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I am about to buy my first W205 and I have spent hours upon hours on reading review after review and watched basically every video I can find. I only have one question. The most important thing for me is comfort when I drive in the city and when I take the highway across the country. ( I live in Sweden so across the country is 300 miles ). I work as a real estate agent and 240 days of the year I will drive in the city, and then I will drive home to visit my parents 6-8 times per year. So should I go for the airmatic or will normal steel spring suspension be just as good for me? I will not ever use any other mode then comfort if I get the airmatic.
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
The Airmatic is a very nice to have. There is however nothing wrong with the comfort steel suspension. The Sport steel suspension is too harsh for most.
I will not get 18" wheels I believe I'm going to get 17" ones. Basically I am willing to pay the extra $ if airmatic gives me higher comfort and more choices. The dealer I have been talking to however recommended against me getting airmatic cause some of his previous clients wanted the same thing as I and they returned their cars and ordered new ones with steel suspension. They (1-2 persons) claimed the suspension became to distinct, what they meant by that I have no idea. Do you understand what they meant?
I appreciate your opinion Eilers. I have testdriven 3 different w205 in my hometown but they all had the steel springs cause the dealer didnt have one with airmatic at home. I will try and go to a nearby city to try them out for myself if I have time.
It feels like there is as many opinions as there are drivers
There are three different steel suspensions of varying stiffness in addition to airmatic. From your post I'd try the comfort steel back to back with the air. Unlikely to find both sitting on the same lot, they're both popular and rare versions of the new C. The air is oftly nice!
For the price level of car, I wouldn't stress much on the airmatic cost., the fact you inquire makes it likely you'd like it ...and by the time replacement needed if outside extended warranty, either steel or air, we are likely to have options of aftermarket parts for much lower costs.
Truthfully, as with all preference questions, you gotta go find the cars at dealers and test them for yourself. Everyone here will steer u to their choice, and few on the lot or this forum have airmatic.
Last edited by floridadriver; 12-12-2014 at 07:51 PM.
The salesperson didnt have an incentive to lie to me cause I will order a new car no matter what so there is a delivery time of 3 months. If anything he should try and add more additional equipment ( read airmatic ) not less since the car will then be more expensive I will really try and find 2 cars at the same dealer so I can compare them back to back. Btw the price for this car in Sweden is 53,000$ I would like the US-prices more
Yes you will have to pay the difference to the sales company, and yes they will have to wait an additional 3 months. So most likely they drove the airmatic for 3 months before changing the cars. Im not sure if it was 1 or 2 persons the salesman was a bit vauge on this. But since a normal car salesman sells around 250 cars per year this perticular scenario is less then 1% of the total sales so maybee that 1 person just wanted a different kind of comfort?
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
Let's understand a few things here. Anybody with decent experience of Airmatic knows all the good points of which there are many. They should however understand that there is a downside.
The ride in certain conditions can be a little undamped & jiggly ~ substantially reported on & more prone on smaller lighter vehicles than on large heavy ones like the S Class.
Airmatic is likely to require more maintenance than steel suspension. If you want proof just search this board for Airmatic issues. At my dealer on Wednesday this week there were 4 cars with Airmatic failure hanging lopsided. All S Classes of recent vintage. The Achilles heel of Airmatic is moisture. It is impossible to keep the systems absolutely dry. Corrosion within the system does damage to numerous parts. Cars that stand a lot seem to give more trouble. Daily drivers less so. Maintenance of Airmatic is needed & expensive.
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
I'm talking about jiggle on corrugated surfaces. On heavier cars you have more sprung weight to absorb & dissipate energy from the suspension. Dampers, springs etc are just short term energy stores.
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
Originally Posted by Eilers
Added later: Just wanted to mention that when I was researching the official numbes of the new C, I was aware of air suspension on all 4 corners, on smaller cars is not usually a viable soloution. So i did look in particular into the Wheel base of the new C (which is a quite respectable 2840mm.) W204 offers 2760mm.
This is in comparison to f.ex the W220 S Class, which offers 2964mm.
2840 mm wheel base, does more then suggest that there is a lot of sense behind the airmatic option being made available.
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
Yes ~ some is converted into heat but the majority is dissipated slowly into the sprung mass of the vehicle so stiffness & mass are important.
For those interested in the W205 Airmatic suspension. Here are some good illustrations. The air suspension has one hell of a lot of wear components. Just as many, if not more than steel. Don't for one minute think that it is maintenance free when compared with steel suspension. Then there are all the electronic & control gubbins, pumps etc. Benz will go to fully active suspension as soon as practicable/affordable. Then they can go to lighter cars & get rid of the curse of the anti sway/roll bar while maintaining Benz values.
Click to open to full size:
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; 12-13-2014 at 09:33 AM.
I plan on owning the car around 3 years depending on how satisfied I will be with the car and possibly changing family conditions. My company will buy and own the car so it will be bought with fincancial leasing basically a interest rate free payoff plan offered to companies in Sweden.
The purchase will also include a service package plan that includes all kinds for service for the first 3 years. So I dont worry so much about the cost of maintenance. I see myself owning the car for a maximum of 5 years and during this time I will probably drive around 100 000 km or 62 000 miles.
Since I have no previous experience with airmatic this is what I have thought about it and what I have come to expect from it:
It should be all what steelsprings are and then some. It should be able to clear bigger and deeper potholes then steelsprings and it should in my book give a smooher and softer ride. It should be like "riding on a cushion of air" for lacking a better expression. Please let me think what your thoughts are regarding to this last post.
11-16-2014, 04:12 PM
I will really try and find 2 cars at the same dealer so I can compare them back to back. Btw the price for this car in Sweden is 53,000$ I would like the US-prices more 
