sticky steering issue which was revealed lately whereby the steering wheel will lockup when the steering rack or related electronics fail.

I may be greatly misinformed but the information was shared by few people, some Honda owners too. I don't wish to engage too much on this topic since the main interest in on the Corolla Cross Hybrid. Nevertheless, I presume you haven't had first-hand experience with loss of power steering assist to the EPS? I'm not sure about the Honda but with Ford Focus, without the steering assist, you can't drive the car already as the steering wheel will become very stiff and cannot be turned. Hence I am unable to understand your remark about power steering assist is not required at higher speeds. Basically once the steering assist fails to function, you wouldn't want the vehicle to travel at high speed as chances of an accident is high if that happens!

ha ha. Honda diehard supporter.

It is obvious you haven't experienced a steering assist failure in the Ford Focus, or have you? Otherwise you wouldn't have made the above remarks. I guess you are aware that not all steering assist failures will behave the same?

It appears that you are still not convinced on the seriousness of the unavailability of steering assist in the Ford Focus since you still believe that people can continue to steer the car without power steering assist. I can assure you, if your wife or perhaps even yourself experiences a steering assist failure in the Ford Focus, she might not want to drive the car anymore. If you don't have first hand experience, you won't know the actual danger of the real life scenario. Of course the steering wheel can still be turned without the steering assist but females or senior citizen will likely not be able to turn it as it will be VERY STIFF. It is not impossible to turn the steering wheel when the steering assist fails but it will be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT especially with less abled individuals. As an analogy, one may carry a 2.5 kg dumbbell easily, just like turning a steering wheel with steering assist. With the failure of the steering assist in the Ford Focus, yes you will still be able to turn the steering wheel but it's now a 25kg dumbbell (or put a higher figure). You may still be able to turn the steering wheel but it will not turn easily anymore, inching bit by bit with all the might that you exert on it. With females and senior citizens, they likely won't be able to turn it and as a result the vehicle will not be steered to the emergency lane and just stop in the middle of the road.

I suppose your are aware that your experience with power steering assist failures in the Honda Civic or other cars cannot be applied to the Ford Focus or other cars which might show the same symptoms? Or you might be a real life Hercules where all types of steering assist failures including the one in the Ford Focus don't really matter to you since you can still turn the steering wheel with perhaps one finger, with ease. 😅

A Toyota is more or less confirmed mainly for reliability.

but I think I get what you are saying. In short, I hope the steering feel of the Cross GR Sport will be closer to sharp, accurate or precise rather than loose and artificial.

not suitable for spirited drives as I have found out.

* instead of putting some weight on the knees or one knee like how we do it, she prefers resting her bum on the seat first before lifting her legs in

Can you measure yours? I see some 140mm to 170mm, not sure malaysia spec. Hybrid RS maybe different height vs turbo too.

High sitting position, 160mm ground clearance but very soft spring. When fully toad with passengers, ground clearance KO, hit the floor at many Taman bump, front bumper hit the ramp of some multi level carpark. At least Civic FC/FE never heard any friends got such problem.

is a manual 1.3L AE92. Maybe my youth emotional damage made me obsessed with horsepower these day.