Can't comment on the power steering, forgot to ask what I was driving. It was a fairly loaded Passion, however. Whatever it was, it was fine. Whatever they did to the US spec transmission I was amazed how smooth it has become. Wow, it was terrific in both D and +/-. Rep said it was better than the Euro ones they had before, shift points between 1-2 and 4-5 have been adjusted to happen earlier.