How important is adaptive suspension on a G31 M Sport?

[E39mad]

A bit of background. Am in my mid 50's and comfort is becoming more important than ultimate handling. I have owned BMW 5 series since 2004 starting with 2 E39's and currently in an F11 SE. 

The E39 had a perfect ride handling combination whereas I find the F11 a little niggly over poor road surfaces despite running 17" non run flat tyres. It's not uncomfortable but not as relaxed as it should be despite having the optional Comfort Seats. 

I am considering a G31 530d M Sport within the next six months and these seem to run either 19 or 20" rims and some have the optional adaptive suspension. 

Question is are you happy with your M Sport suspension car on 19 or 20"s or do you wish you had the adaptive suspension option?

For those with adaptive suspension does it do a good job on 20" rims and RFT's?

 

[Stressed]

I’ve a 520d touring on 19s find it more comfortable than my F11 and smoother ride than a 3 series tourer with adaptive that I had as a loan car. My 5 is also more comfortable than my work 2018 discovery

[JCP]

I went from an F11 'Luxury' which I think is akin to an SE, to a G31 530d M XDrive. I find the G31 less crashy on rough surfaces and less inclined to tramline. The F11 used to annoy me a bit in those respects whereas the G31 is fine I find. Both cars without adaptive suspension.

[Procion]

I ran my M Sport G31 530D Xdrive touring for 18 months covering 20k miles.

Michelin Premacy 3 run flats, 245/40/19 front 275/35/19 rear, non-adaptive suspension.

After playing about with the tyre pressures (ended up running way lower than spec’) the ride was supremely compliant combined with tenacious road holding. A very comfortable place to be, no jarring, skipping, crashing or tramlining. Rock steady soaked up the bumps yet still gave chassis feedback.

It did though have M Sport seats. I’m 6ft 2” and found them the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever had the misfortune to sit on. I constantly suffered lower back pain and left leg cramps. After an hour I’d start to grit the teeth, after two I’d have to get out and stretch off. Doesn’t bother most people but I discovered I wasn’t alone with this.

My current car (I’ve had for 3 years) is a G31 Alpina B5 with comfort seats as standard. I can do 8 hours at a time without issue. So, if you’re coming from comforts beware, M sports might not suit you.

The B5 has adaptive and runs on 20” 30 profile PZeros, it’s a magic carpet with rocket boosters. The car wouldn’t work without adaptive, Alpina put a lot of work into tuning the suspension. Comfort does what it says, no dive under braking, keeps level under harsh acceleration, absorbs surfaces. Sport stops it rolling around and you feel every bit of grit, comfort plus on a motorway detaches you from the road surface. Considering it’s the same bodyshell the two cars are night and day.

All that said, in whatever form the G30/31 are superb cars. Yes, the adaptive is probably worth it but not essential imho. Compared to an F11? you won’t go wrong. A quantum leap upward.

[E39mad]

Thanks for the responses.

So up to 19"s without adaptive suspension seems to sound OK.

20"s and adaptive suspension sounds preferably.

I would also want Comfort Seats having currently got them in the F11. 

I tend to take a long time before changing cars so this could take a while but always nice to know which direction and spec is desired.

[Kopfjaeger]

I have an F07 with Msport suspension on 20" rims with Run flat tyres.  I'm happy with the ride in comfort or sport mode, but haven't driven anything else to compare with.

Note that adaptive shock absorbers are over a £1000 each....compared to £00s for non VDC.

You might want to factor that in when choosing your second hand model?

[Mr H]

My G31 runs on 19" in the summer and 18" in the winter; both on runflats. It has adaptive suspension and runs most of the time in "adaptive" and tbh I don't notice the difference if it is "comfort"; both are very smooth on all road surfaces (yes even in the UK!!!).

btw, I have comfort seats and do find that after about an hour or so I too get left leg / buttock cramps and cannot continue on much beyond 2 - 2.5 hours without a break! Something i get in most cars but not my 22yo Z3 🤪

[Liam2594]

Previously had a G30 530d on 20" alloys with Michelin run flats, and I found that comfortable. Only on really harsh bumps did it make me wince, this was with the standard M Sport setup - non-adaptive. It was by far a much better ride than my F10 with smaller 19's. I also briefly had a G20 520d with 19s & again M Sport suspension and the ride on that was superb. I wouldn't let not having adaptive be a deal breaker if the rest of the car is right. 

I did have adaptive on a previous F11 and that was like night & day compared to my F11 without adaptive, it made a huge difference. Totally agree with the F11 on the standard setup, the ride is always a bit jiggly.