The power rack-and-pinion steering feels fine, it's precise with just enough feedback for fast driving. Inevitably there's torque steer but it's controllable and actually kind of fun when you're driving round town. On the highway it's barely noticeable. Not unexpectedly the car tends to understeer, what with the weight of the aluminum V6 engine mounted transversely between the front wheels.
During a brief test drive among pylons laid out in the infield of Las Vegas Speedway we found the Tiburon easy to throw around. Like all front-drive cars, it tended to understeer, but it was easy to compensate by using the throttle, brakes, and steering wheel.
The four-wheel disc brakes worked well and stopped the car quickly.
Out on the highway the ride is good on smooth roads but the sports suspension and low-profile tires tend to transmit excessive harshness into the cockpit on rough road surfaces. The handling is fine with little body roll. It's nothing exceptional but more than adequate to hold its own against other like cars. It would be pretty easy to tune the suspension still further to get a really good handling car. Tuners are undoubtedly working on it as you read this.
They've got a good basis to work from: MacPherson struts up front on a subframe and a strut-type multi-link suspension in the rear. All models get anti-roll bars and gas-filled shock absorbers all round. The sport tuned suspension on the GT V6 has 10-percent stiffer spring rates, stiffer compression in the gas-charged shocks and thicker anti roll bars front (23mm vs. 20mm) and rear (19mm vs. 18mm).
If you prefer an automatic transmission, go for the GT V6 and you'll not give up much in performance, especially as the automatic includes Shiftronic manual control. Next Page