Dws6

Does anyone have any experience with the difference between the comfort 485 suspension vs the lower 486 sport suspension? I ordered the car with the sport package and it was delivered with the comfort suspension. I love the way it drives but the wheel well gap looks horrible. Apparently there is quite a bit more that goes into the 486 sport then just springs but does anyone know exactly what is different between them and can give some incite to the difference in feel? What are the drawbacks to the 486 sport compared to the 485 comfort?

Thanks,

Sarmun

Interesting - I thought sports package always comes with sport suspension. But, looking now, I also have sports package with 485 "Comfort suspension for Elegance".

Mr Enigma

There is another thread on exactly this topic where this is discussed in more detail.

Dws6

I have not found any threads comparing the two. Please post a link.

StanNH

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...port-home.html

I recently replaced my C300 base with a C300 Sport, so I do have personal experience driving both suspensions. I also had a C300 Luxury loaner for over two weeks, so I am very familiar with all but the Airmatic suspension setups.

My C300 Luxury loaner had the 17" tires, while both my last C300 base and current Sport were set up with the 18's.

To be honest, I could not feel any dramatic differences between any of these suspensions. That's not to say there aren't differences, but they weren't as obvious as I would have expected. The Luxury was more muted in response to rough surfaces than the base with 18's, but not by much. My new Sport is a bit sharper over those bad surfaces but, again, the difference is more incremental than anything else. In all cases, I feel the use of run flat tires is the limiting factor affecting ride comfort. All suspensions "thump" over pavement breaks, and that is the tires not the suspension.

Steering feel varied significantly between those three cars, which did surprise me. On my base C300, the steering was much too light for my taste and I did not like it at all. Using Sport in Agility improved it. Surprisingly, the Luxury I drove had a firmer steering feel. My current Sport has, for me, perfect steering weighting and is the best of the bunch. I don't know if this is typical or just quirks of the cars.

Handling is sharper with the Sport, and I can feel the difference in cornering. The other cars felt like they were understeering when mildly pushed through the corners, while the Sport pretty much wants to go where it's pointed. Road tests I've read all say the car is neutral, but I did feel some understeer as noted.

So, yes, the Sport does have a firmer feel than either the base or Luxury setups, but none of the steel suspensions are particularly soft. If my base had steering that wasn't so light, I probably would have been fine with it. As it is, I greatly prefer the 486 Sport suspension and do not find it to be overly harsh within the context of any of the steel suspensions offered on the W205 ... none of which offer a particularly soft ride.

Mr Enigma

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...300-sport.html

I tend to read most threads in this subforum over lunch which is why I knew it had been discussed. Researching for my next car...

Apologies if I came across rude, that was not my intention.

chuckieboy

I had the same issue - ordered C300 sport but car was delivered car with comfort suspension. I loved the ride but didn't like the huge wheel gap.

So I traded in the old car for a new one with the sports suspension. I can honestly say that I liked the softer suspension more as it didn't seem to affect the handling very much and was definitely more comfortable on bad city roads.

To bad we can't have a softer ride with lowered suspension.

With that being said, I would do it all over again as the car definitely looks better with the lowered suspension and the ride is really not that bad. The cornering is just a little tighter also for those Saturday morning drives with no traffic.

Capt Slo

How long did you have your first car before you traded it for the new one?

madmax

I also ordered the sport package and it came with Comfort suspension for Elegance and the huge wheel gap. I promptly refused the car and re-ordered with another dealer. I am now waiting till June for the new car to be delivered.

If you are going to order make sure that the Sales rep carefully selects the suspension because on my second order I had to help the rep through a couple of pop-ups to get to the section where you are able to select 486 - Sport suspension for some reason it defaults to 485 suspension hence the reason a lot of Sport package cars came out looking like SUV's

StanNH

Part of the problem, if not all of it, is the fact that US built cars ordered with the Sport Package are supposed to automatically default to the 486 sport suspension. There is, theoretically, no way you can get the 485 suspension with Sport. Salesmen do not check this because they assume the factory default is what is being provided.

How or when the MB order system started doing this is a mystery, and very few salesmen are even aware of it.

madmax

You got it Stan. MB's system shouldn't have processed the order that way as it is not a valid build for the US market so most Sales reps never checked on the suspension selection. My initial rep told me she got an email from HQ after my complaint and that they said it was a software ordering issue that they had since corrected. Don't know if that's true or just her story to pacify me. In any case I went with another dealer.

However, for those at the factory building the cars did it not occur to them that they were building Sport package cars with comfort suspension even though it's not a valid selection for the North American market? If not the line employees, the supervisors at least should have caught this error in the beginning.

Mr Enigma

Just to add, the UK configurator defaults to the sports suspension when you go for the sport trim, but you can select the comfort suspension if you wish which is a zero cost option.

Dws6

Apparently it's the exact opposite here in the states. Go figure

chuckieboy

About 2 months. Dealers says they got a bunch of cars with this problem. How a huge organization like MB allowed this to happen puzzles me.

Dws6

No worries, I didn't read it like that. I read that one and didn't see the comparison. Maybe I missed it. Thanks for posting it though.

Dws6

So does anyone know what actual components are different? Sway bars, struts, springs, control arms the whole nine or is it just a spring swap? I'm curious how big of a deal it is to have a dealer just re-equip the car. I have done quite a few aftermarket mods to various cars over the years and it's not really a big deal so I am curious what really needs to be done to correct it. I am willing to bet the car that the MB sport springs, while harsher then comfort, will still be a better ride quality then the aftermarket H&R or other spring. Thoughts?

CorsairNY

Hi StanNH. Despite the preference on different exterior, if you have to choose between the base and luxury, which one would you go with? Can you please tell me the reasons? Thanks.

StanNH

I've spent 7 months with a base, 3 weeks with a Luxury loaner, and almost 4 months with my current Sport.

Regarding the base versus luxury, there is really not much more than the grille and wheels to differentiate these two models. Both use the 485 Comfort suspension and come with 17" tires as standard. The Luxury model does not have a unique suspension, but shares the same suspension with the base model. So, in the end, it really is nothing more than a styling choice.

The 485, 486, and Airmatic suspensions are available for the W205. The literature makes it sound like the Luxury gets its own, more compliant suspension setup, but that's not the case.

49erPV

Just to add some confusion to how cars wind up with the suspension the owner gets, my base C300 came with the code 677 "Avantgarde/standard" suspension. On the dealer's order that I signed off on it just said "comfort" which sounded good to me. My neighbor has recently ordered a base C300 and his is coming with the Code 485 "Comfort" suspension. I have read some other threads here on the forum and from what I interpret, the 677 is the standard non sport suspension(slightly softer then the Sport) but has the same ride height as sport The 485 is the "Luxury Comfort" suspension and provides a somewhat softer ride then standard and a slight (15mm) increase in vehicle ground clearance. If any member could confirm or correct my interpretation of these suspension codes, I would welcome it. For what it's worth, I am very happy with the 677 suspension and just lucked out, I guess.

CorsairNY

Thanks 49erPV and StanNH! I've just got myself a C300 Luxury a few days ago!

Actually I prefer the sport package look a little better, but with MB-Tex I can only get all black color, which to my taste, doesn't fit the new C-class old-fashioned classic looking interior well.

And although the base model has a similar look to the sport package, and can go with a beige interior, I really want those Topstitched MB-Tex upper dash trim, and also as 49erPV and StanNH pointed out, base and luxury has the same suspension, which is no difference handling wise.

So all in all, I went ahead and got the luxury package with the beige MB-Tex.

PS: I think the handling of the "comfort suspension" is pretty good, maybe that's because I'm a first time car owner and has no comparison

princetonman

I have the 485 suspension and, while the ride is very comfortable over rough roads, the handling on curves is pretty terrible. I think I would have been happier with the 486.

mcbc220

A bit late to this, but can confirm that your interpretation is correct. Hopefully this will help others who are confused! The suspension options are not very clear from Mercdedes' advertising.

princetonman

Thanks! And my sales rep didn't explain or even offer the option of one vs the other. He chose!

princetonman

And you really have to wonder how 15mm could possibly make a difference (all other things like tires equal) but apparently it does!

mcbc220

That's the thing—if you don't know, you can end up with a car that's meaningfully different from what you thought you were getting, and Mercedes don't make it easy to find out what you're getting. I'm special-ordering mine, and I'm most concerned that I get the suspension I want (lowered comfort). I guess the 15mm makes a difference in terms of the extra ride height making the car a little less composed on the turns and a little more floaty. Judging from comments elsewhere on this site, it seems like there may be subtle differences in the steering programming between the luxury and base models, as well (one poster said that "S" on the luxe felt like "C" on the base). Caveat emptor.