Can't drive a straight line

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Spark @ Oct 19 2007, 05:53 PM) [snapback]527942[/snapback]</div>

I think most significant factor is the Prius itself. You are coming from a vehicle with better than average handling for a sedan sold in NA. VW's have higher spring, damper, and anti-roll bar rates than most American or Japanese brands. This leads to less body roll and quicker steering and better resistance to tracking issues in windy conditions.

The Prius is a typical Toyota, with HUGE amounts of body roll due to a very soft suspension. That leads to slower steering response and lots of understeer at the limit. The reason that you are counter-steering more in the Prius is that when you turn the steering wheel you have to wait for the body to roll, compress the suspension, and then set on it's new line. This leads to you over correcting then needing to correct for your counter-steer by steering back in the original direction. If you steer slower and just wait for the suspension to compress you'll track straighter.

However, soft, floaty, disconnected ride is what the majority of Americans seem to want as shown by the defensiveness of Prius Chat members that claim the Prius has wonderful handling and ride. I've also noticed that people that come from other Toyota's, SUV, Minivans, Trucks, and other vehicles will large amounts of body roll think that people that complain about this problem are crazy because they are used to it.

In the end you just need to get used to it or be prepared to spend about $2000 - $3000 on suspension upgrades. My wife and I just use our VW for highway driving and the Prius for city driving. This is also a good fit for the fuel mileage since the Prius gets better city mileage and the VW gets better highway mileage.

 

Spark. When I first got the Prius, I didn't like the handling at all. It felt hinged in the middle and tended to wander all over the place. After a while I realised most of the problem was me. I learned to drive on large cars that needed constant correction to stay between the lines, and it had become a subconscious habit. The steering on the Prius is unique in that it has relatively little 'feel', yet is very precise. Once I learned to use my eyes for steering feedback, and not my hands, the wandering went away. Installing a chassis brace cured the 'hinged-in-the-middle' feel, and tires are next on my list. That said, on a new car, it wouldn't hurt to check the alignment and tire pressures.

After driving a friend's Corvette last week, the steering on the Prius feels even lighter, the throttle linkage seems broken, and somebody swapped out the springs for marshmallows.

 

i am on my 2nd Prius and both had very tight steering that would make it tough to keep straight if you were used to a loose steering wheel. freeway maneuvers could be done with ¼ inch movements.

i frequently test the steering by taking my hand completely off the wheel and seeing how long it takes before drifting offline on a straight flat road. i consider 3 seconds to be excellent, more than that to be uncanny. my Prius frequently does the uncanny.

in contrast, my Ford pickup i rocked the wheel in 2" archs to keep it straight.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 19 2007, 09:03 PM) [snapback]527996[/snapback]</div>

AS usual Patsparks nails it. As he mentioned earlier concerning tire pressure and BT plate. I implore you to pay close attention to the tire pressure. I had the same feel and issue you have when I bought my 07 2 months ago. The steering needed constant attention. You could not relax your hand on the wheel and just cruise. It did not pull to one side or the other just a very minor and constant wander. It was the tire pressure. My car arrived with 28 lbs all around. Made for a very soft ride but steering was fubar. Get a nice quality gauge and make it 42Front 40 rear to start and it will improve dramatically. Plus I put a BT plate on and that helped a little more. The stock tires suck which is why the pressure is so important to I guess.
For me the choice for new tires brand will be hard because so many different peeps here swear that this brand or that brand is excellent which leads me to believe any high quality tire is better than what comes on the car. Be careful in the rain with the stocks too as I have already skidded out a little when wet.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Oct 20 2007, 09:30 AM) [snapback]528172[/snapback]</div>

That is how it felt for me too! lol

Funny though, my friend has a road-race prepped '02 Z06 (432rwhp), and a 668rwhp drag-prepped '95 Camaro LT1 and he's driven my car a few times and never mentioned anything about the suspension. His only gripe about my car is that he doesn't fit at 6'5" 280lbs (extra long legs). He said the power was perfectly driveable for him in a daily commute car.

 

I'm a little late to the show, but I noticed the same handling issue initally. When I had a VW, the steering was much more stiff than the power-assist steering in american cars, so there was a transition. I could "feel" the road a great deal more than with the cars that softened the driving experience. We had a Trailblazer which was very soft and sloppy--didn't like it a bit.

The fly-by-wire concept is completely sensitive, and over-compensating on a wheel during the "good ole days" used to basically take up the slack in the steering column, where as in THIS car it'll toss you into the other lane. I DID notice that the tires, especially the front, need to be identical (or nearly) in tire pressure. When I had mine delivered there was 3-4 lbs difference and it seemed to try to pull itself apart. I balanced the pressure (36 front, 34 rear) and stiffened them a little, and that seems to have made a world of difference.

Front wheel drive ALONE takes some getting used to, but with the VW it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm growing fonder of my new Prius every day.