Airmatic Sports and Comfort Mode
 

My ML has the airmatic suspension option and I find myself switching from sports to comfort and vice versa as the road conditions require.

Does anyone know what the physical change is in the car when I press that button?

When parked and I switch to sports, I do notice the car lower itself about an inch.... So I'm kinda assuming it has to do with the air pressures?

According to the manual, my 2014, says sport mode lowers it 0.6" and is a firmer suspension for greater contact with the road for a windy country road, for instance.

Conversely, comfort mode raises by 0.6" to make for a more comfortable ride (they don't specify how) and is meant for straight stretches of road, like the freeway.

Hope that helps!

It also adjusts the transmission change points, ie it revs higher in sports mode.

Yep, it does all that.

I don't know about you, but I find the sports mode virtually useless. I have AIRMATIC with ACTIVE CURVE SYSTEM on my MY13 ML550. Whenever I put it into Sports mode, the suspension tightens up so much, I feel every little lump and bump in the road and get so jostled, it starts to make me feel a little beat up and nauseous.

I was hoping it would just firm it up to be equivalent to the normal mode of my old X5, which was naturally stiffer, but could do 'corner-flat' turns. Even the sports mode of the X5 was more comfortable than my ML's sports mode...which is astonishing, really.

To be sure, the ML sports mode does allow flatter turning, etc., but with AIRMATIC, it should not make it suddenly so rough.

I agree. That is why I rarely ever use the sports mode on my Ml350 bluetec with airmatic. It makes the car very choppy and firm. Its not tuned very nicely. The comfort mode is perfect.

I didn't realise the suspension modes also affected the engine side of things like shift points?

So engine Sports mode is even more sporty when combined with Sports+ suspension for example?

I have a GLE with airmatic, very similar to ML. I'm driving 95% in sport mode, the car is much more energetic and feels better in turns. Unlike my previous BMW x3, the sport mode doesn't keep theengine in too high revs all the time which makes it usable. Strange or not, fuel consumption in sport is the same or slightly lower than in comfort. V6 diesel