Adrienne

So, now for a little trivia test, as I could not find the answer in the archives...

Why is the air cooled 911 series (911, 964, 993) steering wheel off center with the seat? Is this a design feature? Seems like Porsche would have a reason for it. Anybody know?

Father of 3

To make it easier to reach for the coffee in the cupholder... uh, never mind.

Adrienne

I think you may be onto something, or maybe just on something.
Maybe it's for easier transition of hand to shifter...that's my guess.

tessicini

Clearly it is to compensate for the driver momentum created during the Le Mans start with the ignition key in the left hand....leaping in at full stride. Probably the same clarity of thought that brought us SAI.

..Tony

CP

Adrienne,

Searched the archives? May be you missed this thread. Please see Jim Morton's comments. He is like a 'car-God' to me.

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...454post1332454

Enjoy.

CP

ca993twin

More likely it is just a shortage of space to lay everything out in a nice symetrical way. It IS a very "intimate" cockpit, after all, and that's probably the best they could do with the size contraints.

ceboyd

hehe... my race seat is now 'dead on' centered.. which is easy to do with an aftermarket seat that is smaller than stock in width.. spacers on one side wider than the other side...


..so maybe I'm one of the only 993 owners with a perfectly centered seat with the steering wheel now.. hehe

TheOtherEric

I thought it had to do with aiming the driver more to the center of the car. As you probably also have noticed, the pedals are pretty far to the right as well, thus forcing the driver to be aimed more toward the middle of the road ahead. If the steering wheel were centered, then the shifted pedal cluster would feel screwy.

Am I the only one who sometimes has problems in other cars because of this? In a rental car last week I kept hitting the gas thinking that the brake pedal was supposed to be there. Maybe I just suck at teh driving.

TroyN

I hate the off-centered wheel, means I have to sit closer to the wheel otherwise my left hand (on sharp right-handers) stretches too far.

David in LA

I thought this (and also because of the lack of space) was the reason as well. In my LH-drive US-spec 993 the wheel and controls are slightly to my right and I find myself "pointed" towards the center of the hood; in my RH-drive Euro-spec it's the opposite - steering wheel wheel and control slightly left and again I find myself "pointed" down the center when driving. I never felt the position was awkward as it seemed to make driving easier...you just subconsciously use the fenders as guides and just aimed the center of the car wherever you wanted it to go

chris walrod

Its for more headroom..

soltino

A new BMW 330 felt like the seat was skewed to the left. Very strange.


tino

95cab

My Audis both had same feature. I guess I got used to it, since I didn't notice it in the 993.

Feehliks

Come on, guys. The cabin dates directly back to 1963! I doubt there is any ergonomic reason. If there was any it would be a FEATURE and there would be more literature about it.

Best regards,

Felix

Flying Finn

Another little trivia, have you noticed how 993 body isn't centered to the chassis?

Body is intentionally set towards right very slightly (check you tyre clearances).

This is for weight balance since driver is sitting on left side of the car, thus making the weight balance not perfect.