Are Modern Cars Losing Their Feel? More Tech, Less Fun

A ride and handling engineer’s frustration gets me thinking about modern cars, electric steering and the connection we’re losing. Can carmakers still leave room for something built purely for driving pleasure?

“Why are you binging and bonging?!” There’s a question I find myself asking modern cars increasingly often. Something has triggered another warning, another chime, another electronic intervention, and I’m trying to work out what the car wants from me this time. Meanwhile, a rather more interesting question is emerging: how much attention are we still giving to the actual pleasure of driving?

An interview with Graeme Gambold, Kia Australia’s chief ride and handling engineer, prompted these thoughts. Speaking to carsales, he expressed frustration that enthusiast drivers were being overlooked and that cars which drive nicely were becoming harder to find.

His comments struck a chord. I review new cars regularly, and I’ve said this before: increasingly, I seem to spend more time discussing infotainment than driving dynamics.

Then there’s the powertrain. Electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, how it works, how you charge it and how the different systems interact. All relevant, of course. But somewhere between the screen menus and the charging cables, the conversation about steering, suspension and sensation can get squeezed.

Competence comes as standard. Connection takes work.

Modern cars generally do the everyday stuff remarkably well. They’re comfortable, capable and straightforward to drive. They accelerate, steer and stop with the sort of competence that most customers understandably expect.

For a family heading to school, the supermarket or a weekend away, that may fulfil the brief perfectly. As an enthusiast, though, I want to feel something happening beneath me. I want to understand what the front tyres are doing, sense the chassis settling into a corner and enjoy the relationship between my inputs and the car’s response.

Always find the engineers

Here’s a tip for anyone getting into motoring journalism or automotive content creation: when you attend a launch, seek out the engineers.

You’ll meet executives and product managers who are very good at explaining why their latest car is the finest thing ever to roll out of a factory. That’s their job. The engineers are often the people I find most interesting. They’re passionate about what they’ve worked on, and the conversations can be wonderfully candid. I’ve had engineers acknowledge shortcomings and explain the compromises behind them.

Sometimes I suspect that’s precisely why the PR team would prefer us to finish our coffee elsewhere. That’s why Gambold’s frustration interests me. His remarks also come from a company which continues investing in Australian steering and suspension tuning. The broader question they raise is how highly the industry values those qualities.

Electric steering changed the conversation

One change I particularly noticed during my reviewing career was the wider adoption of electric power steering through the 2000s and early 2010s. If you’ve mainly driven cars with electric assistance, the difference may be less obvious. Coming from unassisted or hydraulic steering, I found some replacements noticeably less communicative.

There were sound reasons for the transition. Electric assistance offered efficiency and packaging benefits, while electronic control helped enable features such as automated parking and lane-keeping assistance. Conventional electric power steering also generally retains a mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the road wheels. Steer-by-wire is a separate arrangement.

The feel varies enormously. Some electric systems are very good; others leave me feeling rather detached. My frustration comes when the conversation through the wheel has gone quiet.

The Elise could tell you everything

For me, the Lotus Elise remains one of the great examples of driver engagement. A regular Elise was enough. You could enjoy extraordinary communication without needing the most powerful version. The steering felt so alive that you could probably detect a bird dropping on the road.

That sensitivity helped you understand the surface, the front tyres and how the car was responding. You felt involved in the process, perfectly in tune with what was happening.

Hands, feet and bottom

Think about your physical contact with a car. Your hands hold the steering wheel, your feet work the pedals and your bottom sits in the seat.

And yes, your bottom has an important job. Through the seat, you sense body movement, vibration and cornering forces. Your hands receive steering effort and feedback. Through your feet, pedal resistance and movement help you judge braking and control.

The tyres form the car’s contact with the road. Forces travel through the steering, suspension and body to reach you, creating that sense of connection. Different designs filter and shape those sensations differently. Electrically assisted and by-wire systems can change the experience, although their calibration matters enormously.

For an engaged driver, those sensations are valuable information.

Give the chassis engineers free rein

Here’s what I’d love a manufacturer to do. Take the engineers who care deeply about steering, suspension and balance, and give them the freedom to create one car they would want to drive themselves. Something light, simple and engaging. A manual gearbox, communicative steering and a chassis that rewards attention.

It might sell in modest numbers. It might serve as a halo model. But it could still give the entire range something worth talking about beyond screen size and software.

Sure, there would be commercial realities, regulations and development costs to navigate; however, I’d love to see the ambition survive those conversations.

Smaller specialist manufacturers help keep this spirit alive, but there should also be room for an attainable driver’s car from a larger company. Something people can buy, use and enjoy and get behind their favourite brands again. Give us a reason to take the long way home.

Which car gave you the best steering feel you’ve experienced? And which modern car still delivers that connection? Let me know in the comments.

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