For all those that have argued that race car drivers prefer the yoke over a full wheel, well, here's proof that's not the case...
Just watched the video of Randy Pobst breaking the lap record at Laguna Seca with the new Plaid S and what do you know, the took out the stupid yoke thing and put in a full steering wheel. Now why in the world would they do that if the joke yoke is so much better??? Because it's not. Having driven a race car or two in my day, I can certainly tell you, in a full bodied car, a full steering wheel is absolutely necessary. In Formula 1 or IndyCar where they only need to turn the wheel 10-15 degrees at the most, that's one thing, but for most street cars or full bodied race cars, you need the full wheel. Just like in real world driving when completing a 3 point turn or u-turn. Sure, you can do it, but it's awkward as heck to do so and in case where a car may be barreling down on you at 60 MPH and you need to quickly get your car out of the way, what would you rather have, once where there's wheel anywhere you grab, or one that you have awkwardly place your hands to find what part of the wheel is there? How about rushing that quick shift into reverse? Before was a quick flick of your finger, able to be done without taking your hand off the wheel and without looking. Now, you've got to turn your head from the looking at the on coming car to your left, all the way over to the center screen to find the shift slider on the screen to get it into reverse. And do it again to put it back in Drive. Yeah, not gonna happen in any car I'm driving. Many, many times I've needed to quickly shift and wouldn't be able to as quickly in the new car. As with the panic horn fiasco, many times when that car is backing out of a spot not looking and ready to hit me, I've instinctively flicked out my finger and put the car in reverse and backed out of the way to prevent the other car from hitting me. That ain't happening in the new car. Have had multiple occasions in my S where these "driver friendly" features were an absolute must and saved me from someone else damaging my car. May be their fault and their financial responsibility to fix my car after their mistake, but, I'm still the one that has to deal with the hassle of getting it fixed. Had it happen once, sure as hell don't want to have to deal with that again! Didn't cost me anything monetarily, but sure was a pain in my ass. Absolutely would have had to do it more than once had my horn or shifter not been where they were to save my butt.
In response to so many that keep saying you can get used to it, that's fine and dandy and there is truth to it. But just because you learn to live with it doesn't make it better. There's no scenario in a panic situation where you are forced to take your eyes away to "LOOK" for what you need to do that is better and faster than being able to instinctively do the same task without looking. Flicking a turn signal stalk or shifter with your finger while your hand is on the wheel or just finding a big ol' button at the middle of the wheel for the horn, just based on feel, without having to visually find them is always going to be easier than finding these items with your eyes on a moving target.
There was a day when we actually had to use physical keys to unlock the doors and start the car. Did we get used to it? Of course. Was it better than just walking up to your car, getting in and putting it in gear and driving away? Then what did Tesla do? Came up with some idiotic key car thing for the Model 3 that EVERYONE complained about and eventually wised up and at least offered a key fob option. The same thing will happen here. Tesla got exactly what they wanted, EVERYONE is talking about it. For now, they have more buyers willing to "live with it" than they can build cars. So, they'll ride it out to keep people talking until such time that it starts impacting sales and then make the changes. Maybe not all of them, but, I can bet you that many mom's shuttling their kids to school in an SUV aren't going to touch these things. Tesla will offer a full wheel again. Probably correct the horn too. Maybe put shifter paddles on it and probably come up with some type of physical buttons for the blinkers. Likely not getting stalks back.
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