In the Individual mode select, what exactly do the “AMG Dynamics” options (Basic, Advanced, Pro) control? When I google it, I get some older references that suggest it relates to electronic stability controls, but it’s less than clear. Also, are the hydraulic actuators that make up AMG Ride Control affected by that setting? Or the suspension setting?

 

I typed up an explanation in a few AMG sections on here before, so if you do a search you might find it. In a nutshell, AMG DYNAMICS is an active chassis dynamics control system. It uses a mathematical model of the vehicle and feeds various sensor inputs into it such as yaw etc. It's effectively an extension of ESP and on top of ESP. Where traditional ESP is reactive, AMG DYNAMICS is proactive. It uses the model and the sensor data to calculate how the chassis reacts to your inputs and then uses that information to decide how the driving torque should be distributed between the driven wheels in order to make the vehicle handle neutrally or oversteer at various degrees. Basically it controls the torque vectoring. It works with the driver to make the chassis do what the driver expects based on the inputs. Many modern performance cars now have such an active dynamics system.

Basic is what the Comfort, Slippery and Offroad modes use. It keeps the chassis neutral and prioritizes stability. Then as you go up Advanced is what Sport uses and Pro is what Sport+ uses, Increasingly letting the car oversteer. You can further control it by also putting ESP in Sport Handling mode or turning it off. So you have quite a bit of control over the chassis dynamics. Models that have RACE mode, have an additional AMG DYNAMICS mode called Master. I have that for example. It's only available if ESP is in Sport Handling mode or Off and is effectively the most dynamic and oversteering setting.

AMG DYNAMICS also controls how much assist you get from the power steering. Older AMGs had a steering setting to put the steering in Comfort or Sport. That's now part of AMG DYNAMICS. In Advanced and above, the steering requires a bit more effort.

Also, how specifically AMG DYNAMICS does what it does, depends on the specific models. The G for example while it has locking differentials, they are manually locking differentials. The other 55 and 63 models have electronic rear differential locks, which can lock at various degrees, so AMG DYNAMICS controls how much the diff should lock at any given moment. This basically allows for active torque vectoring. In the G I'm guessing it uses only the brakes for passive torque vectoring. Basically applying the inner rear brake slightly when cornering in order to send more torque to the outside wheel to help the vehicle rotate.

BTW, if you don't know how torque vectoring is used to affect the handling and steering of the vehicle, think of it like a kayak. There are two ways you can steer a kayak. You can drag the paddle on one side so that the kayak steers towards that side. That's akin to passive torque vectoring where the car essentially drags the brake on one side of the car to make it rotate towards that side. The other way you can steer a kayak is to paddle stronger on one side than the other. In that case the kayak steers away from the stronger side. That's active toque vectoring where the vehicle sends more torque to the outer wheel using an active rear differential to essentially push it into a corner and AMG DYNAMCS controls the nuances of that.

 

Super helpful. Thank you. So if I am reading this correctly, this does NOT control the hydraulic dampers that are part of the new AMG Ride Control (which primarily limits body lean in corners).

 

That's a good question, and one I've been trying to get answered myself. You are referring to the hydraulic active roll stabilization that replaces the traditional anti roll bars, not the dampers. It is arguably a central part of the vehicle chassis dynamics, but AMG isn't very forthcoming with information. I don't understand why they are not promoting AMG DYNAMICS more. They described the system in the press materials for the AMG GT Pro where it debuted, but since then no word on how it evolved over time. On the other hand Ferrari just unveiled their new FIVE system (Ferrari Integrated Vehicle Estimator). Gave it a fancy name and in typical Ferrari fashion act like they came up with the idea, when AMG and others had been using it in their cars for several years. BMW is also now promoting their equivalent system in the "Neue Klasse" platform. BMW calls it the "Heart of Joy".

The whole idea behind it is centralizing all aspects of vehicle dynamics in a single control unit and as I said use mathematical models that are already used in driving simulators to predict how the vehicle will react based on the actual sensor data that they are collecting in real time, and then influence all parts of the car that control its dynamics. So I wanna say yes, AMG DYNAMICS controls the roll stabilization, but I'm not sure how centralized AMG DYNAMICS already is compared to Ferrari's FIVE system and BMW's "Heart of Joy", but it is the same conceptual idea.

I suppose to make it easier, you can think of AMG DYNAMICS as the base line. You select a mode for it that establishes the base line for the vehicle dynamics. But then just like with ESP where in addition to the base AMG DYNAMICS setting you can further refine it by putting ESP in Sport Handling or turn it off completely, the separate suspension setting lets you further refine how the car handles. So if you want you can set the AMG DYNAMICS base line to Pro, but still dial the suspension back to Sport or Comfort depending on the road conditions and how firm you want it. Ferrari also still has the bumpy road button in the 849 Testarossa in addition to the FIVE system, so the driver can soften the suspension even if the rest of the car is in full attack mode.

 

Great info @superswiss . Thanks for the detailed explanations.