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MBC vs Airmatic

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Old Sep 23, 2018 | 09:14 PM
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MBC vs Airmatic

It may surprise some of you to read this, but on the Audi A8 2019 models, the journalists who have ridden on the beta Audi A8 AI predictive suspension system, much like MBC, commented on how much more fidgety the hydraulic active suspension was vs the air based standard suspension.

I haven't ever read a MB S class critic talk about this, but that's because most of them are idiots who believe you can get MBC + Airmatic. The two systems are mutually exclusive. MBC is purely hydraulic based and Airmatic is purely air based and is purely reactive.

So I guess my question is: Those of you with MBC who have ridden in a standard S, does it ride worse than just Airmatic in day to day driving not involving speed bumps?
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Old Sep 23, 2018 | 09:50 PM
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MBC is much better than Airmatic but you cannot get MBC on 4Matic cars which is a requirement for my area. I would take 4matic over MBC any day but I live in an area that rains a lot and snows in the hills a bit in the winter.
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Old Sep 23, 2018 | 09:53 PM
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MBC is superior to Airmatic in every way.
Historically, Airmatic is the poor cousin and also does less.
MBC without the cameras and predictive software equals ABC and that is an active suspension that continuously adjusts each strut to level the car (in curves, acceleration/braking.
Airnatic levels the car front and rear and adjusts the air pressure (stiffness) based of the cars settings, such as comfort/sport, etc.

MB also uses Airmatic on AMG’s as they have gone AWD on the E/S models but the ride is not as good as ABC. On the E63s, in order to provide the handling performance, the suspension is so stiff that it is every road imperfection is transferred directly to your spine
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