Team-BHP
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The 4 spokes (only spokes and not the central part) on this steering from Safari storme is the one that my heart can't move on from. From day 1 I saw it, to the date today, I keep and keep staring at it and dream to hold it in my hands.
The positioning of 4 spokes are so perfect and heart touching that makes me huge respect for designs.
As someone who started driving in 2010, I think all the cars I've ever driven for long have had three-spoke steering wheels only. So I can only go with what I'm comfortable with.
That said, I have not experienced the yoke steering ever. Who knows, probably all cars might sport that in the future.
I find it difficult to adjust myself with the steering wheels with buttons during spirited driving on locations with tight corners.
I keep pressing random buttons all the time whenever I drive a car with them, thankfully my car does not have them and I feel at home. I guess the button position is too interfering in most of the cars. Sigh, forget just the steering buttons, the whole car feels like just another gadget-on-wheels these days.
Three-spoke wheels evoke nostalgia and would work perfectly for everyone; everything else is just aesthetic in my opinion.
I don't care as long as it is round. Flat bottomed steering wheels and yokes look cool until you have to take a 3 point turns, U-turns or park.
Though I drive a car with a 2-spoke wheel, I’d prefer a 3-spoke wheel any day.
2 feels incomplete and hollow.
4 feels like someone whose limbs are stretched out and tied to the wheel.
Just the imagination of driving a yoke type makes me feel uncomfortable. :eek:
My pick would be 3 spoke, especially this new one from Mercedes looks damn nice.
I love my Altroz's 3 spoked flat bottomed steering
Love three spokes, BMW in general had fantastic wheels and their M-Sport certainly hits the spot. I love my Mazda 3 wheel too, very similar to BMW but looked very very premium.
Another point I want to add is leather quality plays a big part too, especially for long long drives. Here's 2 photos which I took.
While the three-spoke and four-spoke steering wheels are commonly loved, I see some members voting for the yoke.
I'm genuinely curious about why they voted for the yoke. Is it more ergonomic to use a yoke, or does it give drivers a feeling that they are flying an aircraft?
The question asked is without any offence to the ones who have voted for the yoke.
I’m clearly in the minority here, but I think 2 spoke steering wheels have a few benefits which you’ll only know once you have it, and in many ways it might be better than 3 spoke.
I currently have a Honda Jazz, and previously had a Ford Figo and EcoSport, with other 3 spoke steering cars before that. So I’ve had my fair share of experience with the 3 spoke wheel.
But currently I also have a Slavia, and here are some benefits that I’ve come to realise with it:
1. On long drives, the space where the 3rd spoke would have been serves as a great resting place for my right hand. Makes the distances more relaxing.
2. I’ve recently fitted my Slavia with aluminium pedals, and I get a great view of them through my Slavia’s steering wheel, which I wouldn’t have got had I had a 3 spoke steering. This is a very unconventional point to make, but trust me, if you’ve made such an investment, or your car comes with aluminium pedals by default, they are a delight to look at between the wheel.
3. I simply find it more aesthetic to look at, and as someone pointed it out before, I believe Skoda has done a great job at its take on a 2 spoke steering. Looks very classy and elegant.
These are my thoughts. 3 spoke steering is great no doubt, but 2 spoke steering deserves much more credit than it gets.
Three spoke with all key controls required for driving a car safely on the steering wheel operatable with our fingers. That for me would be the ideal steering wheel and a darn sight safer than the tablet touch screen focused car designers of today.
In aviation we have a design concept called HOTAS -Hands On Throttle And Stick - used mainly in combat aircraft. aviation professionals and enthusiasts will be familiar with this.
Here the joystick control column positioned most often in the centre between the legs to manoeuvre the aircraft is held in the right hand and the throttle lever fitted on the left side in the left hand. All key controls needed to fly the aircraft, maintain air safety and operate the weapons are on little buttons on both these - throttle lever and joystick - meaning the pilot can perform a very large part of his operating spectrum with his hands while looking out of the cockpit.
That is what we need with our modern cars and not those anti-safety touch screens.
So steering wheel with the automobile equivalent of HOTAS gets my vote. To some extent this was happening as controls for wipers, indicators, cruise control, music systems etc. started getting onto the steering wheel.
The rectangular shaped wheel is IMHO a safety risk. It may look cool and the shape tells you just how much you have turned the wheels. It works in an aircraft cockpit, from where they have picked it up. There you have to be able to see at a glance how much turn you or your other pilot has applied and the column is used for pulling up or down too, so you want that vertical grip. Our cars have either a full 360 degree turn of the wheel or more because we need finer degrees of turn and in that I believe a round shaped steering does the job better as you gauge the turn by instinctively watching the bonnet and road and not peering down at the steering wheel.
3 spokes makes the steering look balanced. Two spokes feel incomplete to me. Also, with just 2 spokes, we wouldn't know which way is up when parked 😀 Especially with the new Hyundai's design. Neither the logo nor the steering wheel tell us if the steering is upright or inverted.
The new steering on creta n line is back to 3 spokes, the way it should have always been!
There is another quirky option from the French- Citroen single spoke wheels.
The advantage of this is it is quite easy to see instruments all the time and easy to know the orientation by feel alone.
Airbags have killed the single spoke ones. However if one gets a chance, trying out an old Citroen car is a revelation for anyone.
Personally I like 3 spoke steering wheel. It looks right, not too much and not too less.
Although I am driving Creta now with 4 spoke D cut steering wheel which is ok-ish (although love the one comes in N-line variants), I like more of my previously owned Volkswagen Polo 3 spoke steering wheel.
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