Quote:
Originally Posted by Yobyot
That is, "all the time" until you have to replace the fantastically expensive, OEM-sourced-only electronic shocks, sensors and other suspension detritus that northeastern winters eat for breakfast.
My wife's 30i exists because the adaptive suspension on her 2012 Volvo XC60 was eaten away by 60K miles (five Boston winters). Cost to replace? $6K. I took that and bought her a nice, but sober, 30i (ZDA, ZDB, ZPP, and more) without the shockingly expensive adaptive suspension.
Using the same logic, I passed on the adaptive suspension and, because I don't autocross SUVs, the LSD on my to-be-built-in-two-weeks M40i. Saved enough to keep the MSRP with other options to just over $65K.
Sure, it's gotta be nice. But considering that every revolution of the wheel is force-injecting salt brine into the suspension for nine months of the year, it's a pass.
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Well, it's worse than you think because the expensive stuff you're afraid of is on your car whether you order the adaptive option or not.
If your BMW has adjustable shocks that change damping between comfort, sport, sport+ modes then you already have that complexity and that is the big replacement cost down the road. All adaptive adds on top of that are some sensors to make it a reactive system that varies the damping in realtime based on road and driving conditions. It's essentially varying between comfort and sport+ for you.
Adaptive is a $700 option on a new vehicle. We don't know what the basic adjustable damping suspension system is worth in terms of MSRP, but that is where the big $$ replacement cost will be down the road, and you will get hit with that whether or not you spent a little extra for adaptive.
The longest I have kept a BMW with adaptive suspension was 7 years, and no problems in that time, including driving on salted roads all winter. Of course that was a Z4 and I did not take it out in the snow, just the aftermath.