A Odman

Okej so in 5 hours time I will start to testdrive, is there anything in perticular you guys recommend I look for or test?

c4004matic

Just make sure you give it thrashing and see what it can do. If all you do is drive it sedately around for 1/2 an hour you have wasted your time. Set it on sport plus, throw it into tight curves while flooring the accelerator. Drive through some switchbacks at hair raising speeds. Don't be afraid, the car can take it without any nasty surprises. It will do it with the steel suspension admirably, with the airmatic it should do it even better (I hope). Though I ordered the airmatic I haven't driven it yet One more week!
The C300 is enjoyably fast, however the engine is not strong enough to ever come close to overpowering the chassis you can flog it to your heart's desire.

A Odman

So I tested two different cars yesterday, I could not get them with an identical setup unfortunately. One had 16" winter tires and the other one had 17" summer tires.

The car with the steel springs had the 16" winter tires. Both were conventional tires so no run-flats were used. I drove both cars only in comfort mode since this is the setting that I will use 99% of the time. The test path included a strip of highway with speeds up to 130 km/h (81 mph), a normal city road speed limit 70 kmh(43mph) and some industrial areas with lots of holes and bumps. I tried to drive over as many holes and bumps as I could find around this path both with normal speed and really slow speed.

The difference was noticable, in favour of the airmatic but it was not a hallelujah moment when I drove the airmatic car. That beeing said, the fact that I felt a difference in ride comfort real or perceived I can not tell unfortunately I opted to order my car with airmatic.

In regards to reduced noise in the car I could not tell any difference, same goes with the steering. I am not a professional car tester so maybe I don't know what to look for but this is at least one mans honest opinion.

Glyn M Ruck

Great! I think you have made the correct choice for your situation. Enjoy when it arrives.

Eilers

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c4004matic

That is supposed to be the purpose of airmatic. It can be both, more comfortable or more sporting. All at the flick of a switch. Its nice to have options!

Roger Bill

In general I believe winter tyres tend to be more noisy than summer tyres so that might explain why Airmatic didn't seem to offer the promised benefits in this regard.

Thank you for posting a nice review as our requirements seem similar it helps convince me I made the right choice in opting for Airmatic.

oachim

Finally mine will be without airmatic main reasons being
- not able to test it and feeling, while in general positive, varies quite a lot from user to user
- Increased lease rate if air suspension selected
- complexity and potential issues of this system

Regards
Amo

kots

I have a question as to lowering a W205 with airmatic using lowering links,

I know the car lowers itself by 15mm when speed exceeds 120km/h, and I also read somewhere that it lowers further at speeds over 160km/h,

Is this lowering taking place no matter what is the setting of the agility control? Or when in sport + mode it has the lower height and retains this at all speeds?

I'm thinking that if the automatic lowering takes place even when in sports+ mode, lowering the car using lowering links, will result to even lower ride height at speeds over 120km/h that might cause trouble..

vic viper

Actually do not know, but driving 120 and 160+ usually is in a straight line and any stock wheel will turn freely even if the bags were completely out of air, so I dont think it will be an issue.

TopGun32

My car is a C400, lighting, multimedia, parktronic, pano and 19" wheels.

The ride is softer and quieter than my E550 coupe with wide AMG 18" rims on 9" front and 9.5 rears on Michelin AS/3 tires. The AS/3 tires are a bit hard and with such a wide patch.. they make more noise.

The E550 has steel suspension and its too softly sprung in comfort mode and just spot on on Sport Mode. The C400 is a good blend. Trust me on this one.

floridadriver

Nobody should trust, they should go test drive them for themselves, and on the roads they usually drive on. Here on our roads, a sports model will rattle fillings on the expansion joints, but some might prefer that 'feel of the road' more than airmatic or comfort suspensions.

StanNH

Absolutely. "Must have" suggestions are pointless unless we all drive the same way, in the same driving environment, and have identical goals in what we want in a car. In the real world, that doesn't happen too often.

I also found the Sport suspension too harsh for the roads I frequently drive on. Conversely, I found the base suspension firm but more compliant than Sport ... which is exactly what I was looking for. So I opted for the base and have been very happy with my choice. Others may go for the Sport, Luxury, or Airmatic variants; depending on their own unique needs. Personally, I think it's great that the W205 is offered in all these variations.

Glyn M Ruck

+1^ We all have our own list of deal breakers. With me it has always been comfort, quiet bankvault feel, Parktronic, BiX & decent sound due to my circumstances. I could not give two hoots about a HUD as an example. Comand & Distronic are for me nice to haves.

I don't need heated seats, heated mirrors, heated headlamp & screen washers. My car is overspec'ed but I had to take it that way.

The steel sport suspension simply does not cut it for me. I don't need AWD & it's complications. I could live with the Comfort steel suspension & RWD. I live in a mild climatic zone.

There is talk that they are going to bring back the switchable Advanced Active Agility Control (magnetorheological shocks, sensors & controller) for our market with steel suspension alongside Airmatic.

megaoctane

The standard steel springs are very comfortable. I test drove a brand new 9G tronic E class with airmatic. Didn't get any hallelujah moments.
After listening to everybody praising the airmatic, I almost expected to be blown away. Safe to say, I didn't feel the difference.
Also - later on it will be an extremely expensive part to replace.

A Odman

The $-aspect is something we have not discussed particularity much here. In Sweden the add on cost is around 2 000$ give or take. Since I have slim to none experience with this kind of suspension I dont know what life expectancy the system have. People keep posting that it will be so expensive later on, how far will they last and what will they eventually cost one day when the system needs to be replaced?

c4004matic

Well I finally have it and I can attest that airmatic is definitely worth the extra cash. Handling is as good or better and it is by all measures more comfortable, even with snow tires. Is it a must have? That's up to you. The steel suspension is excellent and the air one is even better, for less than 2000 dollars (US) I think its a steal.

megaoctane

It is up to to each and everyone to see if it's worth the money. Try them both out, but I don't believe the difference is huge.

What the cost of replacement in Sweden is - VicViper should be helpful here.
I know that in Norway, for the E class - the airmatic cost approx 12-14.000NOK per side. That's approx 2000$

Regarding how long they last - that is much more difficult to pinpoint. Anywhere between 20.000km (ultra worst case), but usually at 130-150.000km I believe.

Glyn M Ruck

Properly set up steel suspension can be just as good with adjustable dampers. The difference being you don't have the same level of adjustability & some active control to maximise aero at speed etc. Not really all that important on a passenger saloon.

In the S Class it makes more sense with the full "Magic Body Control" where the Stereoscopic cameras scan the road ahead while still taking info from the Pitch & Yaw sensors & predictively prepare the suspension for a bump, pothole, speed hump etc. You can literally steer the car at a bump and it soaks it up. That sort of isolation is in a whole different class.

That said, I admire Benz for offering a version of air suspension in this category of car.

I have covered the negatives & cost of repair earlier in this thread so I shall not reiterate.

c4004matic

In the US the aircarpet is a 7300 dollar option since it can only be had with the drivers assistance package! For that price it should also make me a sandwich!!!!! With Serrano pata negra ham at that

HelenR

I want to test these for myself. Such conflicting information. The cost I don't care about, it's all about the ride in a rear wheel C. The nearest air suspension is 4 hours from me to test, and the nearest soft suspension is the same in another direction. ugggg

PeteInGilroy

I ordered my C300 with Airmatic and also was unable to test drive a car with it. But, I feel like I did enough research to come to the conclusion I will be much happier with the Airmatic, as it is all about the luxury for me.

StanNH

The reason there is so much conflicting information is that everyone thinks what they have is best. That means that everyone seems to be pleased with their own choices, but it offers nothing for someone like yourself who may be seeking an objective comparison.

I have not driven an Airmatic, but I have driven the Luxury, standard, and Sport. The Sport is the firmest and is the least comfortable over harsh surfaces. The Luxury is the softest, but it's really not that soft and feels only slightly more compliant than the standard steel suspension. The standard suspension is firm, can feel hard over bad pavement, and is right in the middle of the other two as far as feel. All three handle well, and are generally quite comfortable over normal roads.
The Airmatic has certain advantages in its ability to adjust to different conditions. Some reviews, however, claim it feels less stable over some surfaces and handling situations than any of the steel suspensions. Other reviews love it, so I guess it depends on the test conditions and who's doing the driving.

HelenR

Thank you for the information, and not trying to sell me on what you chose.

A Odman

I think this is just human nature. Of course everyone wants to defend their choices, it would almost be strange otherwise since no one wants to have spent money on something that in the end was unnecessary. I am the same way, though I already have placed my order I'm still reading reviews and forum posts trying to find threads to justify my personal decision.

It is very hard to choose what to order, I had the same difficulties just a week ago. I drove 2 test cars, one with comfort steel suspension and one with airmatic and I wrote down my thoughts here earlier in the thread. I can say that I wished that I didnt feel any diference at all since I will drive in comfort mode 99% of the time. So had I not felt any difference I would have stayed with steel springs. I also wrote that the difference might just have been in my mind, since what I am looking for is that extra little comfort to make my every day driving more comfortable. I will ultimately have to agree with other members, it comes down to what you experience and what your requirements are, so go and testdrive it for yourself. Take a weekend trip and go to a dealer that has both sets of cars that you want to try out.

One thing I opted for thanks to this forum was the acoustic glass windows. I had no idea you could even choose this and neither did my dealer. This is because my personal aim/goal with the car is to have it as smooth, comfortable and quiet as possible. Might even be so that the different glass makes a bigger difference then the suspension in the end when it comes to me .

Felt I was ranting there for a while, my conclusion is this. I opted airmatic cause I felt a difference, real or not I can not say. Had I not I would have ordered comfort steel suspension cause it's cheaper. But mentally if feels good to have ordered the system that should give you a more advanced suspension system. The extra value of having 4 different settings and keeping the car leveled when heavily loaded, that it lowers it self at highspeed, theese are for me small things that finally made me decide for airmatic.