My dealer called to offer me their first 26 E53 allocation for July build. I love the looks and specs of the car but a little apprehensive about stiff ride. I had a CLS53 in the past, very nice car but not practical on the pothole filled roads where I live. Would like to hear from a few owners and their experience.

 

The fact that you are asking this questions, means you already know the answer: The car is going to ride very stiffly, you will feel every bump and expect either bubbles in the sidewalls, blowouts or bent rims. All that extra weight, because of the battery. means tire pressure at 40 psi plus.

How else but stiffly could it ride?

 

My E53 Hybrid has 20" tires. Initially the air pressure was set to about 41/47 Front/Rear. I was seriously considering downsizing to 19" wheels and tires. But when I noticed that the rear tires were wearing more in the center of the tire I lowered the tire pressure to 36/40 and the ride quality noticeably improved. My EQS SUV was much more comfortable, but the E53 is more fun to drive.

 

I do know with the last of the e63 amgs 2021 to 2023 they did ride quite a bit better in comfort mode than the 2018 to 2020s. My 2018 e63 rode horrible in comfort mode not much of a difference between that and sport suspension mode. I always wonders why mb could not give the car more of a relaxed feeling in comfort mode. With my S class there is a huge difference between comfort and sport mode. Rim damage and tire damage is depressing and it gets old after a while. With my 2018 S class I’ve never damaged a tire or wheel and up to 85 k miles now. Hopefully my all terrain will be ok on the New England pot holes about to find out as I’m heading to New England the end of the week. I have the 20 inch rims unfortunately. But the suspension is softer than even my now traded in 2019 e450 wagon. That car ride kinda harsh and the front suspension would bottom out.

 

The E53 does not have air suspension but rather AMG ride control. Would this suspension give a better ride than air suspension. Most reviewers have loved the ride and rated as good. What I don’t know is does that mean good for an AMG or simply a good riding car. The E53 was simply a better performing, slightly stiffer sedan. It is not to be compared to a 63.
I was hoping that the AMG ride control would make the difference.
So far only one owner opinion. If the E53 is similar to my GLE53, that would work for me.

 

Your question is subjective, making it challenging to interpret all answers. I have 20-inch wheels and have not changed the recommended pressure. The car feels great, and I have no issues with ride quality. But could my other car be a Jeep? Spoiler alert: It's not a Jeep, but I am trying to make a point.

 

The only way to know is to drive one for yourself on your typical roads. Nobody can really tell you. Everybody's situation is different. We all drive on different roads and have different subjective views on what's comfortable and what's not. The simple truth is that if ride comfort is important to you, then an AMG is likely not the right car for you, whether it's a 53 or a 63. It will have higher NVH than a normal car. That's just the nature of the best. So comfort is all relative.

AMG RIDE CONTROL isn't gonna make a difference. It's an adaptive coil spring suspension. I have it in my C63S Coupe and I find it plenty comfortable for a performance car in Comfort mode while offering great body control in Sport+. Love doing long road trips with it and on the highway at higher speeds in Comfort mode the damping is very good. In fact the ride gets smoother the faster I drive. It does a better job on rough highway sections than previous performance cars I owned with fixed sports suspensions.

However, the one thing I'd point out is that the initial impact of a bump is somewhat harsh. This is because the suspension has no advanced warning. So if you are driving on a somewhat smooth road and then suddenly hit a bump or broken pavement it will initially be harsh, but then the damping will immediately soften to smooth things out. You can feel this. This works well if you suddenly hit a rough patch of road and the road stays rough for a while. The damping will adjust to that, but intermittent bumps with otherwise smooth roads will be on the rougher side and jolt the chassis as the base damping even in Comfort mode is still fairly sporty and as said the suspension has no way to anticipate bumps, it can only react to them.

There are obviously differences in the tuning between the models, as spring rates are not the same and besides the springs and dampers there are also the bushings that influence things and the sway bars. The primary thing to understand is that the softer everything is, the more body roll and float the car has, so being an AMG, the objective is good handling with enough rest comfort that it doesn't feel like you get beat up every time you just wanna drive somewhere, but this can still be too rough for many people who are used to normal cars. The last point I will make is that air suspensions are generally more comfortable, because besides the damping they can also adjust the spring rates, so expecting that a coil spring suspension will be more comfortable than an air suspension would be a bad assumption to make.