Are Modern Cars Losing Their Feel? A Chassis Engineer Speaks Out

Cars are no longer fun and engaging to drive, says a manufacturer's own Chief Ride and Handling Engineer. I was reading something the other day and there was an article apparently that was an interview actually in an Australian magazine, Car Sales magazine. And they interviewed a guy called Graham Gambold who is Kia's Chief Ride and Handling Engineer. And he was lamenting the fact that He's part of the process, essentially this is, I'm paraphrasing of course, but he's part of the process in the ride, in the development of a new car, you know, the ride and handling part. Has become less of a focus when it comes to developing brand new cars. And actually, you can see that. I mean, I review new cars all the time. And I've said this before in videos. And I'll say it again. These days, when I'm doing reviews, I seem to spend more time talking about the infotainment system in the modern cars than I do talking about the drive. Now, the reality is, and also about the drivetrain, because actually that's the other big thing these days, really, is the drivetrain, whether it's electric, or whether it's hybrid, or whether it's plug-in hybrid, like the car that I'm in currently. Now, the car that I'm in currently is a prime example. It's got all the tech. It's got all the safety kit on it. It is constantly binging and bonging. If it's not binging and bonging, then my sat-nav is one or the other. You'll probably hear it in a minute. But it's constantly binging and bonging. And sometimes, like, I don't know why, it's like it freaks me out. It's like even more frustrating because I'm like, why are you bonging? I don't understand what it is you're trying to tell me. But anyway, the point is that modern cars, they have a lot of tech in them. They've got a lot of safety features. They do everything well. Well, and let's be honest. They don't drive badly at all. I mean, driving, the dynamics, the science and engineering behind the dynamics of the actual drive itself of a car has reached such a point that the engineers, wherever they are in the world, inherently now know how to engineer a car that is safe and easy and comfortable to drive. And fundamentally, I suppose that is really all that most customers want. Makes sense. A car that is safe and easy and fundamentally, basically, inherently intuitive to drive, right? And that's what engineers do. And they drive something that is, you know, that handles all right, that goes and stops all right, that does what you expect it to do. That's what the customer demands. That's what the market demands. But you can sense the frustration. In the comments of somebody like Graham Gambold, who clearly is, and don't forget Australia, they used to do something, I mean, maybe, I haven't looked into who Graham is, maybe he's ex-Holden or somebody like that, but you know, I remember driving the Camaro, the last generation Camaro, which of course was designed, it's an American car, but actually it's been, it was designed, it was actually, to be honest, it was set up, I should say, in Australia. And the engineers there behind the ride and handling characteristics took great pride in setting that car up properly. I remember driving the last one, the ZR1 Camaro. That's the last one I drove about, must be, I don't know, 2018, I guess. 2017, 2018, I must have driven it. And... Of all the muscle cars, I mean, I won't say this is my favorite muscle car, because actually I love all of the muscle cars, and I love them all for different reasons, but out of the holy trinity, if you like, not so much anymore, but at the time was Mustang, Charger, and Camaro, the Camaro was technically the best handling. There's no doubt about it. Technically, it had the best poise, the best grip, the best way that it would sat on the road, and the best confidence that it gave you when you threw it around the corner. corner. And that's a good part. That is down to the engineering excellence of people like Graham that have worked on cars like that. I don't know if he's worked on that car. I'm just saying like people like that. But I can sense the frustration and I can understand that and you know I've had an opportunity as a journalist, you know, you often go to car launches and you get wined and dined and you get sat with product managers and CEOs and of course they're just giving you the spiel, you know, they're obviously they're trying to sell their car and tell you how brilliant it is and how much better it is than any other car in the world ever. It's always the engineers that always were more interesting or are more interesting to talk to. And if you're in journalism or if you're in this automotive content creation game and you go to these events, then I urge you, always seek out the engineers. Because the engineers, A, They don't do any of the marketing bullshit, I'll be absolutely honest with you. They're really genuine and they're really passionate and diligent and fully focused on what it is that they actually do. And even if they get it wrong, and I've had this in the past, and even if they get, they will say it, you know. They will be quite frank, and I guess this is why PR probably tries to keep them away from journalists, because they're fundamentally about their work, and they don't care about the rest of it, they don't care about colour choices and trim levels and marketing and advertising campaigns, they don't care about any of that, they care about what they've worked on, which is the ride and handling dynamics, and sometimes you will get the truth out of them. But, so I'm not surprised that this magazine has got this guy to say that he's, you can sense the frustration in what he's saying. And it makes sense, because what's happening at the moment, like I said, is that all cars have reached peak car, if you like, you know. And now we're in this transition period where we're heading into, you know, electric cars and autonomous cars, you know, cars that drive themselves. And a A large part of the driver involvement, driver engagement aspect of what used to be so important with cars has started to evaporate. Also, there are far less enthusiast cars out there. Modern cars, I mean. Brand new cars that you can buy off the showroom floor. I did a video recently. I said, these are the last enthusiast cars. There's literally a handful of proper manual driver's cars left in the world right now. Literally a handful. You know, if you're one of these people that are thinking, I'll wait till 2029 before the EV new car sales deadline kicks in and I'll buy a car. No, you'll be too late by then. If you want a proper manual internal combustion engine driver's car, you need to get it now. Because there's only a handful left in the world, brand new that is. Used, thank God, there's plenty out there. But brand new, your choices are ever diminishing and very limited. And we're moving into this new period. Create car content. Brown Car Guy has written the only comprehensive guide that tells you exactly how. Get it now from Amazon or Kindle Unlimited. And also there's a fundamental problem that happened to my mind. This is something that I felt personally having, you know, been reviewing cars, testing cars, you know, for nearly 40 years, over 36 years definitely, 37th year I think I mean. But one thing that I found, and this happened around predominantly around the late 2000s, early 2000s, 2010s, you know, this is when this sort of thing happened, was the introduction of electric power steering. And to me that was quite a culprit. You know, a lot of people maybe don't detect it. It's one of those things where you don't really detect it. You know, if you've never driven a regular one, and you've only driven an electric one, then you won't really... Electric power steering one, I mean. Then you won't necessarily notice the difference. But if you've grown up driving or you've, you know... If your driving career has mostly been on regular non-power steering or hydraulic power steering cars, then you will notice the difference. I'm not an engineer. I don't profess to be one, so I can't explain the technicalities to you. But essentially, manufacturers moved to it for several reasons. It was efficient, better packaging, and also it allowed autonomous features to be introduced. So, you know, the car can take over the steering or the car can self-park. You know, for all of those things, electronic power steering is what actually helps them to be able to do that. The trouble is, the trouble is with electric power steering, is that it detracts from the driving feel. And I found this straight away, and there were a number of cars that were spoiled for me personally because of that. There's nothing wrong with the steering, and they vary. Like, some of them are actually quite good. Some of them are quite good at mimicking that sort of sense of feel and engagement, but some of them do divorce you quite a bit. Most modern cars divorce you. Like the thing that we used to talk about in the old days, which is very rare in modern cars, you may find it, if you're looking for brand new cars, you may find it in something like a Lotus or a Caterham or, you know, or a Morgan or something like that. But the thing that, you know, journalists and car reviewers, and we used to talk about before about the feel and the feedback, through the steering, to be honest, that isn't really necessarily a thing anymore, you know, because all the cars, if there is any feel, it's generally artificial, it's been generated, you know. You don't get that kind of connection where, you know, you drive something like an Elise, oh my God, to me that's like one of the peak car for engagement. Just a regular Elise, it doesn't even have to be one of the Exige or a powerful one, just a regular Elise. But the feeling, you know, there could be bird droppings on the road in front of you and you will feel it through the steering wheel. You know, you will feel it, you will know that that is what the road surface is like. That is what is happening. And hence you will know what the car is doing or what it's about to do and you will be Perfectly in tune with that car because you know if you think about it your point of contact with the car your hands your feet your bottom Right and the bottom is the important is also important because that's where the chassis feel comes in So you feel the car through your bottom? You know you are actually engaged through that your feet less so your feet are working You know, your feet are the workmen in this process, because they're working on the pedals. Your hands also, to an extent, are working. And even through your feet, you know, like through the brake pedal, you used to get some feedback. You know, nowadays you don't, but you used to get some feedback through brake pedals and stuff like that. And also because you have drive-by-wire and brake-by-wire, you're getting even less of that nowadays. But it's the hands on the steering also was a major, major part of it, because your hands are feeling the steering wheel. The steering wheel is connected directly to the front wheels. The front wheels are connected to the front tires, which are directly connected to the road surface. And the point of contact of the car to the road that you're on are the tires. So the tyres are the only thing that really can transmit back to you what is actually happening on the road. So it's quite an important part of an engaged driving process. And that honestly has disappeared from modern cars and it has disappeared because of safety features. Because the drive-by-wire systems, the autonomous systems, the help-you-park systems, the accident-avoidance systems, all of these systems require to have this sort of technology, and that's what's taking you away from it. Manufacturers are not so demanding when it comes to setting up the chassis, driving, ride-handling dynamics, steering dynamics of a car these days, because that's not what's important to them and what they feel is not important to their customer. And to be fair, if you're in a car like I'm in now, which has got a sports mode for some reason, this is basically a seven-seater SUV, right? It's got a sports mode. And I'm like, why has it got a sports mode? It doesn't... Who's ever going to throw this thing around? You know, it's a big old bus. You're just going to drive it like this gently, right? But anyway, they just put that in to make people feel good, whatever. Whatever. It's a psychological thing. This is not a sports car. This is Brown Car Guy's exciting new thriller. New York Times best-selling author Rick Hoskin said of it, it's a spy story through a different lens. Get it now at Amazon or Kindle Unlimited. But for those people that want sports cars, there's less and less of them out there, as I said, but also the latest ones that are coming out. You start to wonder if they're going to reduce this expertise and this effort and this development cycle of working on the ride and handling dynamics of a car, then even the sportier cars are not going to be as good. And also, they're also going to have the safety tech and everything as well on them. So it's a bit of a problem. So really, it was interesting to see this guy's frustration or to just sense it and also to realize that that is the reality of where we're going. And I suppose the point of this video really is a lament that that's happening. It's inevitable. It's inevitable because there's nothing we can do to stop it because it is part of the process. I do wish... And I know that they're going to say that, well, then, you know, they won't get their important and valuable five-star crash safety rating from NCAP and stuff like that, which is something that every manufacturer chases now. But I do wish that, to some extent, some manufacturers will put out something sporty and say, right, you know, sod that. This is a sports car. And we're just going to unleash our engineers, our chassis dynamic engineers. We're just going to unleash them. We're going to give them free reign. I'm going to say, look, put one car in our range that is pure Purely a sports car. And we only may have said a few of those. They may only be a halo car, but we have something in the portfolio that still knows how to engage its driver. I hope that's a thing. Anyway, that's my thoughts on it. Let me know what you think about it. Like I said, it's inevitable. It's the march of technology. It's what's going to happen. But does there have to be the complete and utter denial of choice in the market for people that, say, would still like a little bit of engagement? Or is that only going to be left down to the boutique manufacturers such as Caterham and Morgan and Westfield? Does Westfield exist anymore? Anyway, people like that who are able to do that. And I don't just mean the super hyper car makers, because those cars are ridiculous and nobody can afford to buy them. And the people that do buy them just put them into collections anyway. So anyway, let me know what you think and catch you on the next one. Please support independent content creators. You can support Brown Car Guy at these links. And make sure you hit like, leave a comment, share this video and don't forget to subscribe. It all helps. It really does. So please do it.