Quote:
Originally Posted by ezmaass
The two biggest factors here are:
> Sport Suspension
> Tire Size
I can tell you from first hand experience how a 3-series rides with 18" wheels, sport package, sport suspension, etc. It crashes around on uneven pavement. I dealt with it for 13 years prior to my F10. It's fun, and it's a certain "feel" to the car. But if I jump in my buddy's 328xi with standard suspension and 17" tires, it feels like a completely different car than my previous 335i with sport package... much smoother ride (as expected).
If you test drive a few F10's, you'll notice the same differences between non-sport, M Sport, and of course M5. The 5's standard suspension is actually very cushy - even more so than a standard 3 suspension. And the chassis of the F10 just eats it up - don't forget this chassis also underpins the uber-luxury Rolls Royce Ghost.
But as soon as you slap bigger tires on a car, especially with run-flat tires (that have very stiff side-walls), the ride comfort is going to suffer. And then switch out a nice comfortable suspension with one that has less wheel travel (lower) and more damping (stiffer recoil of the body - will produce a shuttering effective over bumps)... and suddenly your comfortable car just turned into a fairly uncomfortable one. BUT... the flip side is HANDLING. Thanks to lower profile tires with stiffer sidewalls, you now have superior cornering control. Thanks to a lower suspension, you have a lower center of gravity. Thanks to stiffer dampers, you also have more body control, less float, and better overall control in corners. So, it's one big trade-off.
It's difficult to say "ride quality" because what's important to one person (comfort) may not be what's important to another person (control). So, it's more appropriate to qualify this by saying better COMFORT can be had with small tires and a standard suspension, and better CONTROL can be had with larger tires and a sport suspension.
If you want the best of both worlds, then you pony up $3,500 and opt for the Dynamic Handling Package on your 5-series as I did. If you opt for the M Sport package (as I did, as well), you can't do anything about your wheel size unless you want to change it out... so some amount of ride comfort will be lost to the wheel size, but I think it's very livable. However, DHP allows you to adjust the damper stiffness. You can make it anything from "boat-like" in Comfort+ to stiff in Sport or Sport+. The default Comfort mode is very nice for everyday driving and will absorb bumps in the road similar to a standard non-sport suspension (maybe ever so slightly stiffer). But switch to Comfort+ and you're suddenly in an old-school caddy - able to traverse cobblestone streets and other types of uneven pavement in comfort. And then switch to Sport/Sport+, and you've got your jittery, firm, and well-controlled suspension that feels like a typical BMW passive sport suspension.
So, in a nutshell, I think you're comparing apples and oranges. The tire size and suspension type will completely transform a vehicle. Don't forget, as well, that the length of the wheelbase in a car also adds comfort - shorter wheelbases (like the 3 series) will never feel as comfortable as long wheelbases when fitted with equivalent tire/suspension setups. You just need to determine what's most important to you, and configure your car in that fashion.
Finally, don't rule out a few other factors such as tire wear. Runflats are notoriously uncomfortable, but when they get worn down, my experience has been they become even MORE uncomfortable. If the tires on your car are relatively worn compared to newer tires on another vehicle, that may also be playing into the level of discomfort in the ride.
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Actually, I did go test drive a 535i with No lines, with just 18" rims. It was brand new. it certainly did not ride any better than the 328i base model.
My car doesn't have runflats, Just relatively new Michelin Pilot sports.
Overall the F30 seems to be tuned better for ride quality.