Turning radius?

[Dave Pgh]

Originally Posted by achr

Both my PT's have been 5 speeds. The first one with the 15" steel wheels had a reasonable turning radius if not tight. My Dreamer II with the 17" wheels is significantly worse. There must be an actual difference in the factory installed steering racks because I'm running 15" wheels for the winter on my new PT and there's no turning radius improvement over the 17" OEM rims, nor would I have expected one by simply making this switch.

Base vs 'touring' vs 'sport' (GT) suspension is the difference, along with the stick vs auto mentioned earlier.
All a function of the crowded front end made necessary by the styling.

[JOEM]

To paraphrase an old Firesign Theater skit, the PT Cruiser turns on a dime...unfortunately, the dime is in Mr. Rococo's pocket.

[AndyKay]

It seems to me that making wider turns or multiple 3-point turns would be a good thing - it gives the rest of the world longer to admire my Little Red StreetRod!!

[RAINMAN]

I had a much better turning radius wih my 01 than in my 03. Both Limiteds with 16 in rims.

[Bosch]

PT-Al is correct.. It is not a huge difference but one I did notice when I took a friends Auto for a spin..

And I had the 15" wheels on mine originally and it would just turn a little easier since the wheels were not as wide as the 16" wheels.. But I gained much better street hook-up I would not trade back down to the 15"s.

[Wendy]

Originally Posted by PT-Al

The restriction on the turning radius is how much the wheels can pivot before rubbing up against something in the wheelwell.

The automatic transmission makes the engine wider compared to a manual transmission so the wheels have less room to turn before hitting, thus a wider turning radius.

AND the autostick has a worse turning radius than the standard auto!

[sakigt]

Take the good with the bad and wait for all 3 lanes of traffic to clear before making U-turns

[RallyDRock]

Originally Posted by Dave Pgh

Base vs 'touring' vs 'sport' (GT) suspension is the difference, along with the stick vs auto mentioned earlier.
All a function of the crowded front end made necessary by the styling.

so much for the chrysler slogan of "form following function"
eh i guess its worth it, it is the coolest looking car ive ever had.

[Lars1776]

Think if U will check the specs closely U will find that the BASE MODEL with 15" wheels has about a 4' tighter turning diameter. The big wheel big tire cars evidently have an interference problem vis
tire vs suspension and/or frame.

[Overtake]

My HUGE Nav had the same radius as my PT!