What is handling to you?

[DGthe3]

This subject comes up in other discussions often enough, I figured it might as well get its own thread.

Seems to me that there are 3 general opinions on what handling actually is. There are those who believe it is a 'by the numbers' characteristic. The car that has the highest skidpad, slalom, lane-change, and other similar stats is the better handling car. Then there are those who describe handling as a 'feel': oversteer, understeer, neutral, how predictable is it at the limit, and other such items. Lastly, there are those who consider handling to be how a car performs on a very tight and technical course, where acceleration accounts for little. I think I've covered all the general categories I've heard here (mostly from the Camaro vs ... forum).

[AlSuwaidi]

As im never going to be racing I would say its how good the car 'feels' when you drive it around... should be good enough to take corners at speed but not to rough...

definately a different thing per person..

[derklug]

For a road car, handling is in the seat of the beholder. I have driven cars that are great on specs but feel squirelly on the road, and some that are dogs on paper but seem to handle well. Most people never drive a performance car to the edge of it's abilities, so most of the high end performance upgrades are lost on them. How many Porsche enthusiasts just had to have the ceramic rotors on a car that will never see a race track? If a car handles well up to about .90 on a skidpad, it will make 99% of it's owners happy.

[Mr CLuTcH]

To me, ultimately I think it's how well a car actually performs on a tight technical course. I wouldn't have it any other way. A race course is as close as your going to get to that actual driving experience. Highest skidpad, slalom, and lane change are also very important factors too and can't be ignored, but I believe ultimately a cars performance can be put to the test on the track. Skidpad, slalom, and lane change alone can't determine a car's performance.

When you put the car on a tight track or at least one with some nice corners, whatever numbers you come up with after it's ran the course, tells you the car's performance. Most Nissan Z owners thought the 350/370 could out-handle a Camaro SS but when the SS was brought to the track, it scored higher than every other car in it's 30,000 dollar class. Now that says alot. Just my opinion,..someone else may greatly disagree. "Handling" to someone else may mean something totally different; in a way it's very subjective.

[Zeus]

No disrespect to your poll, but I think some of your choices are essentially saying the same thing.

I'd vote for "Road feel and agile steering response"

[SScattergunSS]

Originally Posted by Zeus

No disrespect to your poll, but I think some of your choices are essentially saying the same thing.

I'd vote for "Road feel and agile steering response"

[MikesZ]

I chose "Other" because its how the car feels/handles when I drive it that matters to me.

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by MikesZ

I chose "Other" because its how the car feels/handles when I drive it that matters to me.

If you had read the OP, that would fall into the 'oversteer, understeer' category...

[SRFnSNO]

I Vote; Tec course
It is power, braking as well as steering response

[MrIcky]

I chose other. I've understood handling to be how your car behaves when it starts to lose traction. Performance is what your car can do before it loses traction (like skidpad numbers).

Some examples of cars I've driven-

Miata is a great handling car with only medium performance, you can make it oversteer or understeer just by being good with the brakes. And if you do get loose it's easy to gather up. If you take no action when you start to go sideways, the whole car will just sort of stays even and slides sideways until it catches again.

Camaro is a car with pretty high performance but only moderate handling. You can push it pretty hard, but when it breaks loose the front end starts to feather and you can't really bring it back quickly except by dumping throttle (which suddenly makes the back end feel light). I'm sure you could bring the back end out by clutch-kicking- but it wasn't my car so I didn't go that far.

A Corvette is high performance and high-unforgiving handling. When it breaks loose it tends to do so quickly so you have to be a better driver to handle it at the edge. I'm not good enough and so it felt like I was always about to swap ends.

Don't chastise me, no insults here. Just being honest.

[a_Username]

You mean handling by itself? Using road course victories to justify a car is better than another in the handling department doesn't prove much, of course depending on the track. Handling by itself should be measured by skipad, slalom, etc. but also on very tight, technical road courses. And I use the last road course statement very loosely, because road courses factor in all of a car's performance such as braking, acceleration, handling, etc.

[Rogue Leader]

I am anotehr vote for tight technical course. A Car can have all the numbers right but if it doesn't feel right, or doesn't react well then its all worthless.

There are many cars that fall into this, ex the Saab 9-3 Viggen from about 10 years ago, all the right numbers, but all sorts of wrong thanks to torque steer. The C6 Corvette, great numbers and handles great, but just that close to terrifying as well. Although i'd say the C6 is a great handling car, just requires a lot of finesse.

In the end theres no perfect way to judge it, but IMO multiple opinions on a tight technical course, AS WELL AS real world driving handling opinions are the best way to judge whetehr the car handles good or not.

[Sir Nuke]

well if you want to see if your car or bike or whatever you got handles....a REAL test is to drive US129 Deals Gap, Cherohala Skyway in North Carolina...THE DRAGON's TAIL.......318 curves in 11 miles. hang if you can!!

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Zeus

No disrespect to your poll, but I think some of your choices are essentially saying the same thing.

I'd vote for "Road feel and agile steering response"

Well, you can have a car that is great by the numbers but is practically unmanageable when you drive it. A balanced car with low limits will feel good but perform poorly. A car that performs on a tight course might not have great numbers, or even feel good, but it gets the job done.