Test drove a manual m sport 328 today

Originally Posted by windsor027

Fair enough. I have to say however my experience with it was the opposite. i felt the car was more planted at a spirited speed because it absorbs the bumps better.

But then again that is why you need to test drive the performance options to see if they are worth it to you.

I think the best way to explain it is this way, I know I'm going faster and the suspension tries to intervene to make it safer and controllable for the driver. However, there is a limit to the compensation algorithm and when it is exceeded by too many variables it does it's best. The main detraction to the DH is that it tries to appease every condition by compromises so when you go to the higher limits beyond what it can accommodate, then it's deficiencies are exposed. I'm sure their algorithm can be tweaked more to compensate these limits but it's definitely not exposed with the current allowable settings. If they could settle the suspension about 1/2 a second faster I think that would help lots, plus add more road feel when the tires start to give and slide. With the DH, it was hard to predict when the slide would occur so driver input for steering, accel or brake was hard to apply.

Honestly I think it's a preferences thing. When the journalists test drove the F30 at Laguna Seca I'm pretty sure the cars had DH and they had no complaints about it, and they were driving on a track at speeds that would probably not be wise to drive at on public roads.

From what I read about the DH it was sampling on each wheel at something like 100 times a second, so it is hard to believe that there's a 500 ms "lag time" in the system processing. If that were true, at 100 miles per hour, the car would have traveled over 600 feet between the time road imperfections were detected and the system reacting, which is a bit much to swallow.

Is there lag time? Probably. Is it 500ms? Highly unlikely.

For me, the primary reason that I wanted DH is that I wanted a better suspension than the stock suspension that would otherwise have come with the x-drive car. Additionally, I like the fact that I get a compliant ride in "comfort" mode and get a sportier ride in sport mode. For me, driving the windy canyons I am familiar with, the adaptive-m suspension seems at least as good as the sport suspension equipped F30 I have driven on the same road and MUCH better than either the stock suspension on the F30 or the sport suspension on my A4 which was very stiff.

Originally Posted by voip-ninja

Honestly I think it's a preferences thing. When the journalists test drove the F30 at Laguna Seca I'm pretty sure the cars had DH and they had no complaints about it, and they were driving on a track at speeds that would probably not be wise to drive at on public roads.

From what I read about the DH it was sampling on each wheel at something like 100 times a second, so it is hard to believe that there's a 500 ms "lag time" in the system processing. If that were true, at 100 miles per hour, the car would have traveled over 600 feet between the time road imperfections were detected and the system reacting, which is a bit much to swallow.

Is there lag time? Probably. Is it 500ms? Highly unlikely.

If it's sampling at 100 times a second, then 500 msec does actually sound reasonable. It would probably take 10 or so samples before deciding whether to change and by how much, then it I'm sure it take some time to adjust the mechanicals to that setting.

Originally Posted by mr_clueless

If it's sampling at 100 times a second, then 500 msec does actually sound reasonable. It would probably take 10 or so samples before deciding whether to change and by how much, then it I'm sure it take some time to adjust the mechanicals to that setting.

Seems unlikely to me. Unfortunately it would require a detailed analysis of what the suspension does in actuality to know for sure. It defeats the point of having active suspension if there is a 1/2 second lag time to react to road conditions, especially for a car designed to be driven at very high speeds.

All I can say is that while I don't track cars (I do track motorcycles or more accurately used to) I don't detect any hesitation in the suspension. I am sure that for track or pseudo-track use a properly dialed in static suspension is more effective than the m-adaptive suspension but most of us don't track our cars or drive on public roads like we would drive on the track.

Originally Posted by Jon Shafer

People might not like my honest answer. I didn't think it's necessary if you are after an "M3-type" feel... I wanted to build the 2013 version (or close to it) of my M3.. A lot of it is ///Marketing.
My 335i is totally fine (read: bitchen) without Dynamic Handling Package... The M Sport is great as-is. Perhaps if I was after a Luxury Line I might have gotten it,,

Best quote from Jon on his F30 335i M-Sport purchase thread translated= if you want E36 M3/E46 ZHP/E46 M3 like suspension then don't get DHP.

I wish everyday, daily driven roads were as sticky, new and smooth as the Laguna Seca race track. Plus the type of driving on tracks greatly differ from the everyday grind. You can apply some of the track techniques to the daily grind (late braking, smoother steering, etc...) but definitely not the daily driving techniques for the track; it would be slower and useless. I would never partial rev match, partial brake and partial throttle on the track. Those are all very inefficient, but in the daily grind they are essential.