[navdeep.rana]

Let's just talk about the steering wheel's and which car do you feel comes with the best stock steering wheel in India? Following are few pictures of the stock steering of the most selling cars in India.

A steering wheel is much more than just feedback now-a-days. It hosts a lot of buttons and lets the driver control a lot of options in the car without having to lift off his hand from the wheel. The comparison is between top end variants of all cars.

Images are provided below for reference.

Sedans

Compact SUVs
I personally feel that a steering should be both aesthetically and feature-wise rich for me to like it.

Entry Level SUVs

SUVs

Tata Tiago:

Hyundai Grand i10:

Hatchback segment leader Swift:

Looks much better than the previous model. Nice to hold and adds a character to the interior.

Maruti Suzuki Baleno:

Hyundai Elite i20:

<<<<<----------------->>>>>>>>
Another good one. Comes with hosts of buttons for multi-media and MID control. Hyundai has removed leather wrapping around it and that is a bit downer for me.

Ford Figo:

Ford could have used better quality material with better feeling buttons and more functions on it. As powerful the car is, deserved a better steering.

Volkswagen Polo:

Another very good looking and useful steering wheel. Comes with leather wrapping that feels good to hold and host of buttons to control MID and Multimedia system. Although horn pad could have been little better. Is a bit of a stretch for the thumb and one have to use their palm.

Fiat Punto:

More or less looks similar to the one in Ford Figo.

Toyota Etios Liva:

The whole dashboard is built on the idea of "Like it or Hate it" approach.
More like a square peg in the round hole. Centre mounted speedometer feels like it was already thought that the car will be used mostly for taxi so that passenger sitting behind can keep an eye on the speed. Less driver focused and more passenger-focused interior.

Tata Bolt:

Looks nice and does the job.

Honda Jazz:

Last but not the least. Another good wheel but there are certainly better ones.

[navdeep.rana]

Moving on to best-selling sedans.

New Hyundai Verna:

The new Verna looks 'wow' both inside and out.

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz:


Honda City:


Volkswagen Vento:

[navdeep.rana]

Best selling compact SUVs in India. This segment is the new popular segment among car buyers in India.

Ford EcoSport:


Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza:


Tata Nexon:


Mahindra TUV300:


Renault Duster:

[navdeep.rana]

Moving on to bigger boys.

Mahindra Scorpio:



Mahindra XUV500:


Toyota Innova:


Tata Hexa:

[navdeep.rana]

Now moving on to even bigger boys.

Toyota Fortuner:



Ford Endeavour:


Skoda Kodiaq:


Volkswagen Tiguan:

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!

To me, the best stock steering wheel I've ever experienced is the Honda Civic's. Reasons:

• Stunning design (especially by 2006 standards).

• Just the right size & thickness. Perfect.

• No buttons. I loved it more because it had no integrated buttons for audio, telephony and all that nonsense. It's a steering built for a single purpose which it did pretty darn well.

• Top quality material used wherever you looked or touched.

• Even the hornpad had the perfect weight. Not too heavy, nor too light.

I know this thread is more about the design, but I'll add this = In terms of feel, feedback & weight, it was PERFECT. If I was the head of R&D in a car company, I'd ask my team to do a 3-month long case study on the Civic's steering and replicate it in all my cars .

[abhi7013]

Why do most manufacturers have the same design for all their product line ups? I know cost cutting is an important factor, but so is the steering wheel!
Great thread! I would love it if manufacturers offered customised designs for every car. Mahindra, Maruti and TATA have the same design for almost all the products.
I love what honda and ford have and wish i could just swipe them.
My personal favourite is the one in Polo GTI!

[The Brutailer]

In my opinion, from the current crop of cars, the best steering wheel design is of the Vento and the City (in that order). The Vento for it’s piano black finish and the City for that mesh. Also, I don’t like too many buttons on the steering but audio controls are absolutely essential. (Ironically funny how my profile picture has a picture of Ferrari’s steering wheel). :P

The steering on my GLA remains my all time favourite though.



Note : Special mention to Skoda’s steering wheels with the knurled finished scrolling buttons. Outright brilliance.

[the_trooper]

Fork Ikon 1.6 Sxi
+ Felt ideal in terms of diameter
+ well weighted
+ good feedback
(dont have a photo, sad smiley)

[Ohh!Oxygen]

It has to be VW. Polo, Vento and Tiguan. All of them use different versions of the same wheel I guess.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...744707&thumb=1

What works?

1. Perfect size and leather to leather feeling (on hand )
2. Like a cockpit. The MID has two screens and shows you more than you can digest in with 4 buttons. All audio controls on left side.
3. Telescopic and height adjustment
4. VW signature build quality and quality of materials

[vb-saan]

I personally like steering wheel with not too many (or no) buttons. My all-time favourite is the one below - from my old Ford Ikon 1.6 Zxi; it was just brilliant. On the recent ones, I really like the one in the Octavia and the Compass (barring that dummy buttons on the latter).

[ShubhamGhute]

Excellent topic for discussion. IMO steering is a not just a part which connects those four shoes of car and driver but something which connects car and driver, both physically and emotionally.

My all time personal favourite is one from VW Polo. Its just perfect to hold and the ‘feel good’ factor is something which is one notch above class or even two! Following factors further enhance the beauty of Polo’s steering:-

• The quality of leather used is top notch
• Few buttons which actually aid functionality rather than distracting/confusing driver
• Flat bottom design helps during entry and exit
• Horn pad’s position is just perfect for my liking.
• 3 spoke design which goes well with sporty nature associated with Polo.
• You get feel of driving a Passat for 1/4th of the price!

[vishy76]

The Abarth Punto's steering has to be the best one for me below 10 lacs. Looks wicked! The Scorpion logo that adorns the centre is the cherry on top:


Another personal favourite has to be the //M Steering wheel. Thin spokes and the classic horn pad. Looks outstanding:


This has to be the best steering by VW. Again, heavy inspiration from the classic steerings, especially when it comes to the horn pad:

[niteshbids]

I'd vote for the Polo steering wheel among the current generation cars. Visually appealing, nice placement of buttons with good tactile feedback, flat bottom for the sporty look make it the best for me.

The steering controls buttons specially are very symmetrically placed with dual colour scheme making it very appealing. A lot of cars have the buttons placed in a very asymmetric manner with one side loaded with buttons while the other side is completely/almost bare.

The only grouse I have with this wheel is the lack of paddle shifters in the GT-TSI

Regarding the ease of reaching the horn-pad, I guess that with the current trend of increasing buttons on the wheel, the smaller horn pads are bound to happen.

[vikramvicky1984]

1 cedia with momo: one could buy the whole car just for that
2 civic: combined with the instrument cluster is magical