I have read several reviews, and they say that teh steering is vague or no feel. What does that mean? I like precise steering. Is this like an old cadillac?
It's not like an old car that has a lot of play in the steering wheel, or having effortless one finger turning. I would call it sluggish steering. It's not bad once you get used to it, but it is about the farthest thing away from the "Ultimate Driving Machine" as you can get. iPad ?
To me the earlier Prius' has much too easy steering even though it is precise and does not have a "sloppy or loose" feeling. My 08 seems to be more isolated from the road and clearly driver inattention will steer the car in either direction. However I see lots of cars drifting as their detracted drivers play with their phones. You do get used to the older Prius steering by learning the new feel. With that said, the V is better but still has the same basic electric power steering, ac pump, water pump etc. The V steering seems to be more speed sensitive (easier at slow speeds), but I can't be sure. But it absolutely does not feel quite as "drive by wire" but is still very easy, perhaps still too easy but decent and improved. Overall the V is quieter, roomier, rides smoother, brakes without effort, transitions between gas and electric better and often feels like the best luxury car particularly when on good roads. However if you want a BMW ride and handling in a low cost package, consider a Honda. Just give up some pretty significant mpg.
Steering seems to be OK to me. Car is following you in the turns. There is no feeling that you misjudged the curve, Sometimes I find myself giving too much when changing the lane @60-70mph. I do not drive car regularly, wife does, and steering is no different, but need to adjust to the small steering wheel and electrical steering.
This is a common complaint leveled at Toyota. It means that the steering gives little or no feedback. You turn the wheel, the tires move - no fuss, no bother, no drama. It's like driving an appliance. Car enthusiasts and performance drivers like more feedback in steering to help them better control a car. It's one more data input about the forces acting on a car. Tom
It is a totally meaningless complaint in what is essentially an A to B car. I don't love the prius because it gets my blood pumping. I love the Prius because it gets me and all my stuff from A to B very efficiently, quietly, and comfortably. I love our MINI because it gives me all those feelings of being connected to the machinery. But the MINI, frankly, sucks to drive when I'm just trying to get from A to B. The suspension is so harsh that you feel every poor part of the road up your spine, the tires are loud, the steering is extremely twitchy, and it is about as uncomfortable as they come on a road trip. It is tiny. This "vague steering" is something peddled by people who write car reviews. Vague steering works perfectly for 95% of the car buyers out there, which is why all normal cars have vague steering. Test drive the car and determine how it drives to you.
I must agree with Quentin, the steering is just fine. We live in a rural area and when we head North to the big City, we use a National Forest Service road for about 24 miles. the road is oil mat with short areas of asphalt, it's choppy and curvy as it follows a small river for about 12 miles. Our v handles it quite well, when my wife drives she pushes it, always trying to beat her best time for the 24 miles. We also have a low mileage 98 Mustang SVT and the v seems to out handle it especially on the choppy areas and hairpins the Stang will bottom out and tend to get out of shape when you give it too much pedal. One of these summer days we're thinking of seeing if the v will stay with it till the road starts to level and straighten. I almost think it will be can the Stang keep up with the v for the first 12 miles, unfortunately for whoever drives the v it will be no contest when the road gets better. Lol Probably we don't know how to drive like the self proclaimed experts that write for car magazines and reviews, so we don't know that we aren't "feeling the road".
