Steering, brakes, throttle... why good components are fun

In order to make a car move, we have to operate it with our hands and feet, at least until autonomous cars get in on the act. Anyway, we need to move levers and pedals and wheels – the components that the car is built from.

These move mechanically, and their actions have the capacity to cause us satisfaction and joy. So we asked everyone to name the car with their favourite gearbox, brakes, steering and throttle response, and because we’re not completely backward-looking, to see if they could find fun in paddleshifts, skinny tyres and wings, too.

Photography: Mark Fagelson

This feature was originally published in issue 285 of Top Gear magazine.

The results of this were pretty clear – a lot of hardcore sports cars that put the minimum distance between the action you make and the response from the car. I don’t think anyone was surprised by this. Take the Lotus Elise. I’m going to start there because it was the landslide victor in our election for best steering – only two people voted for anything else. Our votes were dictated by our memories, and what we all remembered about the Elise is the way the wheel dances and writhes in your hands, letting you know precisely what the wheels are up to before you’ve put any pressure through the rim.

Yes, in the new Cup 250 it’s quite weighty at low speed, and, if I’m honest, older, less hardcore, skinnier-tyred Elises have even more finesse and delicacy, but the way the chassis follows the steering so harmoniously will make you smile.

Now skinny tyres aren’t just good for undiluted communication. The low grip levels they offer make them accessible fun for all. Many people in the office hold that the best Caterham isn’t the 620 featured here, but the humble three-pot 160. One Caterham was enough, though, so here it’s the even skinnier-tyred Morgan 3Wheeler that delivers our fun. Watching the wheels dart and skip about, feeling the grip run out when even the VW Up is still glued on its line is very amusing.

The Caterham’s throttle and the GT3 RS’s brakes come from the more senior end of fun. A brush of either pedal is enough to snap your neck. Actually, so savage is the Caterham’s throttle that you’re almost nervous of it. The Porsche’s brakes are more benign. They operate smoothly, but it’s the feel of the pedal under your foot that’s so special – like you’re actually pushing your plimsoll against the disc itself. There’s so much power in them, so much precision and response.

A backlash against the GT3 RS caused Porsche to build the manual-gearbox 911R. That garnered a few votes, as did the MX-5 and the exposed-linkage Lotus Exige. All have good shifts, but in the Cayman GT4 moving the lever is only part of the fun – the clutch is perfection, it’s easy to heel and toe. So you build this fantastic rapport, savouring the processes, making unnecessary shifts, just because you can.

A paddleshift doesn’t really compare, even when it’s the one in the BAC Mono. Now, a good single- clutch sequential box is a rare thing, and this one is a peach. The shifts are split-second, the pneumatic ‘pssst’ actuation is a real thrill – it’s as good as paddles get, but… it’s harder to get genuinely excited about it.

Unlike the wing on the back of the Roger Clark Motorsport Gobstopper II. This isn’t a component you have influence over, just one you feel the effects of. Is it fun? Maybe only to look at, like the Impreza underneath seems to have snagged a kitesurfer, but it does the business – this was fastest up the hill at Goodwood.

You could argue that just one of these facets – the Cayman’s gearchange, the Elise’s steering – is enough to make the whole car fun. But look at the bigger picture: if you care enough to develop crisp throttle response, chances are you want good brakes. You want the whole componentry package to be great, surely?

And beyond this, if you care about the components, chances are you’ll care about other driver facets – the chassis, engine, driving position, looks. Because if you sweat the small stuff, the big stuff will follow. It’s as close to a recipe for fun as I can think of.