C Class Sport ride

[bmoster]

On Friday I took delivery of a new C 350 CDI Sport. Love the car, power is great and am getting reasonable economy. The only problem I have is the motorway ride. I don’t know exactly how to describe it but it seems to be a bit choppy or even bouncy. I experienced this on the M60 and M62.

I need to drive the same routes in my wife’s car (Renault Scenic) and see how that behaves as maybe I am being overly sensitive to the new car i.e. concentrating too much on the way it drives. Also, I suppose I should check the tyre pressures although the dealer should have made sure that they were correct on the PDI.

I would be interested to hear what other drivers of W204 C Class Sports think.

Thanks.

 

[C240Sport97]

definitely check tyre pressures .. not unusual for them to be wrong

 

[Rory]

Mine's a W203 but the biggest disappointment in Merc ownership is how my car rides, and, although it's Avantgarde, it's not got Sports suspension and it's on the smallest wheels.

Do check the tyre pressures, but my MB was probably the only car I've ever had delivered with spot-on tyre pressures.

 

[mykulmerc]

what was the weather like at the time? Was it windy?I have been criticised for giving my opinions on wallowy W202. I know the W203 is better and have been told what the W204 is even better, so will be interested to hear other opinions.

 

[jeremytaylor]

Check the pressures!

But after that, what do you expect from a Sport?

I've got an E-class Sport, and whilst the suspension is firmer than the settings on the Avantgarde I had before, the motorway is the one place where the differences are less noticeable.

 

[yachtman]

On Friday I took delivery of a new .......

give it at least 1500 ml for the springs to break / work in, plus as others have said, check tyre pressures.

 

[Mudster]

17" or 18" rims?

 

[bmoster]

17 inch wheels

I am aware that the Sports ride is meant to be on the firm side and at low speeds around town it is but it does not bother me. Surely wallowy/choppy/bouncy ride on the motorway is the result of suspension that is too soft

 

[Rory]

I'd have expected choppy/bouncy, but not wallowy. Sounds like the worst of all worlds, to be honest.

The more I hear about W204's, the less I want one. Mind you, MB Chester can't be bothered to try to sell me one, so it's not likely to happen anyway.

 

[bmoster]

I'd have expected choppy/bouncy, but not wallowy. Sounds like the worst of all worlds, to be honest.

The more I hear about W204's, the less I want one. Mind you, MB Chester can't be bothered to try to sell me one, so it's not likely to happen anyway.

I don't know how best to describe it but wallowy is the wrong word, bouncy is more accurate. Rory, are you saying that you think that this is to be expected on a W204 Sport.

 

[Rory]

I don't know how best to describe it but wallowy is the wrong word, bouncy is more accurate. Rory, are you saying that you think that this is to be expected on a W204 Sport.

Well I haven't driven one (not for the want of asking ) and it's supposed to be better then the W203, but I'd expect the Sport model and on lowish profile tyres to be a pretty good test of the integrity of your dental fillings on anything other than snooker table smooth surfaces.

There just isn't the compliance in the C Class suspension that there is in E Class.

 

[grober]

The C class has an 'Agility control' package as standard, which provides drivers with constant "automatic" adjustment in handling and ride quality. It achieves this feat through hydro-mechanical shock absorbers, which constantly "analyse" ????? road conditions and driving 'habits', and adjust their characteristics accordingly to provide the driver with the best possible balance between ride comfort and agility. Buyers can opt for 'Advanced agility control' package at extra cost . This system is an upgrade to the standard one, offering a 'sport' mode button to further tighten up the ride.
Personally I find while this system provides good suspension control it conveys a high frequency road vibration component to the ride quality especially with larger wider tyres in the Sport Model. Maybe they improve as the mileage builds up? Don't know? My impression is that the shockers may well be altering their characteristics but are always a fraction of a second to late. Mercedes idea of an " adjustable suspension on the cheap " that doesn't really deliver in practice??

 

[roswaldo]

I must say that I have no complaints about the handling of my 220CDI, but I got mine 12 months old with 15k on the clock. The one I bought was at another dealer in the same chain so I first test drove one of my local dealer's cars and found no trouble with that one either, I wouldn't have gone further with my purchase had there been.

 

[bmoster]

Thanks for all replies, I still need to get round to checking the tyre pressures so will do that tonight. Will give it a few months to see if it improves as it breaks in or more likely I get used to it.

 

[azaman]

The ride on my W203 coupe (same chassis and suspesion as your W204 version) was quite harsh. I found it quite jarring going over speedhumps and potholes, unfortunately the ride just isn't very forgiving on the coupes.

 

[jeremytaylor]

I wonder if one of the transport chocks (blocks put in the suspension to take travel out of the suspension to make transporting cars easier) was left in the suspension? If so, removing it would make quite a difference!

 

[grober]

I think you will find the W203 coupe, later to become the CLC or CL203 is based on the W203 chassis and does not share the adaptive damping suspension of the later W204 model. I would agree with you that it was unacceptably hard though, especially in the Sport version which most of the later W203 Coupe/CLC seemed to come as.

 

[bmoster]

I wonder if one of the transport chocks (blocks put in the suspension to take travel out of the suspension to make transporting cars easier) was left in the suspension? If so, removing it would make quite a difference!

How would I be able to tell if one or more of these chocks had been left in.

Thanks

 

[jeremytaylor]

They might be visible, but take it back to the dealer to save getting your knees dirty!

 

[steve-o]

Does it have run flat tyres?
Personally i really dislike them, they simply don't comapre ride quality wise.