Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc5513
Hey guys,
Bear w me here. I’ve just finished my first lease on my first BMW...actually ended last week...and trying to decide if I buy this car or order a new 2019. I spent a few hrs reading reviews and forum posts, and have sat w my dealer rep and gone through process of building a new one. Important to add: this BMW I just had for 3yrs was my first new car in 12yrs. My prior vehicle was a 2004 XC90...so the whole new car/lease/bmw was a big deal.
A few questions for the more experienced...and if you get a feel for what im going through from personal experience, please chime in:
Do we think the redesigned X5 will have improved drive characteristics that would negate the benefits of the DHP? I added that to my 2016 build. It was a $4.5k priority 1 addition. I think the car drives great, but how would I know any difference since I have had no long term drive time without it. I’m just wondering what we might expect with the G05.
Is adding the air suspension to a 40i going to add any aspects of a “DHP” ride?
It looks like a lot of changes in the 2019 from the 2016....an entirely new vehicle. My residual on the 2016 is 58%, so my payoff is @40k usd. I have debated whether to buy this one vs. order the new one. I’m leaning heavily towards ordering the G05 for a 3yr lease.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
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I think we'll have to wait for actual test drives of the G05 by those of us (like you and I) who have the DHP on our F15s. My own personal experience was that the F15 with the base suspension was complete garbage. it was too soft, too floaty, too much head toss, etc. It was not a proper BMW. I was fortunate to drive a 50i that had the DHP, and to me it was a night/day difference with the base suspension. Much flatter cornering, and nice suspension damping in the sport and sport plus modes (the F15 has 3 different modes for the adaptive dampers, the new G05 only has 2 by the way). So I too ponied up the $4,500 for the DHP package on my '16 35i. I was not able to drive a 35i with just the 2VF adaptive damper option, so I can't comment on how much better than the base suspension the 2VF is. Perhaps others can share their opinions on that.
Frankly, I am not expecting the G05 with the base adaptive dampers to equal the overall excellent handling of a DHP equipped F15. The active roll stabilization is probably the most important thing to control sway/body motion on a high center of gravity vehicle like an X5. I'll reserve final judgement for when I finally get to drive a new G05 Msport 40i. If only I could spring for the 50i, I wouldn't have to worry about this, but alas my 50i build will be like $92,000 so I need to stick with the 40i, which will still be like a $78,000 build.
I'm keeping a close eye on the newly announced GLE450 with the magic body control system. That advanced air suspension is replacing the Curve control system (adjustable anti-roll bars) that MB has on the current gen. This could be a case where a comparable MB model actually handles better than its BMW counterpart (plus it looks like the new GLE will have noticeably more second row leg room and cargo *******. I don't think it looks as good and the interior is a matter of subjective taste, but in the end, how it drives is the most important factor for me.