Curious how you guys feel about air suspension? I was recently given a panamera loaner with air suspension and it seemed to be pretty versatile. Relatively comfortable in the normal setting, and then progressively getting much sharper in the sport+ setting. Any of you compare a PASM equipped car with and without air suspension? I'm guessing the steel springs are more reliable long term, any thoughts on that? Any reason one of you ordered a car explicitely without air suspension, reasons? Any thoughts/insights on pros/cons of air suspension over steel springs appreciated.

Also as an aside, while this car is not the most photogenic one out there, in person looks really sharp. I liked it much more than I expected.

Thanks.

 

Mercedes never got it right, hopefully the system on the Pan is more robust, although I have already seen several reports of failures.

 

I would be interested in the basis of these air suspension failures, during normal usage or performance driving and at what accumulated mileage did this happen.

 

The fact that there are *any* reported failures at this early stage is all you need to know. How many steel spring failures have you seen reported?

 

The Mercedes suspensions I have had are expensive to maintain in general, but it does work great as far as adjusting to driving conditions, and styles......etc...!

Their Active Body Control system on their more expensive models accounts for micro adjustments to keep the car flat through turns at higher speeds, etc....hydraulic system.....

Only issue is cost of new OEM struts on the ABC systems when they leak after time, but there are aftermarket parts now that have lifetime guarantees at half price....i.e. Arnott Industries....just put one on around 50 k miles......

Their air suspension systems require less maintenance and seem comparable to other luxury/sport brands......probably the same German manufacturer makes all this stuff for all German makes/others...

 

Thanks all for the feedback!

 

Don't tell me what I need to know, my question addressed the conditions that led to failures. If you don't know then so far as I'm concerned this "information" is urban legend.

Coincidentally, I've had a torsion bar suspension failure on one of my cars after 24,000 miles of usage so I know that it can happen on metal suspensions.