steering wheel position is a major different
just because it feels different can be just feel

also steering ratios brakes confidence it it going round that corner all change your driving and thus how teh car feels

if the clutch pedal is badly placed you will be paying mor attention to that than th next corner and you can over run, etc etc etc if all little cars were the same it would be a boring place to live
i liek to think when they design a car they think 'how can we make this better than XXXX car' but i expect its more likely they say how cheap can we get the hubs made and how can it be done cheaper