Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverEnough007
I have been debating on the suspension options myself for a while. This back and fourth has not been helpful for one glaring reason.
Nobody is mentioning what tire they are running. Including the professional reviews referenced. A run flat tire is going to feel jarring over bumps with any suspension. They are garbage. Passive or adaptive bump handling will be massively improved by ditching the run flats.
Every time I try to test drive m340s with the different options back to back, the dealer ends up selling on of them before I arrive.
I live in boston like a lot of people here commented. the roads are awful everywhere around boston. It sounds like passive is still very good for people in Boston which is great considering they are likely on run flats. The hang up I have is my newborn. Being able to click a button to smooth out a ride and keep my baby sleeping is worth every bit of $700 if the difference is that significant.
|
I drove both passive and adaptive back-to-back before I ordered my M340, and made sure both cars were running the same wheel/tire option - staggered set up (which I knew I was getting) on performance runflats (I wanted to drive, and ordered, non-runflats, but the dealer had to bring in the adaptive suspension car from their sister dealership, and I made sure it had staggered, but all their cars had runflats, so I selected the passive car to test drive to match). The tires weren't the same - Bridgestone on the adaptive and Goodyear on the passive - but I don't think that could have made too much of a difference. Even with the adaptive in Comfort, I found the passive suspension to be the more comfortable of the two. I don't like to agree with Motor Trend about much, but I found the adaptive to be a more jiggly/brittle ride, that never seemed to relax. The difference was noticeable immediately, even on the pretty smooth roads by the dealer. I drove the same 20 minute route at the same speeds, and ultimately decided on the passive suspension with the cooling and high performance tire package, even though I believed going in I was going to get the adaptive. I consider myself a fairly aggressive driver, and would never buy a BMW without the sport suspension, but I admit I am coming from a 2010 e60 550 with the MSport package, on which I have Michelin Pilot Sport 4s tires, which has the type of ride that BMW built its reputation on - amazingly agile and tenacious when pushed, but also comfortable. Regardless of passive or adaptive, the M340 has a more sporting oriented ride than my 550, but given that most of the time I am tooling around town at relatively low speeds, and I also take multiple highway trips of a few hours every month or so, I decided I wanted what I felt was the more comfortable suspension (and I know my wife and other passengers will appreciate it, too). I really think anyone who is thinking about it owes it to themselves to go to the trouble of driving both back-to-back. That's my $0.02 (or perhaps $0.05).