Handling 101 – What is it good for?

Assuming we have the size and type of car settled, the real starting point for most people is looks. One car looks better than another. A better colour, perhaps. All other things being equal, that's not a bad way of choosing your car - at least you'll like the look of the damned thing, even if it doesn't do the job intended.

Alas, with cars as with everything else, those 'all other things' just ain't equal - you'll get sick of just looking at it, or the fuel costs will drive you mad. Cars thus come with a vast array of alternatives and options, including exterior and interior design, engine and handling choices. Without even considering issues of build quality and perceived or actual retained value, there's plenty to complicate a choice.

One real difference between cars is the way in which they handle. So what is handling? Well, if I were tempted to define it, it's the way that a car feels and communicates to the driver, especially during and immediately following driver input. So if a car failed to communicate to the driver any sensation at all, I would say that it had no handling qualities to speak of! (You may as well be driving a train in such a case. People still enjoy driving trains of course, but the scope for handling qualities is much reduced.) However if 'something' comes back to the driver, perhaps a sensation of movement, particularly of sideways movement, then we are entering a world apart from the riding-on-rails feel. And it's this 'seat of the pants' sensation that for many people provides the enjoyment of driving.

The second part of this search for perfection is the removal of unintended consequences. This has resulted in electronic driver aids touted as 'safer' by 'experts'. In this new world feel is removed, because we don't want to scare you, and the requireddriving skill is minimised. In this paradigm for example traction is enhanced by measuring the rotation of each wheel against parameters such as throttle position, torque development, forward movement and yaw. A computer is programmed to assess whether optimum traction is being achieved and if not optimum action is taken to retard the wheel in some way, either by engine management or individual-wheel braking. Sounds fantastic - and it is, up to the point where the laws of physics override the programming and you slam into a tree. Within normal parameters it allows for mum and dad drivers to drive faster in low-traction conditions and to be less aware of what's going on around them. Instead they can listen to their MP3 player and watch in the in-car DVD without being distracted by external factors like other traffic, bikes, pedestrians, intersections, driveways or those pesky trees. Am I being too harsh? No, sorry - not harsh enough. These 'driver aids' are ultimately removing the skill and understanding from our driving experience and allowing drivers to simply forget their responsibilities when driving. It all makes driving much easier, opening up the market to more sales and yet more profit for the highly subsidised car industry. Yes, it's what we 'want' and 'in the public interest' - but then again we don't get fully informed about our options, and rarely get offered a choice, do we?

Ok, so anyway - moving on...handling will often be confused with grip by many people, or lightness of steering by others. Of course these are important qualities, but they alone do not constitute 'handling'. Cars need grip, both to go forward and to turn, let alone to stop. The degree of grip provided is very important, but the feeling transmitted back to the driver about that grip and how it is being used - that's handling. Or so I'm telling you!

Heavy steering may influence you to buy a different car, or it may dissuade you from parking that car in tight spots. But that same steering feel may be ideal at the legal speed limit; on the other hand, in time you will simply get used to it, light or heavy. And when that car is turning a corner under your control and it says, 'understeer', you will react accordingly to a handling input. If it doesn't communicate that feeling of front end push (ie understeer) or give any feedback at all then it will be a joyless, perhaps dangerous drive. It may still have handling qualities, but they are no fun! Let's call the fun handling 'good' handling, on the basis that we are people who like to drive, right?

In fact, it's ill-handling that really stands out. Cars that give you all sorts of incorrect feedback at the wrong time. You can't rely on the car to react correctly, so you have to slow it down, or just when you need some help the chassis has lost the plot and you end up looking foolish and spin. Good handling assists the driver, ill-handling doesn't help at all. So, apart from the fun aspect, good handling is also safer driving.