy, numb steering. Ooops.
hondacura4 says:
03:00 PM, 08/19/07
Im not sure if Infiniti SHOULD beat BMW at their own game. Let BMW be BMW and Infiniti be Infiniti.
redliner says:
08:39 AM, 08/20/07
GO Hondaacura4! Let people be who they want to be, not who we want them to be.