The handling of a car is the most important feature to me. That's why I drive a BMW.
I recently researched and ordered a new F10 5 series and did extensive research on BMWusa.com, on review sites, here on these forums, and in person at the dealer, test driving multiple vehicles and configurations.
I have been particularly interested in the Dynamic Handling Package (DHP), as everything I had read stated that the F10 grew in size and weight, was based more on the 7-series platform, and suffered from body roll and diminished road feel/numb steering. But reading about a package was not enough to make a decision, especially when the DHP is a $3500 upgrade.
So I went to the dealer and test drove two F10 cars back to back. One with the DHP and one without.
I went into the first test drive expecting to only benefit from the dynamic damper adjustments I had read about
: changing the personality of the car from soft to sporty with a flick of a switch. I toggled through the settings and felt a noticeable difference. The normal ride felt balanced, but the Sport+ ride felt tight, sharp, and with much more road feedback. Even though this was a refreshing experience, I decided I could live without this feature.
Then I went in the car without the DHP. The car felt like a completely different car. It felt big, heavy, and seriously affected by body roll. It was rocking all over the place; over bumps, in corners, on the highway. I simply could not wrap my head around how BMW went to market with a car that handled like a 1980s Buick. And as an owner of a E90 3 series and E60 5 series, I began to doubt if BMW as a company was starting to head in a terrible direction. (I'll leave that for another thread.)
Having read all the threads on DHP, and now having done my own research, I want to clarify a huge misconception here on the forums. DHP is not just about Dynamic Damper Control and being able to manually set the stiffness of the shock dampening. Yes it allows this, and yes this is a nice feature. But this is a feature that should only cost $1000, which it does when added to an F30 3 series. The DHP also features Adaptive Drive, which is truly remarkable technology. But, sadly it's a technology that is very poorly understood online.
Unlike Dynamic Damper Control, Adaptive Drive isn't about changing the car's personality. It's an always-on feature that is always there behind the scenes, counteracting physics to make a big, heavy car feel flat in corners and predictable no matter what the road throws at it. How does it do this? It adjusts the adaptive dampers, independently on all four corners, multiple times per second. And in addition to this, it also adjusts a dynamic set of sway bars that can become stiffer and softer automatically.
This is absolutely genius engineering. Sure you can put racing coil overs on the F10 and get M5 sway bars to tighten up the suspension to track-ready specs (you can read on this forum that hundreds of people are doing this as a "must-have" mod). But you end up stuck with a track-ready car that is unbelievably stiff at all times. Take it on a road trip and you'll be exhausted. Go over a speed bump, and you'll scrape your under carriage. With the DHP, you get dynamic sway bars that are constantly flexing and stiffening to ensure the car is square, flat in corners, and confident. Yet they are softer and smoother when the car is going over uneven pavement and bumps. I see it as a completely uncompromising experience: you get the ride-quality benefits of a softer luxury sedan and the handling benefits of a modified suspension. $3500 for that combination? Yes, please.
Why am I writing all of this? Because in the hundreds of forum posts and reviews that I read, I didn't read any of this information anywhere. (note, I have since found
this group of 5 YouTube videos which describe the engineering behind Adaptive Drive, though in the context of the X5. And I found
this video which shows the swaybars adjusting, but on an older E60 5 series). I'm hoping that writing this thread will help get the information out there so that more people realize the following:
- DHP is more than just dynamic dampers
- The DHP is worth every penny of its $3500 price tag
- The best suspension available is not the m-sport, but the DHP
- BMW as a company is still a pioneer in the world of superior handling cars
- You don't have to void your warranty and spend thousands of dollars on modifications to make your car F10 handle as it should