I'm just voicing a personal and utterly useless opinion about a bl@@dy steering wheel... made on a very slow-work Friday afternoon!

Hah, that made me laugh, cheers

It does put it in perspective, that in a world where aeroplanes full of people going missing,where hundreds of girls get mass abducted and sold into slavery, in our little corner of the world, we can manage to turn a thread about the shape of a steering wheel into something that somehow gets locked !!
Anyway, as for my personal-Saturday morning still in bed-amazingly inconsequential opinion , round is sound,
I looked at the flat bottom and thought it would be irritating when doing U-turns, full lock etc.

 

Is the FBSW the bottom part of an Alergro Wheel ?

 

Allegro....I remember when they came out and the Quartic wheel, I feel really old now...

 

The Allegro was just a baby Maxi! The Maxi was the daddy!!

 

Holy man....you could hula hoop with that!!!!!

Not a car for the "larger bellied " amongst us...

 

Or Fiat Panda.

 

Apparently the Panda wheel is perfectly circular, just clever mouldings make it look like a 'squircle'

I didn't like the FBSW when I had my test drive for the reason Barbyboy mentions that it felt cumbersome when feeding the steering wheel through my hands.

Again, its all down to personal choice

 

FBSW is a Technology flop ..........
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/gallery/58910/technology-flops/page/1/0#main-content-area

 

Like SQ5john I also remember the launch of the Allegro, still have the original brochure and recall the "Wheelbase" episode on BBC2 when Cliff Michelmore drove it somewhere sunny, Sardinia or Sicily I think.
Not quite a baby Maxi DavyK as it had the new Hydragas rather than the traditional Issigonis car Hydrolastic suspension and no hatchback. Passenger space not a patch on the 1100/1300 it replaced although BL did address this for '76 model year with thinner front seat backs and re-positioning of the rear seat.
VW Golf was a superior vehicle on so many fronts but expensive given the £/Deutzmark exchange rate in the 70's

 

Only way FBSW would be ok is if it was One turn lock to lock.
Also it should be a bit Meatier but each to their own.

 

No problem with my FBSW, it was my choice over the standard wheel.

Had there been no option for the FBSW then that would have been OK as well, just wanted something different.

The advantage of the FBSW for my wife is that there is more room for her to get in the seat, she has the seat quite close to the steering wheel.

 

cruicd you are displaying almost fanatic like knowledge of 1970s British Leyland products lol.

 

Grew up in the 60's & 70's when folk bought British cars and our family was little different purchasing mostly Rootes Group cars . Mother also had some BMC products with an A35 followed by 2 1100's, an Imp in between and then one of the first face-lifted Allegros as alluded to above. European cars were more expensive due to taxation rules and tended to only have 6 month warranties until the mid-late seventies so were a rarer sight in the UK. Moved to Audi/VW from '77 and most cars since have been German.

 

I went for the FBSW for two reasons, number 1. I like the look of it and 2. My wife is 5"3' and sits quite close to the wheel with the flat bottom I can fit in and then adjust the seat. It feels nice in the hands too, nice and chunky.