> as I drive my car in the streets of NY, dodging

> bad drivers, straight is usually not an option, nor is a rut free

> surface. And with that much power, as soon as the torque steer is

> induced, things get hairy!!!

People want steering feel; then when they can feel a tug at the wheel as a

driving/steering tire breaks traction, they call it torque steer...

If you couldn't feel a tug at the steering wheel as a driving/steering tire

broke traction, the car obviously used novocaine for power steering fluid

and has zero steering feel at all!

If you can put power down smoothly enough that the tires aren't squirming

and scrambling for traction, and the torque steer goes away, it wasn't

torque steer (but it was the unsmooth driver, or tires, or road surface!).

My car has no (perhaps not absolute zero, but nailing the throttle will

change the suspension alignment in any car...) torque steer. It has plenty

of torque, including a nice non-standard bulge in the middle of the curve:

But it also has a driver who 'never' puts down more power than conditions

at any given moment can handle, or at least who never complains about a

tire breaking traction -- and how that's perceived or the consequences -- if

he does. (I don't want nor need a completely idiot-proof car.)

I'm not sure what the adjective is, but I find it, uh, curious when some

folks claim they aren't really driving unless their car has a manual

clutch pedal, but then they turn right around and blame the car when they

don't like what happens when they try to put more power down faster than

conditions warrant!

IOW, I get tired of hearing drivers blame cars for drivers' inadequacies.

(They want a car that's more challenging to drive, but blame the car

whenever they fail to meet the challenge well?) And it bugs me even more

when the same folks claim they don't want their cars to "do their driving

for them" but wish they could better get away with being more heavy-handed

[-footed] with the controls. I never know which side of their mouths to

listen to...

Shifting? A machine can do that (pretty darn well, too; mine hasn't missed

a shift in 107+K mi!).

Knowing how much power the car can gracefully put to the ground at any

given instant, and getting the drivetrain to provide precisely that much?

That requires a DRIVER (or a more idiot-proof car).

- Dave; '95 854T, 107K mi