gjw@floyd.UUCP (Greg Wroclawski) (03/16/84)
Generally speaking cars with power steering have quicker steering usually by decreasing the number of turns lock to lock. My first FWD car was a Saab Sonett III. A light 1900lb car. It had non-power assisted steering and by my own admission was very heavy to turn the wheel while parking. The reason for this was that the steering was very quick. The car had a turning circle of 26 ft. and only 2.7 turns lock to lock. Road & Track calculates and publishes in their road tests a steering index. They take the turns lock to lock times the turning circle and divide by 100. For the above example we get .702 which is a very low number compared to most cars. I also own a GM J car which is front wheel drive. The car weighs 2640 lbs because of all the accessories. It has power steering and with the engine off (no power assist) the wheel is next to impossible to turn at a stand still. The R&T steering index for this car is 1.01 using the above formula. If one bought a J car without power assisted steering the turns lock to lock increase from 2.9 to 4.0 while the turning circle remains at 34.7 ft increasing the steering index to 1.38. The slower ratio allows for a reasonable effort level for parking manuevers. In some of the articles discussing this topic Honda Accords were mentioned. the turns lock to lock on these cars is 2.9 with power assist and 3.7 without. Again slower steering without power assist. I guess it boils down to what ones preference is. I had driven sports cars for years which traditionally had quick steering and when I needed to buy a small sedan I liked the faster response of the quicker steering so I opted for power assist. True in most cars one gives up some steering "feel" with power assist but it is a trade off.