Dead on centre feedback from steering wheel

[satwar]

Hi,

I had my first highway run of my new 2013 CX-9 and I was disappointed in the lack of steering wheel feedback when driving straight on a highway. When the car starts to drift you just can't put pressure on steering wheel to hold it's position on road. I had to make a concerted effort to correct the drift, which results in the car constantly drifting from side-to-side in my lane.

There is a YouTube video review (Motormouth) which mentioned this issue but I didn't understand until yesterday what it meant.

Has anyone noticed this problem and tried to have Mazda look into it and resolve it ?

Don't get me wrong, I love the handling of the CX-9 during turns, it's just annoying to be constantly making little course corrections when driving at highway speed in a straight line.

 

[satwar]

A little research reveals that a lot of different makes & models share this problem. Perhaps adding some positive toe-in on front tires may make for better tracking in a straight line.

 

[table5511]

That might also wear the tires faster, and they wear fast enough on our cars. If you want to know what real lane drift is, try driving a <2013 Ford Escape (08 - 12 models) . Yes on those Ford Escapes with floaty tires just simple finger corrections on the steering wheel will move the vehicle in the direction so desired. Personally, I think that sucks and it feels like sloppy wet sandwich bread. I like the feel of my CX-9's steering on the interstate, and it requires very little constant input, however, yes, the input is stiffer/harder. There is a guy on youtube who reviews car, forget his name, but he reviewed the new 2013 Lexus ES and had the same complaint as you about stiff steering and how modern manufacturers are making a mistake by going down this road.
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Maybe it's that I don't have a weekend track car to know what he's talking about, or maybe it's that I disagree with him. In any event, I will take stiff, precise steering with semi-low profile tires, aided by a good roadforce balancing over loose non-responsive steering with big ole' floaty tires any day.

To each his own, I suppose.

 

[satwar]

Are we talking about the same thing ?

I'm talking about loose steering in the dead centre steering wheel position, where a considerable movement of the steering wheel is required to make a course correction. I like to feel pressure feedback immediately, what I would call tight steering, but I'm getting loose steering.

That might also wear the tires faster, and they wear fast enough on our cars. If you want to know what real lane drift is, try driving a <2013 Ford Escape (08 - 12 models) . Yes on those Ford Escapes with floaty tires just simple finger corrections on the steering wheel will move the vehicle in the direction so desired. Personally, I think that sucks and it feels like sloppy wet sandwich bread. I like the feel of my CX-9's steering on the interstate, and it requires very little constant input, however, yes, the input is stiffer/harder. There is a guy on youtube who reviews car, forget his name, but he reviewed the new 2013 Lexus ES and had the same complaint as you about stiff steering and how modern manufacturers are making a mistake by going down this road.
---
Maybe it's that I don't have a weekend track car to know what he's talking about, or maybe it's that I disagree with him. In any event, I will take stiff, precise steering with semi-low profile tires, aided by a good roadforce balancing over loose non-responsive steering with big ole' floaty tires any day.

To each his own, I suppose.