I understand this has been asked a couple dozen times around the web so don’t roast me too hard, I believe I’m asking something different.

I’m currently in the process of placing an order for a ‘24 450 in the US. Really conflicted as to whether or not I want Airmatic or not. I don’t want a floppy boat that makes anyone car sick but I feel like I’ve seen both setups called that. There’s only 2 dealers in my state and abundant test drives are not available. I’ll survive but you’ll help me.

Is Selective Damping as “adaptive” as MBUSA implies or am I crazy? Could it be added or reworked part of the ‘24 refresh? I know BMW made tweaks to the X5’s suspension for the ‘24 refresh, curious if MB did anything since they both did just about the same stuff to these.

 

The selective damping suspension is not an adaptive suspension. It's more of a two stage suspension. It has a comfort stage and a firm stage and it goes between the two based on the amount of body motion it senses. The crucial part is that the driver has no control over it. There's no Comfort, Sport and Sport+ setting for the suspension that the driver can choose as a baseline.

AIRMATIC on the other hand is a true adaptive suspension complete with the driver selectable suspension modes. AIRMATIC like all adaptive suspension also continuously adapts the damping multiple times a second based on various sensors in the car. It's not just body motion, but acceleration, wheel movement, steering angle etc. that factors in as well as the driver selected base mode.

I've experienced the selective damping suspension in the C300 as well as the GLC300 and for me it's way too floaty. It does firm up if you start to throw the car into corners, but as said you don't have control over when the suspension firms up. I generally put the suspension in my AMG in Sport on the highway, so I have a sporty firm feel even if I'm just driving straight and the suspension is already pre-tensioned so to speak for quick lane changes. The selective damping suspension on the other hand bobbles along if you are just cruising along and initial quick direction changes feel vague until it switches to the firmer setting. It has gotten better in later models. I've had the new W206 C300 as a loaner a couple of times and the selective damping suspension in that one was less floaty than in the W205. They did change the different versions a bit. There used to be a sport tuned version before, but now the base setup is a bit more controlled and feels better, but the basic lack of control issue is still there and there are still no user selectable modes.

 

I don't find the AirMatic sloppy or floaty at all. It does feel different than the standard steel suspension. Very comfortable. The sport mode tightens things up noticeably when you are in the twistys.

 

Just wondering if your dealers have any CPOs with both spring and airmatic?

 

^^Right now only one has an ML

 

You spending +$85k on a vehicle get the airmatic. I had a ML350 with airmatic then a 2021 450 without and hated it. Now back to a 2018 GLE 43 with a firmer airmatic and I LOVE IT! way better than my ML350 base airmatic. If you will be towing, loading the vehicle majority of the time airmatic will lift and level the rear as well. You won't see the truck squat at the back.

 

Airmatic rides well, and definitely not too floaty.

 

This feedback was great, thank you. I went with AIRMATIC on my order.

 

Just thought I’d come back to update this. I ended up going with the 53 AMG on my order and picked it up yesterday. Bye Acura, hello Merc.

 

I have a 2022 E450 All-Terrain, which has Airmatic standard. Love the car and love the ride that the suspension provides.

When I purchased my 2024 GLE450, I deliberately skipped the Airmatic, since I wanted to eliminate every single potential future trouble spots that I could, even though my E450's airmatic has been pristine thus far. It still has slightly under 1000 miles on it, and still in the break-in period, but I love what I am finding, thus far.

All I want from the car is to firm up when needed, and remain soft when a comfortable drive is warranted, and the "selective damping" seems to get the job done just fine, just like a mid-luxury car should.

Please note that I am not someone who leases (AKA rents) my cars. I buy it, and keep it for the long haul. If this is for a lease, just go with the airmatic anyway, since you are not concerned much about long term reliability.

 

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