Originally Posted by sonoronos
Take a look at the Tiff Needell review of the Crossfire.
He takes a 6MT Limited Coupe for a spin on some twisty backroads.
That footage shows some extremely fast driving through some very tight corners. The dude is really pushing it and the car is flat as a board through every turn and looks like it's about to tear the blacktop off the gravel the way it's flying.
By the way, I don't understand what the problem is with the steering. Honestly, it's like those people don't know what "good steering" is. In my opinion, the Crossfire has great steering feel. It gets "heavy" when understeering and "light" when in neutral or in oversteer. It tells me exactly what the car is doing. The car has the turning radius of a shopping cart and I can swing it around a parking lot at 5mph without feeling like I got a workout. At 60mph, I can twitch the steering wheel and I can instantly feel the nose of the car go exactly where I want it to (for example, to avoid potholes.)
Whose standards are they using? I've never driven a Porsche, a Lambo, or anything like those cars before, but I have driven the new BMW 3 series, and the steering feels similar. I've driven the S2000 and the steering on that car is MUCH lighter than the XF or the Bimmer. But with the S2000, I can't tell anything through the steering wheel. Everything feels light on the steering, whether under or oversteering. The older Audi TT felt like the steering was way too quick at highway speeds. It felt kind of unstable. Don't know about the new one.
Anyways, as stogey says, my two "centaurs" worth 
I came to the Crossfire from a '99 Miata. The Miata is generally considered to be one of the best handling "pure" sports cars on the market today. The feel of the shifter of the first two generations of the Miata was universally praised, the steering feel highly applauded. The car is supremely tossable and crazy quick through the twisties. Look at the recent comparison between a $50,000, 175HP MX-5 Cup prepped Miata, a $100,000, 600HP Viper ACR and the $192,000 Porsche 911 GT2. That little Miata not only equalled the two big boys in braking G-force, but also in cornering G-force and actual corner speed in MPH. Sure, it couldn't keep up on the straights but in some corners it actually carried
more speed than the other two - that's pretty damn impressive. How does this relate to the Crossfire?
Well, in my experience the shifter on the Miata is crisper than that of the Crossfire. The Crossfire is well known for a bit of a balk on the 1-2 upshift. Yep, I feel it, and it was a bit odd at first but now......so what. A hard launch and a quick slam from 1 to 2 and it may not feel exactly like butter, but it's pretty darn positive and never gives me any grief. In the Miata, when driven really hard, I would often blow the 2-3 upshift and hit 5th instead. Bummer that. Never have made such an error in the Crossfire.
Steering feel in the Miata was definitely a bit sharper too, but then again the Miata was several hundred pounds lighter than the Crossfire and was shod with 12lb wheels. If I ran over a coin could I tell if was heads or tails? No, but it offered great feedback. Better than the Crossfire? I'd say yes, but not like the Crossfire is so rubbery as to make me feel detached from the car. It responds crisply and points it where I want it to go. The Crossfire has less understeer initially than the Miata, which I'll take over a bit better steering feel any day. And the overall grip level in the Crossfire blows away that of my old Miata. No comparison. Braking in the Crossfire compared to the Miata? Not even close, even with the featherweight of the Miata.
Finally, during the driver's meetings at California Speedway last March we were all being told to watch out for the pair of fully race prepped Spec Miatas running around on R-Compound tires. "Those boys are quick" we were told. "They'll crawl all over you guys in the Corvettes when you get to the tighter infield section" the instructors said. And my Crossfire held it's own, staying close enough on the tight infield section (with my factory equipped Conti street tires) that I could come off the final corner right behind them and blow by on the long straight leading onto the banking. I was gone and he never caught me again.
You have to remember too that Tiff has spent a lot of time in real race cars, including at the 24 Hours of LeMans and a little bit of Formula 1. The man knows his stuff. But when you talk the finer points of steering feel between a Ferrari F430 and a Lamborghini Gallardo, for example, or a Crossfire and a Miata (or a 350Z or Audi TT) you're talking some pretty damn
fine points.
But none of this even begins to address driver ability or driver preferences. That variable is often seen even in a Formula 1 team when a new driver comes in and the car setup isn't to his liking and until he figures it out his team mate is much, much quicker. Doesn't mean the car is no good or the driver sucks, just that some adjustments need to be made.
We don't all like the same movies, the same food, the same women (or men) or the same cars. Big freakin' deal.