[40080]

So toying with both want to know who got each option and thoughts.

I like the air suspension option, but wasn't sure what you get for the adaptive.

Is this similar to the air, or is it completely different?

[Slaktaren]

Originally Posted by 40080

So toying with both want to know who got each option and thoughts.

I like the air suspension option, but wasn't sure what you get for the adaptive.

Is this similar to the air, or is it completely different?

I prefer the adaptive M Sport simply because the air suspension made me almost see sick.

[40080]

But do they operate the same; as in it changes dynamically depending on the speed of the vehicle?

Do you feel more in control with the adaptive than you do with the air?

Body role etc?

[Tenac]

From the posts I've seen on the forum, the air does not firm up nearly as much as the adaptive. I have the adaptive and think in comfort mode its very plush and smooth, but when in sport its an entirely different experience. I have yet to actually ride in one with air, since the dealer didn't have a single one.

[AndroidRobot]

are you getting a 40i or 50i, it makes a difference in what you're asking

[davramic]

Agree with androidrobot. I have a 50i with the adaptive air. I moved from an M5; the stiffer M adaptive suspension will be more sport-car like in their driving but at the expense of comfort of the ride. I would say air gives a great smooth ride but you do lose a touch of that sporty feel (but on sport plus setting it gets pretty close). You really just need to ask yourself 1) 40i or 50i and 2) do I want a more comfortable ride and the ability to cruise distances in comfort or a more sporty drive that will be slightly more harsh? Then you have your answer

[SHAWN 212]

Originally Posted by davramic

Agree with androidrobot. I have a 50i with the adaptive air. I moved from an M5; the stiffer M adaptive suspension will be more sport-car like in their driving but at the expense of comfort of the ride. I would say air gives a great smooth ride but you do lose a touch of that sporty feel (but on sport plus setting it gets pretty close). You really just need to ask yourself 1) 40i or 50i and 2) do I want a more comfortable ride and the ability to cruise distances in comfort or a more sporty drive that will be slightly more harsh? Then you have your answer

Do you think tire and rim size will affect the ride and handling? I am picking up my 40i m sport with air suspension and 22 inch rims on Friday. I chose that for the integral active steering. Hopefully I will be happy with the ride. I hope it will be sporty enough.

[Grentz]

The Air is not as firm as the M adaptive (stock). That said, it does tighten up in Sport mode and is extremely comfortable/smooth.

I came from an M235i which is a totally different car and truly a sports coupe. I went 40i w/Air and am very happy with it for cruising. You cannot thrash it through turns the same as a sports coupe, but it is far from a Lexus or Cadillac.

Also the IAS is amazing for turning radius. Continues to surprise me how small the turning circle is.

[davramic]

Originally Posted by SHAWN 212

Do you think tire and rim size will affect the ride and handling? I am picking up my 40i m sport with air suspension and 22 inch rims on Friday. I chose that for the integral active steering. Hopefully I will be happy with the ride. I hope it will be sporty enough.

Tire/wheel size will affect it. 21" is what I have with a 50i on the air and it rides amazing. A bigger wheel will be a bit stiffer, this is unavoidable. How much so varies on the rig and your options you go with. None of the X5s I tested had greater than 21" so I couldn't give you a direct comparison personally

[SHAWN 212]

Originally Posted by davramic

Tire/wheel size will affect it. 21" is what I have with a 50i on the air and it rides amazing. A bigger wheel will be a bit stiffer, this is unavoidable. How much so varies on the rig and your options you go with. None of the X5s I tested had greater than 21" so I couldn't give you a direct comparison personally

In your opinion would the 22s help the car handle better? I'm just concerned about the air suspension is going to be to soft for my liking with some of the opinions I saw in the forum.

[Ringo2712]

Originally Posted by SHAWN 212

In your opinion would the 22s help the car handle better? I'm just concerned about the air suspension is going to be to soft for my liking with some of the opinions I saw in the forum.

I have a 40i Msport with 22º wheels with air suspeension. I come from and F15 with 20” wheels.

Since I was ordering my car with the 22’s I de ided to go with the air suspension to smooth out the ride. My decision was mostly due to all the wonderfull reviews I read about the air suspension, about how smooth it was without being too soft or floaty and becoming really firm and sporty on sport or sport plus mode. Given that, I never cared to test drive one with IAS. Biggest mistake I have ever made!


As soon as I left the dealer the great expectations I had about it came right through the floor. Yes it is really smooth on rough and uneven surfaces but at the expense at enormous loss in sportines.

It is extremely floaty and bouncy with great levels of head tossing when you go through bumps or ondulates surfaces, especially when driven in the city at low speeds. I’ve never driven a car so floaty in my live. It was a shock too me considering the great expectations i had. My F15 had a much more sporty ride, even my previous E70 did.

To resume, if I had to order again I would go with the adaptive M without blinking.

[SHAWN 212]

Originally Posted by Ringo2712

I have a 40i Msport with 22º wheels with air suspeension. I come from and F15 with 20” wheels.

Since I was ordering my car with the 22’s I de ided to go with the air suspension to smooth out the ride. My decision was mostly due to all the wonderfull reviews I read about the air suspension, about how smooth it was without being too soft or floaty and becoming really firm and sporty on sport or sport plus mode. Given that, I never cared to test drive one with IAS. Biggest mistake I have ever made!


As soon as I left the dealer the great expectations I had about it came right through the floor. Yes it is really smooth on rough and uneven surfaces but at the expense at enormous loss in sportines.

It is extremely floaty and bouncy with great levels of head tossing when you go through bumps or ondulates surfaces, especially when driven in the city at low speeds. I’ve never driven a car so floaty in my live. It was a shock too me considering the great expectations i had. My F15 had a much more sporty ride, even my previous E70 did.

To resume, if I had to order again I would go with the adaptive M without blinking.

This is making me regret not test driving the air suspension myself. I hope I'm not as disappointed as you are.

[Abegweit]

Originally Posted by SHAWN 212

This is making me regret not test driving the air suspension myself. I hope I'm not as disappointed as you are.

This is all a matter of personal opinion, obviously, but I don't agree at all with that last description. Yes, the air will be softer than steel springs, but these descriptions of it being overly floaty and bouncy just don't align with my experience, and I drove at least 3 different cars with air. I will say that it felt noticeably better (to me) on 21 (RFTs) than it did on 20s. With 22s I expect that you'll be happy as long as you're not expecting it to handle like an M2.

[Kotkot]

I have air and ais with 20inch. Yeah.. it’s not my M4, but in sport plus mode it’s just fine. My kid is motion sickness prone and I heard no complains from him even in comfort mode. I don’t think car is floaty at all. It’s just smoother.

Benefit of air, for me, outweights very minor loss in handling comparing to adaptive M. I am not even considering larger rims.

[SHAWN 212]

Originally Posted by Kotkot

I have air and ais with 20inch. Yeah.. it's not my M4, but in sport plus mode it's just fine. My kid is motion sickness prone and I heard no complains from him even in comfort mode. I don't think car is floaty at all. It's just smoother.

Benefit of air, for me, outweights very minor loss in handling comparing to adaptive M. I am not even considering larger rims.

When you select sport mode and shut off the X5. When you restart does it stay in sport mode?

[Kotkot]

Originally Posted by SHAWN 212

When you select sport mode and shut off the X5. When you restart does it stay in sport mode?

No. It defaults to comfort

[aspiring335]

I have a 40i with air and the 21" M-sport wheels with Pirelli P Zero. In the beginning I was happy with the comfort (and initially was driving on my 20" winter wheels). However, now that I'm about 4,000 km into driving the car, I really don't like the driving experience. It's hard to articulate, but it feels like the car is perched on stilts and somewhat unstable rather than tied down to the road. In Sport, yes the throttle sharpens and the suspension firms up a bit, but with the result that the ride is jiggly and not composed. Part of the issue must be the terrible roads in Toronto, but overall something just feels "off" about the ride / handling balance.

[davramic]

Originally Posted by aspiring335

I have a 40i with air and the 21" M-sport wheels with Pirelli P Zero. In the beginning I was happy with the comfort (and initially was driving on my 20" winter wheels). However, now that I'm about 4,000 km into driving the car, I really don't like the driving experience. It's hard to articulate, but it feels like the car is perched on stilts and somewhat unstable rather than tied down to the road. In Sport, yes the throttle sharpens and the suspension firms up a bit, but with the result that the ride is jiggly and not composed. Part of the issue must be the terrible roads in Toronto, but overall something just feels "off" about the ride / handling balance.

I've seen a bit of the stilts experience and that is a good articulation of it. I do feel this goes away entirely in the sport mode vs. driving in the adaptive mode and not noticeable at all in sport plus.

[Millennium68]

Originally Posted by Ringo2712

I have a 40i Msport with 22º wheels with air suspeension. I come from and F15 with 20” wheels.

Since I was ordering my car with the 22’s I de ided to go with the air suspension to smooth out the ride. My decision was mostly due to all the wonderfull reviews I read about the air suspension, about how smooth it was without being too soft or floaty and becoming really firm and sporty on sport or sport plus mode. Given that, I never cared to test drive one with IAS. Biggest mistake I have ever made!


As soon as I left the dealer the great expectations I had about it came right through the floor. Yes it is really smooth on rough and uneven surfaces but at the expense at enormous loss in sportines.

It is extremely floaty and bouncy with great levels of head tossing when you go through bumps or ondulates surfaces, especially when driven in the city at low speeds. I’ve never driven a car so floaty in my live. It was a shock too me considering the great expectations i had. My F15 had a much more sporty ride, even my previous E70 did.

To resume, if I had to order again I would go with the adaptive M without blinking.

I do not have air-suspension on my 40I with 20" tires. And I am completely agree with you - it is much less sporty ride than on F15 - almost Lexus ride. As result, I almost always ride in Sport mode to remove some of the floatiness.

[energyyzer]

Confused with option "S2VWA M sports suspension Professional" - it seems most expensive suspension option for X5, but is it comfortable/adaptive and how it feels on bad road, there is no option to raise lower car with it manually.

[Thumbs]

Originally Posted by Millennium68

I do not have air-suspension on my 40I with 20" tires. And I am completely agree with you - it is much less sporty ride than on F15 - almost Lexus ride. As result, I almost always ride in Sport mode to remove some of the floatiness.

Comparisons are helpful, thanks. Which F15 model and suspension, wheel size were you in?

[anuj452]

Had a chance to drive a loaner G05 (without air suspension) for few days as my G05 (with air suspension) went in for service

With Air suspension the ride is too floaty and has a significant amount of body roll. It does has a smooth ride but you loose the BMW handling and sportiness.

As I moved from F10 to G05, I thought its a bigger SUV which rides high so I will loose some sportiness handling. However I was amazed that the loaner G05 without air suspension handles so well. The ride was also very comfortable over all.

While air suspension allows to adjust the height of the car, this feature is never used as it always defaults to normal level in usually city driving. Even if I lower the car it just returns to the normal level. I don't see the point of even having this feature.

For folks looking to buy with air suspension, i strongly suggest test drive both cars with and without air suspension and try some sharp cornering, you'll be able to make a decision for yourself.

For folks who need 7 seater option (like the one I have), there is no choice as air suspension comes standard with 3rd row seat.

EDIT : I noted that if I lower the car by just 1 level (instead of 2) it stays at that level for normal city/highway driving and the car handles much better. If I lower it down by 2 levels it returns back to normal unless you are going over some minimum speed