I have only about 1K miles on this nifty little compact sedan. I am finding the electric steering hard to get used to. Yes I have the smallish 14" bridgestones filled with nitrogen (so i’m told). Less feedback than hydraulic steering, and it seem to stiffly drift small amounts with tiny ongoing corrections. This is without crosswinds but I bet the tall sides and low weight/power might make this car suseptable in future highway driving. Comments?
I do a lot of highway driving, and I see a lot of Versas on the highway. They are usually traveling about 80 mph in the passing lane. Many of them are carrying four people or stuffed to the ceiling with . . . stuff. There’s no reason not to take the Versa on the highway.
Could be fun on a windy day, though.
The nitrogen in the tires won’t make any difference in steering feel or anything else, so forget about that. By the way, since air is 78% nitrogen, we ALL have nitrogen in our tires.
My Subaru has 14" wheels and tires. I don’t consider them “smallish.” I don’t have a vehicle with electric power steering, so I can’t comment on that. I imagine it’s something you get used to.
What were you driving before you bought the Versa?
If you were to change the tires and wheels to one of the larger 15" sizes, you would get rid of some of that vagueness in the steering.
BC.
Did You Buy That Little Car Without Thoroughly Test Driving It ? It Sounds Dangerous. I’d Go Back To The Dealer And Drive A Different One And Compare The Two.
Either your’s has a problem or they’re all skittish. Consider a heavier, larger car with a longer wheelbase. If you wreck the thing and get hurt then it defeats whatever reason you bought for in the first place.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen one, but “low weight/power” and squirrelly handling doesn’t sound desirable. It must be little, besides. Maybe it needs four guys in it and four sets of golf clubs in the trunk to hold it down.
CSA
I can’t comment specifically on the Versa, but I have experienced electrically-assisted power steering on my friend’s Rav-4, and it has none of the negative characteristics that you mentioned. In fact, while I was initially skeptical, I have come to really like the steering feel of his vehicle.
If your problem lies in the steering, then it must be a Nissan-specific problem, rather than something related to electrically-assisted power steering per se. Or, it could be related to the tires.
Truthfully, I would suspect the tires more than I would suspect the steering itself. Besides the tread design of the tires, the pressure in them could be part of the problem. Because of the presence of Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS), some folks naively believe that they don’t need to check their tire pressure, and this is totally false.
Do yourself a REALLY big favor and check your tire pressure. It should be in synch with the pressure listed on the label on the driver’s door jamb, or perhaps 2-3 lbs higher than the listed pressure. If you go too far over or too far under the listed pressure, you will experience handling and tracking problems. If you inflate your tires to the pressure listed on the sidewall of the tire, you will also have handling and tracking problems. Use Nissan’s tire pressure specifications, rather than what is listed on the sidewall of the tire.
If you don’t own a tire pressure gauge, you need to buy one. Don’t waste your money on a “pencil type” gauge. Buy either a dial-type or a digital gauge. Avoid the “Slime” brand, as it is poor quality.
I was driving, and still drive a A3 Jetta(97GT) which has longerwheelbase, larger steering wheel, similar tires. I didn’t describe it well enough, but the Nissan speed sensitive steering works as designed, i.e. it’s very easy to turn the wheel stationary at idle, and there is increased resistance at speed. No squirrelyness, but let me get back to you after driving in hurricanes winds. The smaller steering wheel is also different then I am used to. My VW almost seemed to drive itself with an occasional nudge with a knee (don’t tell Mom), but I can’t drive like that in the “new improved model”.In my old cars, At 30 mph, the steering “snaps back a little” when you nudge it,…not so much with the 2010 Versa. The road feel is a combination of the wheel, resistance, power and the feedback. Wrote a minireview on the archive part of this site, mostly pleased.
The comments posted so far have all been excellent, but let me suggest that you have the dealer check the alignment. New cars are not always perfectly aligned upon delivery.