If eyes are the window to the soul, then the steering wheel must be the heart of the vehicle. After all, it’s the one piece of a machine you know for sure you are to be in contact with every time. The best isn’t just function but truly leave a memorable mark in your mind, and designers often like to push design boundaries in the process. Whether a motorsports store-bought racing stripped-down minimalism or a wild concept car fabrication designed for optimum access and use, the styles, materials, and even ergonomics of steering wheels have run the gamut.

The automakers have constantly tried to elevate their automobiles a little higher by either infusing some fresh technological features or giving them crazy new looks. Here’s a list of 10 of the coolest steering wheels in the history of automobile travel, starting from Caterham Seven superSprint and Citrow DS to Tesla model S Plaid and Lotus Evuela. Every single design defied convention and went for a more outstanding and memorable form of styling to the extent that they altered the link between a driver and a car.

1. Caterham Seven SuperSprint

The most direct, most honest steering wheel for the Super Sprint The old-school wheel takes shape There’s a very particular design to this wheel The roof would be black The interior of the Seven would be the same The most direct, most honest steering wheel for the Super Sprint Out on the track the wheel would feel satisfying, and not just because it would be gratifying to prove to your friends that you could do it in a Lotus and a drive it home afterwards. Its aftertaste would be appealing if you knew what to look for, too: because when you’re behind the wheel in a modern interior you get ‘Chyron’, as one commentator put it.

Caterham Wheel Highlights:

• Thin rim, classic wood finish
• Delivers pure driving feedback
• No bulky airbag
• No cluster of buttons
• Simple, old-school layout

No heavy airbag, handful of toggle switches or needless adding of adornment to take you away from the task at hand. Caterham has stripped away what isn’t needed to enable you to concentrate fully on what lies ahead. It’s all about giving you a clear, tactile link back to you, the vehicle and the open road or race circuit ahead. In a world where many a steering wheel is festooned with screens and buttons, this, the Super Sprint, proves that minimal is sometimes the way to go quite simply, the steering wheel’s purpose is to attach you to your car as seamlessly as you can.

2. McLaren F1 GTR

That steering wheel mounted in the McLaren F1 GTR is the definition of race-car minimalism nothing about it is superfluous; it is tiny and utilitarian. But as McLarens go, sure, the look of it has plenty of form over function, but that look is still spectacularly beautiful. It’s the combination of those two things that makes it unique among racing wheels: There’s nothing stylistic about it, and that’s why it can be attractive; it’s so small to strongly communicate the purpose of the car; and it’s an example of a practical design that became beautiful in its own right.

McLaren Wheel Highlights:

• Race-car minimalism at its peak
• Remarkably tiny in scale
• Strictly functional execution
• Function over form
• Built for winning on track

Grabbing hold of this wheel leaves zero doubt about the true intentions of the vehicle around you. Every element reflects high-performance engineering designed without extra fluff. It instantly signals that you are sitting behind the controls of a machine constructed for a single purpose: winning on the track. The wheel does not need to explain itself, because its small size and plain layout say everything. For drivers and enthusiasts alike, it stands as an example of how a part can communicate the whole personality of a car. In the McLaren F1 GTR, the steering wheel is a statement of intent, and that intent is speed and nothing else.

3. Maserati Boomerang

The Maserati Boomerang concept was first unveiled at the 1972 Geneva Motor Show. The most impressive thing about the Maserati Boomerang when guests arrived at the 1972 Geneva Motor Show was the unique wedge body style. The sleek design was courtesy of the firm of famed Italian vehicle designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, Italdesign. Sitting on a Maserati Bora chassis with a mid-mounted 4.8L OHC V8 engine, the cabin of the Boomerang concept car exhibited a unique mix of forward-looking style combined with luxury and up-to-date creature comforts. The clear message, however, was that they were ready to push the boundaries of what a vehicle of the future could be.

Boomerang Wheel Highlights:

• Debuted 1972 Geneva Motor Show
• Designed by Giugiaro’s Italdesign
• Driver pod holds wheel, gauges
• Turn signals inside wheel rim
• One-off concept car

The most peculiar interior element is a specialized driver pod that houses the steering wheel alongside all the car’s gauges and accessory controls. Even the turn signals and wiper stalks are located inside the outer circumference of the steering rim. A large central tachometer dominates the pod, while essential engine gauges form a neat arc along the top. Although this one-off creation was far too complex for affordable mass production, the surviving vehicle still appears at European auto shows today. The Boomerang proves that some ideas are valuable simply because they push imagination forward, even if they never reach showrooms. Its pod-style cockpit remains one of the most unusual driver environments ever shown.

4. Aston Martin Lagonda

A sensible, if a bit weird, Aston Martin Lagonda was in the 1980s It was a boxy shape outside with some digital screens here and there on the inside. The standout aspect of the grin-inducing cabin was a dainty, square steering wheel set straight up in front of the driver’s seat. And, clearly, it wasn’t interested in being another luxury car. It doubled down on its strange personality and the very square wheel was one of the clearest ways you could tell that was the road this thing was going down. A square wheel was a pretty daring venture, and the design matched the angles on the outside and the digital aesthetic of the dashboard.

Lagonda Wheel Highlights:

• Square-shaped steering wheel
• Boxy exterior design
• Digital dashboard layout
• Feels like piloting spaceship
• Futuristic then and now

Operating this rectangular wheel made driving the luxury sedan feel less like handling a standard automobile and more like piloting the Millennium Falcon. The design felt undeniably futuristic during the 1980s, and it remains just as striking and futuristic today. That lasting impact is a sign of how daring the original idea was. Many designs from the past look dated as years go by, but the Lagonda’s wheel still stands out as unusual and memorable. It shows that a luxury sedan can have a playful, adventurous side, and that a steering wheel can completely change the way a driver imagines the experience of being behind the controls.

5. Citroën DS

The Citron DS remains one of the high-water marks of French post-war automotive design. It had a unique steering wheel that was unlike any other. It was a single spoke suspended in the middle and then also extending out from it towards the outer edge of the wheel. The seemingly floating wheel jutted out from the dashboard, a design that set it apart from the multi-spoked wheels of the competition. Its design helped set the interior apart for the car, giving it light and airy feel, both in the design and the driver’s experience. And when talking about the DS, a car famous for taking design risks, the steering wheel is one of the clearest.

Citroën DS Wheel Highlights:

• Single-spoke steering wheel
• Rim appears to float
• Unobstructed view of gauges
• Spoke designed to collapse
• Early safety feature

This single-spoke arrangement provided the driver with a completely unobstructed view of the instrument gauges. Additionally, the single spoke was designed to collapse in the event of a collision, offering an early safety feature for the automotive industry. The wheel therefore delivered both better visibility and added protection, which made it far more than a styling exercise. Its shape was tied to real benefits for the driver, and that is part of why it is still admired today. The Citroën DS shows that bold design and practical thinking can go hand in hand, and that a steering wheel can improve both the look and the safety of a car.

6. Tesla Model S Plaid

Tesla has a reputation for being innovative, so in 2021, it released a surprise upgrade to its Model S Plaid with an awkward yoke in place of the car’s traditional round steering wheel. This airplane-inspired device is heavily based on small airplane control columns. Even the yoke’s “Plaid” designation is a bit of a joke, since it’s named after the fastest spacecraft in Mel Brooks’ 1987 sci-fi comedy Spaceballs. The transformation is one of the most significant design changes to a modern car’s interior, since your traditional steering wheel was replaced by an aviation-inspired shape indicating that Tesla wanted to reinvent even the most basic elements of driving.

Tesla Yoke Highlights:

• Introduced in 2021
• Airplane-style yoke design
• Inspired by aircraft control columns
• Unobstructed view of gauges
• Tricky at low speeds

From a visual standpoint, the yoke gives the cockpit an undeniably futuristic appearance while offering a completely unobstructed view of the instrument gauge cluster. Drivers do not have to peer through or over a rounded wheel rim just to check their current speed or navigation prompts. However, substituting a conventional wheel with a yoke sparked plenty of industry controversy. While it looks sleek on highway stretches, handling tight maneuvers at low speeds in crowded parking lots can feel tricky. Love it or hate it, this radical design remains one of the boldest modern attempts to rethink how drivers interact with their cars.

7. Pontiac Pursuit

All the way back in 1987, GM had unveiled the Pontiac Pursuit concept, a pod-shaped, sci-fi inspired vehicle that looked like something that would have appeared in a sci-fi classic. Underneath the eye-catching exterior, the Pursuit concept was powered by a rear-mounted gas engine and employed a hyper-sensitive drive-by-wire four-wheel steering system. The Pursuit was designed as a glimpse into what driving might look like in the future, and while the interesting exterior shape was clearly meant to symbolize the tech, there was no mistaking that the interior would look a little different as well especially when it came to the steering.

Pursuit Wheel Highlights:

• GM concept shown in 1987
• Drive-by-wire four-wheel steering
• Aircraft-inspired yoke
• Rotates just 180 degrees
• Buttons and two d-pads

Instead of a standard round wheel, the driver maneuvered the vehicle using an aircraft-inspired yoke that rotated just 180 degrees in either direction. Because tiny inputs created sharp wheel movements, the setup offered a radically direct steering response compared to traditional mechanical linkages. The yoke was also crammed with physical switchgear, including an array of control buttons and two d-pads designed to navigate the car’s onboard computer system. Long before touchscreens became ubiquitous in modern dashboards, this concept stood out as a crazy, button-filled preview of digital cabin controls. It shows how early designers were already imagining the car as a computer on wheels.

8. Mercedes-AMG One

Full F1 Turbo-Style Drive for Roads the Mercedes-AMG One is outfitted with a specialized squared-off steering wheel to simulate a Formula 1 experience in the real world. To the naked eye, it might look more like a spaceship interface than an automotive component. Its squared shape conveys to the driver in an instant the fact this isn’t something you’d typically see driving down the road. This wheel imports the racing spirit of the F1 world into an everyday road machine with every cut and turn designed to let the driver think they’re part of the field rather than a regular, non-F1 driver.

AMG One-Wheel Highlights:

• Squared-off specialized design
• Looks like flight deck controller
• Borrowed from F1 program
• Integrated digital display screens
• Controls at driver’s fingertips

The design directly borrows its switchgear, integrated digital display screens, and drive controls from Mercedes’ championship-winning Formula 1 racing program. Every button, dial, and toggle is positioned right at the driver’s fingertips to optimize rapid adjustments without taking hands off the wheel. Despite its hardcore motorsport origins and aggressive rectangular shape, the AMG One steering layout functions surprisingly well during real-world road driving. It serves as an ultimate bridge between raw track performance and street-legal supercar engineering. For drivers, it offers a rare chance to use a wheel that carries real racing heritage in everyday conditions.

9. Pagani Huayra

The Huayra is a tantalizing work of art and engineering precision created by a team led by former Lamborghini designer Horacio Pagani. This car is a work of love and speed, loaded up with more than 800 horsepower from an AMG V12 in an ideal material: tons of lightweight carbon fiber. Truly, care is taken to treat high performance and timeless beauty as equally important goals in the Huayra, and nothing about the car feels pedestrian, including the steering wheel with which you will have much interaction. In this machine, everything you touch is treated as a work of craftsmanship.

Huayra Wheel Highlights:

• Designed under Horacio Pagani
• Fine leather grips, center cap
• Exposed carbon fiber, polished aluminum
• Flat-bottomed for extra legroom
• Subtle buttons, control knobs

The steering wheel itself is a masterclass in luxury materials and meticulous craftsmanship. Fine leather covers the key hand grip positions and the center cap, while the rest of the structure is constructed from exposed carbon fiber and polished aluminum. Featuring a flat-bottomed shape to provide extra legroom for the driver, the wheel integrates subtle buttons and control knobs without looking cluttered. It remains an elegant piece of functional art that captures the bespoke spirit of modern Italian exotic cars. The Huayra wheel proves that a steering wheel can be both a practical control and a beautiful object worth admiring.

10. Lotus Evija

A steering wheel behind the wheel may be expected, given the high-performance nature of an electric hypercar, but it looks like somebody just ripped the wheel from a Le Mans endurance racing prototype. It has a pretty boxy shape with visibly flattened top and bottom edges and contoured grips along its sides. The look is aggressive and somewhat invasive, but in a way that makes sense with the overall theme of the hypercar extreme and racing. Instead of making a perfect circle, the designers of the Evija went with a racing-related shape to emphasize the emotions the vehicle is meant to evoke.

Evija Wheel Highlights:

• Looks like Le Mans prototype wheel
• Squarish, flattened top and bottom
• Contoured side grips
• Digital display in wheel hub
• Telemetry in driver’s sightline

Positioned right in the middle of the wheel hub is a sharp digital display screen that delivers essential vehicle telemetry and drive information directly into the driver’s line of sight. This clever placement keeps high-speed driving data immediately accessible. By pairing ultra-futuristic aesthetics with functional race-car ergonomics, the Evija wheel offers a clear vision of high-performance driving. It manages to look thoroughly modern, functional, and exceptionally cool all at once. From raw, thin-rimmed vintage wheels to high-tech yokes crammed with digital displays and exotic materials, the steering wheel has evolved into a centerpiece of automotive expression. It will always remain the true, beating heart of the driving connection.