Don
My 7 has dynamic drive and it does keep the car absolutely flat in corners. No matter how I swing the wheel around there is no body roll.
Active suspension roadcars; anyone ever driven one?
- Thread starter Hxc
- Start date
Soldato
It's hardly a comprehensive list. The Alfa 155 is missing, and I'm fairly sure granddad's Daimler double six had it. The Mitsubishi galant certainly wasn't the 1st, maybe the 1st electronically controlled active system.
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Does it absolutely hammer tyres then? As the Soarer/Xantia's ARB-less systems tend to be rather harsh on rubber, from what I read.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Can we all please agree that the list is stupid? Those cars are not "Active" in this sense. Electronically controlled "conventional" dampers (which it seems like 99% of those listed cars have) is not remotely impressive in the terms of the Soarer and Xantia
The Xantia and Soarer had computer controlled hydropneumatic suspension as opposed to air or conventional dampened cars.
This is supposed to be a pretty good article, but I've never gotten around to finishing it!
http://planetsoarer.com/UZZ32/uzz32.html
That's my point, hence I quoted Lopez's response to Gex's post. I was saying I've no idea why he posted that list. I was posting ot say wtf has he posted that list, what purpose does it serve.
I can only think it was a case of him trying to be clever showing us all that 'loads' of cars have active systems, when they clearly don't
Soldato
[TW]Fox;17738380 said:The UK Activa came with a 150bhp 2.0 8v turbo engine.
Pathetic
It's a fairly decent engine, economy aside obviously. And 200bhp isn't hard to achieve cheaply.
Associate
Does the ABC on Mercs not count? I believe that's got sensors that constantly try to keep the car level.
This is supposed to be a pretty good article, but I've never gotten around to finishing it!
http://planetsoarer.com/UZZ32/uzz32.html
Impressive!
Caporegime
[TW]Fox;17738033 said:
it appears to contain cars with Active Dampers as well (ie the Opel / Vauxhall IDS+ system)
not just active suspension.
Thought I'd update this now that I've just gotten back from a kind Active suspensed Soarer owner letting me take a spin in his.
Wow. Seriously. Just Wow. Everything you've heard about zero body roll (even at 30MPH on a tight roundabout!), no squatting on acceleration, diving on braking and exceptional ride quality is true. Granted I wasn't exactly caining it, neither was I on country lanes giving it some, but I was travelling along the same pothole ridden roads of South London that I do in my conventionally sprung Soarer and the difference really is night and day.
I was going over speed humps at 25MPH and bearly registering that they were there - I mean you'll feel yourself going up and then going back down, and that's it.
I will say the weight difference is noticeable. For example My car has exactly the same brakes as an Active Soarer but a is obviously a hundred KG or so lighter - The brakes felt a million times sharper when I got back into my car, almost certainly because I wasn't stopping so much more bulk.
I know I must sound like a bit of a Fanboy right now but please believe me that it is a SERIOUSLY good piece of kit. I'd go as far to say that the ride is more comfortable than even the very latest modern air suspension systems. It is a real shame that this technology hasn't been further developed.
Wow. Seriously. Just Wow. Everything you've heard about zero body roll (even at 30MPH on a tight roundabout!), no squatting on acceleration, diving on braking and exceptional ride quality is true. Granted I wasn't exactly caining it, neither was I on country lanes giving it some, but I was travelling along the same pothole ridden roads of South London that I do in my conventionally sprung Soarer and the difference really is night and day.
I was going over speed humps at 25MPH and bearly registering that they were there - I mean you'll feel yourself going up and then going back down, and that's it.
I will say the weight difference is noticeable. For example My car has exactly the same brakes as an Active Soarer but a is obviously a hundred KG or so lighter - The brakes felt a million times sharper when I got back into my car, almost certainly because I wasn't stopping so much more bulk.
I know I must sound like a bit of a Fanboy right now but please believe me that it is a SERIOUSLY good piece of kit. I'd go as far to say that the ride is more comfortable than even the very latest modern air suspension systems. It is a real shame that this technology hasn't been further developed
.
Soldato
Given the fact that up until last year Bentley were still messing around with the somewhat flawed Citroen hydropneumatic system it's fair to say that we aren't exactly the front runners in suspension technology.
What was flawed with the Citroen hydropneumatic system?
Added complexity for (what I consider to be) little benefit.
Soldato
Cheers, I am tempted to get one of those Xantia's if only to see what the fuss is about, but I have no idea how the suspension works so I think I may see how expensive they are to fix before buying one...
Soldato
Only because Bentley put in a botched, horrible version of it. If Bentley had designed and built it properly, their hydropneumatic suspension would be just as good as the Citroen setup. But noooo, Crewe's idea of "good enough, that'll do" had to get in the way didn't it?
Cheers, I am tempted to get one of those Xantia's if only to see what the fuss is about, but I have no idea how the suspension works so I think I may see how expensive they are to fix before buying one...
Sorry, I thought you were asking about the 'conventional' Citroen style system without the function of an onboard computer adjusting dampening and ride height. I don't know much about the Xantia Activa system but I imagine that it'd be brilliant too as it is a proper active system.
Not sure what the costs are like on the Xantias, but I've heard figures of around £2,500 - £3,000 to rebuild the suspension on a Soarer, and that's on a car that is typically worth around £1,500 - £2,000 unless in expectational condition
. Limited parts supply and even more limited knowledge of the system is the problem.I am incredibility impressed though. I still need to drive a XJ8 and have a bit of a think before making any decisions, but I really do think I'm going to end up getting one as my daily
.Only because Bentley put in a botched, horrible version of it. If Bentley had designed and built it properly, their hydropneumatic suspension would be just as good as the Citroen setup. But noooo, Crewe's idea of "good enough, that'll do" had to get in the way didn't it?
I didn't know that the Citroen setup differed that much from the Bentley/Rolls system? Although now that I think about it maybe it makes sense as we still used springs and dampers while I imagine the Citroens used entirely on spheres?
Soldato
Magneride is a pretty cool geek tech - it uses a 'magnetorheological' fluid - where the viscosity of the suspension fluid can be changed by applying a magnetic field (i.e. an electromagnet) to allow changes to the suspension characteristics.
