[tonythehoolet]

Hi
I am speccing up an order for an F pace Portfolio on standard 19" wheels. All my dealer's F-paces have been on larger 20"+ wheels and the ride is too firm for my liking given the terrible quality pot holed roads I drive along in Buckinghamshire.

I'd rather avoid having to get adaptive damping if I am able (I resent spending £1000 to get a car to ride sensibly when this should be built in to the basic package?) but am concerned I might end up shaking my fillings out if I don't get it. Has anyone got any views on how the Portfolio rides on the standard 19" wheels without adaptive damping? Or do I need to bite the bullet and get this? Plenty of magazine reviews seem to imply that adaptive damping is something to go for, though most of these have been reviewing cars with 20" or 22" wheels....

Many thanks

 

[CarlFRZ434]

The adaptive makes it firmer, so why opt for that?? I personally do not understand the complaints on firmness of ride. I have the R-Sport with 22"" and in normal mode I find it quite soft and wallowy especially the tail end. Flick into adaptive dynamics and its firmer but hardly teeth rattling. My wife's old Mini Cooper on 18" run flats with sports plus suspension!!!!!! Now that was tooth rattling!!!

 

[Arianne]

I road tested an S on 22" and an R-Sport on 19" wheels back to back. The former had adaptive dynamics whereas the latter didn't.

Opinion: the adaptive dynamics is one of the most important options to choose. It's an SUV which means making it go around bends without wallowing needs either stiff suspension or a sophisticated adaptive damper system. The first works but leaves you with a harsh, fidgety ride even when travelling slowly, in a straight line or along a motorway over a cat's eye. The adaptive dynamics monitors your car thousands of time each second and is adjusting everything to deliver the best ride possible in the mode you have chosen - either sport or normal.

And this was all true of the two test cars we drove.

I have an R-design XC60 with stiff, passive suspension and 20" wheels. Great for fast country roads compared to the standard Volvo SUV but tiresome on motorways and around town. Almost embarrassingly so in town with passengers in the back. So I won't be making that mistake again with the Jaguar as I have the adaptive dynamics pack.

Your choice, it's personal preference and budget. Choose wisely as you will need to live with it for X years and local authority spending on roads won't be increasing any time soon.

Best wishes,

Arianne

 

[luminated]

The adaptive makes it firmer, so why opt for that?? I personally do not understand the complaints on firmness of ride. I have the R-Sport with 22"" and in normal mode I find it quite soft and wallowy especially the tail end. Flick into adaptive dynamics and its firmer but hardly teeth rattling. My wife's old Mini Cooper on 18" run flats with sports plus suspension!!!!!! Now that was tooth rattling!!!

Few road surfaces are worse than B-roads in Northern Ireland, I can't agree with the opinion that adaptive is firmer or wallowly.... it's my experience that both the adaptive suspension and 22" are a match made in heaven and that's my opinion based on someone changing out of arguably the SUV with the finest ride on sale today the Range Rover Sport.

The problem is the expectations some have of SUV thinking it will be no different to that of a saloon, raise the centre of gravity and you need to keep pitch and roll in check resulting in a firmer ride to a degree.

 

[Mbadger77]

If you think the ride is too firm on 20s then I don't think 19s will make much difference at all so don't buy the car if you don't like on 20s
Absolutely look at the dynamic option and see if that fits the bill for you and how much difference it makes,
Might have to bite the bullet - I was the same over the 22s - really didn't want to spend the extra but it makes the car look so much better in my opinion so I did it in end.

 

[RaVolVoR]

I have 2.0 Portfolio on 19 rims, it rides far better in dynamic mode than standard, even my wife agrees (rare event) so I think the adaptive dynamics is better value than 20 rim as it is are almost impossible to kerb the 19 rims as the tyre is taller than most kerbs.

 

[CarlFRZ434]

Why have the dynamic setting and expect better handling but then not have the tyres to give that performance?

 

[tonythehoolet]

Thanks all for your input, some interesting views! I'm past the stage of tearing around B roads at fast speeds so the adaptive damping for me is about ride quality rather than trying to eke out the last few percent of grip/cornering speed. And for that I certainly don't need/want enormous wheels. Cosmetically and practically I am not sure large wheels are for me as well, but of course this is entirely personal and I've seen nice looking F-paces on all size wheels.

I think I need to phone around some more dealers and find a car that has adaptive damping to test drive. .. don't want to end up spending £46K+ to spend years thinking "If only I'd spent and extra £1K on adaptive damping...."

Thanks again.

 

[Arianne]

^ that sounds sensible. Most dealers will have an S car and these have adaptive dynamics as standard. They will be riding on a minimum of 20" but, as demonstrators, more likely 22" optional wheels. But, as I said in my earlier post, I felt the difference and so should you. Like you, it's mainly about ride comfort. The F-Pace is set up by default to be a sporty SUV so the passive suspension is necessarily taught for that reason, but not overly so. Adaptive dynamics give you he best of both worlds.

Have fun.

Arianne

 

[Guest]

Reading your thoughts I'm still more convinced that my F-Pace with Adaptive Dynamics (and 19' tires) has a problem as I almost don't see any difference between both modes and they are both firm.
I'm pretty sure my suspension never goes into normal mode.

 

[RaVolVoR]

Reading your thoughts I'm still more convinced that my F-Pace with Adaptive Dynamics (and 19' tires) has a problem as I almost don't see any difference between both modes and they are both firm.
I'm pretty sure my suspension never goes into normal mode.

You need to find a section of bumpy road and go over it with dynamic mode turned on but have the menu showing so you can turn off the suspension changes. If it doesn't feel different then you probably need to go to the dealer! My car is much firmer and less bouncy, if the tyres were causing that bouncy feeling it would be much the same in each mode as the tyres are the same!

Was driving on A299 toward s Margate Saturday evening, and my wife actually wanted dynamic mode back on! I am therefore convinced its doing something! :lol:

 

[luminated]

Reading your thoughts I'm still more convinced that my F-Pace with Adaptive Dynamics (and 19' tires) has a problem as I almost don't see any difference between both modes and they are both firm.
I'm pretty sure my suspension never goes into normal mode.

You need to find a section of bumpy road and go over it with dynamic mode turned on but have the menu showing so you can turn off the suspension changes. If it doesn't feel different then you probably need to go to the dealer! My car is much firmer and less bouncy, if the tyres were causing that bouncy feeling it would be much the same in each mode as the tyres are the same!

Was driving on A299 toward s Margate Saturday evening, and my wife actually wanted dynamic mode back on! I am therefore convinced its doing something! :lol:

If driven on a smooth motorway or similar surface the difference between both modes is subtle (suspension wise), on a bumper road the wallow that some are call it in normal mode is actually the suspension absorbing the bumps and trying to maintain a level ride whilst in dynamic/sport mode the suspension contours the surface of the road more which results in you feeling more of these bumps... still exceptional by SUV standards. The best way to tell if both modes are working is to travel quickly over a bumpy road..... in dynamic mode chances are you will lift a little out of your seat where as in normal you won't, of course there's other differences like lean and pitch into corners and during acceleration and braking.

Personally I find myself using dynamic mode (suspension/steering/gearbox/engine) very occasionally and mostly on smooth flowing roads where I feel it's at it's best.

 

[RaVolVoR]

If driven on a smooth motorway or similar surface the difference between both modes is subtle (suspension wise), on a bumper road the wallow that some are call it in normal mode is actually the suspension absorbing the bumps and trying to maintain a level ride whilst in dynamic/sport mode the suspension contours the surface of the road more which results in you feeling more of these bumps... still exceptional by SUV standards. The best way to tell if both modes are working is to travel quickly over a bumpy road..... in dynamic mode chances are you will lift a little out of your seat where as in normal you won't, of course there's other differences like lean and pitch into corners and during acceleration and braking.

Personally I find myself using dynamic mode (suspension/steering/gearbox/engine) very occasionally and mostly on smooth flowing roads where I feel it's at it's best.

Interesting, the A299 is a new but fairly rubbish road, its got built in waves! In normal mode I found the car really didn't feel stable at all, yet in dynamic, it controlled the car more. This is directly opposite to what you're saying but I think that the stiffening of the dampers takes away the wallow and we felt less of the bumps/waves. The springs still allow for the car to ride the waves in a more level manner but the body control is better. Anyway that's how it felt at 70mph (on cruise I was playing with economy - barely got 40mpg on 70 mile run at 70mph, my XF would be topping 50mpg but I appreciate the SUV design will limit expectations) but around town what you say is more accurate. However in dynamic mode I still find the car reacts to speed bumps better in town at 20-30 mph, which I didn't expect!

The ride is very good, and in my view the dynamic ride is actually better than the normal, at least on the 19inch rims that I have, this is the bit I am surprised at, and pleased with!

 

[luminated]

On my road at home if I drive at an undisclosed speed you lift out of the seat at the bump but on normal you don't.

 

[jonty1625]

On my road at home is you drive at an undisclosed speed you lift out of the seat at the bump but on normal you don't.

"an undisclosed speed" :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[luminated]

"an undisclosed speed" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Basically it's between 30 and oh my god we are flying.

 

[Guest]

It seems RaVolvoR has the same issue I have (but you look happy with it). Before the K383 upgrade it felt a bit better in Dynamic which was very weird. Now I don't really see any difference.
Even in normal mode I lift out of the seat.
I tried an XE and an XF (for sure without AD for the first and I don't remember for the second) and both felt much much more comfortable.
Also my Evoque was better.
I'm convinced there is a problem.

 

[Jagfpacejk]

It seems RaVolvoR has the same issue I have (but you look happy with it). Before the K383 upgrade it felt a bit better in Dynamic which was very weird. Now I don't really see any difference.
Even in normal mode I lift out of the seat.
I tried an XE and an XF (for sure without AD for the first and I don't remember for the second) and both felt much much more comfortable.
Also my Evoque was better.
I'm convinced there is a problem.

Which Evoque did you have, I had the SI4 that had MagneRide and that was by far head and shoulders better then the Fpace version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagneRide

 

[luminated]

I had a TT with MagneRide and didn't like it, to me it felt artificial of course Audi's setup will be different to that of the Evoque but in my opinion driving the Evoque compared to the FP is night and day, the latter properly handles where as the Evoque fell apart when pushed hard down a back road.

 

[Beninspain]

So, I lowered the tyre pressure yesterday after advice on the US forum. 43PSI down to 34PSI this is on 20" with continentals.
Made a huge difference. Just needed to set TPMS to light load.