E63 S Sedan vs Wagon ride harshness?
 

I'm cross shopping M5, M5 comp, and E63 S. Yesterday I test drove the M5 standard and Comp, I found both to be a bit too harsh on moderately poor roads. A number of reviews of the E63 S Sedan have mentioned it has a very harsh ride as well. I started reading/viewing reviews on the E63 S Wagon and noticed some of those reviews say the ride is reasonably comfortable (in comfort setting of course) for the kind of car it is. A while back I drove the Panamera 4s and 4s Sports Turisomo back-to-back and the ride quality was nearly identical.

Does anyone have first hand knowledge of wether the E63 S Wagon drives less harshly than the Sedan?

The ride harshness is also subject to tire pressure as well. Most of us here have settled down to whatever pressure that is suitable for their preference.

Not a direct comparison, but my initial impressions on the E63 Wagon is that it rides a lot smoother than my prior 2018 M3 Competition package car.

I drove all of those recently before I ordered my E63S wagon few weeks ago. Hate to tell you that if you find the M5 too harsh (that is if you had it in comfort suspension setting), you are shopping the wrong cars. I found that the M5 and 4S were slightly softer in comfort setting than the E63 but the E63 is WAAAAY more comfortable than my current car....M3 competition package. Oh, and the sedan and wagon drove the same to me.

I've driven all of the cars mentioned and I have a '19 E63 Wagon... To me, the Panamera 4s with air suspension rides the best of the 3 models. Sport Turismo comes with air suspension standard if I'm not mistaken.

The M5 and even the Comp, rides better than the E63 sedan and wagon. While I agree the E63 wagon rides better than the sedan, it's still harsher for sharper bumps vs the M5/M5 Comp

I have driven all three and I own the E63S. If I were to rank ride quality:
1) Porsche Panamera - best ride quality by a large margin.
2) BMW M5
3) Mercedes E63S

In my opinion the M5 has noticeably better ride quality than the E63S. The ride quality in my E63S is even worse than my 911 Turbo S. It is a car which really demand good roads. This is assuming all cars are on 20" wheels.

Tried out sport and sport + for the first time last night. I found little difference in ride quality between the 3 levels, with comfort being almost indistinguishable from sport, and sport + being slightly harsher. We’re graced with some truly atrocious roads in northern Minnesota, think Detroit quality, and the car rides obviously a lot harder than my GLE63s.

I guess they they could have made comfort mode a little less bone breaking but ultimately I’m still happy since the whole package offsets the ride quality issue as far as I’m concerned.

I think everyone should post their tire pressures and general road quality when opining on ride characteristics, it really makes a huge difference. Dealer put my tires at 51 all around recenlty, which btw is appropriate for a fully loaded (passenger and cargo) wagon going up to 180kmh, and the ride felt like concrete on local roads that need repaving (think 1-2 inch deep potholes and a lot of surface imperfections) roads.

I switched to 41 all around because there are normally 2-3 people in the car (1 or 2 of them being children), limited cargo, and nowhere near speed limits that high. The ride quality got noticeably better - more 'give' on potholes, less noise on road imperfections. It's not a luxury ride by any means, but significantly more livable.

Sure. I have pirelli sottozeros IIs 265 width all around in a square setup for my winter driving. Pressure at 42 PSI all around. We have some of the worst roads in the country in my city. On freeway and other city roads that aren’t as bad ride is fine. Yes this isn’t an S560.

Thanks to all for your input. Today I drove the E63 S sedan and wagon and found both too be too harsh for my liking. Both were fantastic in so many ways, I preferred the wagon but it drove the same as the sedan. I ended up getting a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Very different vehicle, but suited me better.

Congrats on the Cayenne Turbo... I bet coming from the Alpina B7 makes all the cars you listed as too harsh (as someone pointed out earlier: wrong list to shop).

Enjoy.

Enjoy buddy. A cayenne turbo is no joke and it’s all about what the best fit for you is. Cheers.

I am running 41 front and 38 rear, these are the pressures when warm, the cold temp is about 2 pounds less. The readings are based on the display from the car’s system. I find local city streets a little hash but highway quite nice.

I own a e63 wagon.

Good luck with it! I went with the Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo. Agreed on the ride quality aspect btw.

I have a 4s sport turismo and recently drove an E63 wagon for fun. The Porsche suspension is way more supple and compliant over bumps imo. The wagon rides pretty harsh, but some people really like that. Also, road noise is much more noticeable in the Benz if that matters to you. Both are great vehicles, no wrong choice.

AMG just can’t get suspension settings right. Ridiculous that anyone is even talking about ride comfort and noise in this class and price range of vehicles. Don’t expect it to be a Luxo barge but come on Mercedes, figure it out! When’s the last time anyone picked a car over Nurburgring times! OK rant over.

That said, AMG cars are exciting and sound fantastic!

back to my wine.....

Completely agree

ive gotten quite used to always riding my my 2014 e63S in S+ all the time ... will I be ok with the 2018+ e63S?

On the highway it is great but on local streets it is a little hard. The car has a height adjustment and I wonder if lifting it at low speed will provide more travel length and a softer ride?

I really don't find the ride all that bad, considering what the car is. Now I haven't driven the M5 or other cars for comparison purposes, but neither my nor my family find the ride jarring or unpleasant and they like riding in the E63 over our other vehicles.

That said, I did ride from the airport to my hotel in Rome yesterday in an S class and I could tell that the ride was smoother than my E63 right away, but I suspect I'd also notice an immediate difference in favor of the E63 if I was driving the S class and pushed it through a turn or two.

It’ll depend on the quality of your city roads. Go for a test drive and see for yourself.

If you guys think the e63s rides harsh, you should ride a C63s. When I upgraded from C63s to E63s, I was actually a little concerned that everyone mentions how stiff the ride is. The ride on the e63s feels like a cloud compared to the C lol, it's all relative. It is a little harsh on bumps but still miles better than what I drove for 2 years.

100% with you. I love AMG but the cars do ride like crap. I thought I could live with the C63S Sedan but I was wrong and it’s the harshest of the lot. AMG claims the facelift models are more comfortable but I was uninterested. First thing I did was lower the tire pressure on the Dunlop’s it came with. That didn’t work. By 9,000 miles I was getting real tired of the car. The crashing and rattling ( poor build quality ) made the car not feel worth it at all for the price. I then experimented with the new Michelin A/S 3+ tires to see if all seasons would help. Fantastic tire. Car was night and day. Acceptable ride if still harsh as hell. I hated the rattling worse anyway. Didn’t help I had the drool worthy performance seats in that car.

So my E63S is riding on 42/39 front to rear and have the standard seats. Comfort mode in city and sport on the open roads feels just about right. I wouldn’t call it plus by any measure I would wish for softer comfort mode, but it’s good enough that my wife didn’t complain at all. AMG are lucky they didn’t loose me as a customer just based on ride quality but I can understand people not choosing them based on that alone. It should be simple as use less air pressure right? The build quality in the E63S is two classes above the C63S. That and everything is just that much better made swallowing the price pill to upgrade and get out if the C easier to deal with.

Completely agree re ride quality. What Mercedes were thinking is beyond me, it’s first and foremost a road car and it should be more compliant.

Having said that, I’ve just changed tyres from the Pirellis’s to GoodYear Eagle’s after a UK forum recommendation.

The difference in comfort is huge, my wife has instantly noticed the difference. It’s probably not quite a grippy and I wouldn’t use them on a track but for daily commute, the comfort factor has improved considerably.