I may have mentioned this before, but D-shaped steering wheels on street cars are pointless. A flat-bottom wheel makes sense on a formula or prototype racing car that only needs a half-turn to travel from lock to lock, but it only takes a single curve on a winding road to understand how ill-suited they are to the slower steering ratios found in production cars. Even zippy ones like the R8.
Like many drivers, I'm a shuffle-steerer. I pass the wheel through my hands constantly as I navigate winding roads. When my hands reach the flat portion of the R8's wheel, well, they don't. The flat portion is like a giant hole in the helm's rim. A break in concentration like this is exactly what you don't need when you're driving, uh, with spirit.
The R8 is an engaging drive in nearly every conceivable way, and this concession to style is silly and unnecessary.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor @ 25,811 miles.
subytrojan says:
11:24 AM, 01/ 2/09
Great point, Jay! I've never driven a street car with a D-shaped steering wheel, but I am a shuffle-steerer.
We should all congratulate Jay on his team's (Eyesore Racing) 4th place finish at the 24 Hours of LeMons last weekend! :o)
http://jalopnik.com/5120461/the-top-100-lemons-of-the-24-hours-of-lemons-arse-freeze+a+palooza
Eyesore's FrankenMiata:
http://jalopnik.com/5091655/eyesore-racings-ghettocharged-miata-fears-no-turbocharged-peugeot-surrender-monkeys
Video at the Streets of Willow Springs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Zu7kL4kMI
louiswei says:
11:30 AM, 01/ 2/09
R8's gauges from this angle remind me of Wall-E...
stingray454 says:
12:23 PM, 01/ 2/09
I agree Jason.
bbechtel16 says:
12:35 PM, 01/ 2/09
LOL, I do see the resemblance.
huyracing says:
01:10 PM, 01/ 2/09
i dont have a problem with D shaped wheels, i actually prefer them. it allows for more leg room and easier ingress/ egress.
there is actually less of an arguement for them on race cars because you can have a quick release hub to remove the wheel completely from the car to aid in ease of ingress/ egress.
jriz says:
01:33 PM, 01/ 2/09
The wheel-mounted shift paddles are also a pain when shuffle steering.
chavis10 says:
01:38 PM, 01/ 2/09
I agree. These are street cars, not formula 1 racers.
estreka says:
02:48 PM, 01/ 2/09
I agree with Huy. D-type wheels are for vehicles with cramped legroom. I'm not sure I could get in and out of my car without a D-type steering wheel.
jgpingpong says:
11:50 PM, 01/ 2/09
Granted, they maybe just a design element in a street car, its not that much different. In my GLI, the flat bottom isn't as pronounced as the R8, but it still throws some people off. I however have no complaints, I am a shuffle steerer too; is it that much more difficult, uncomfortable, and unsafe? I do not think so.
To me, the thing about the steering wheel that matters most it the upper part, the 9, 10, 2, and 3 o'clock positions. It has to be meaty, and have a nice feel and shape. If it has a flat bottom, more moot points!
roadburner says:
11:32 AM, 01/ 3/09
I prefer a three or four spoke with a thick rim and a moderate amount of padding. My favorite wheel is the MOMO Alpina wheel that I fitted to my 2002. The Mazdaspeed is just OK; it drops the ball by placing a stitched seam on each spoke exactly where I like to place my thumbs. The worst tiller in my garage is the one in my Wrangler TJ. The rim is thinly padded and the two spokes are located at four and eight. That said, I give it a pass since it's not a high performance vehicle. On pavement, anyway...;)
MS3lvr92 says:
05:04 PM, 01/ 3/09
Do any companies have shifting paddles that rotate along with the steering wheel. Because if you're rocketing into a corner wouldn't you want that shift paddle to be at the 12 o'clock position where your hand is? You know so you could downshift or upshift accordingly.
roadburner says:
07:50 PM, 01/ 3/09
The Alpina B7 I ran for a couple of weeks had the shift buttons on the back of the upper spokes. They worked pretty well.
hondacura4 says:
12:47 PM, 01/ 4/09
The percieved quality of the R8's interior in the above picture is SUPERB!
huyracing says:
02:16 PM, 01/ 4/09
MS3, a lot of companies have paddles that rotate with the wheel and that is not ideal... if you are driving the car hard, you can easily lose track of the shift paddles. it is far better to have them mounted to where they are stationary...
mikeebear says:
11:51 PM, 01/ 4/09
Really, you should not be "shuffle steering" while driving through these winding roads. Keep your hands firmly planted and just keep twisting. This is a bad habit of mine as well especially when autocrossing, but at least I'm aware :-P
blankfocus says:
07:07 AM, 01/ 5/09
i love my GTI's flat-bottom steering wheel. i suppose it's just a personal preference thing. i feel that it's without a doubt the best steering wheel i've ever had the pleasure of using.
garysandiego says:
01:47 PM, 01/ 5/09
This reminds me of the rectangular steering wheel that was on my 1964 Chrysler 300K. Chrysler had used rectangular steering wheels on Imperials starting in 1960 (I think) and it was supposed to signify a certain racey luxury. It looked cool, but it was so impracticable in turns. It caused your arms to really extend at just a quarter turn. You could not let the wheel pass through your hands.
sgude says:
09:09 AM, 01/ 9/09
I don't shuffle steer, so it doesn't bother me one whit. It's just a design element as far as I'm concerned, and as huy said, it does help with ingress/egress.