[ttimbo]

I've now done more than 1,000km in the car since it was picked up a week ago, and two areas stand out to me: ride and road noise. Both are significantly LESS than I experienced during extended test drives last October and November in three different demo cars, and if what I have is what the various magazine testers were complaining last year, then they're very fussy!

I'm speculating BMW heard some of that criticism, and has responded with component changes, especially in terms of suspension bushes, spring rates and damping. The ride in my car is very good, as good as anything I've owned...and over the last week it has been driven over some pretty poor roads including unsealed. The only circumstance where it is caught out is with a sharp bump perpendicular to the direction or travel, where bother from wheels hit at once (eg, viscous speed bump). That causes a bit of a crash.

Tyre noise is also very acceptable. Now, I deliberately downsized to 18" wheels, and the car has come with Pirelli P7 RFTs, but this is much better than I recalled. Australian roads have a lot of coarse chip surfaces, that are notoriously noisy; they are on the X1, too....but nothing out of the ordinary. Unlike the demonstrators we drove.

I dunno...maybe it's the placebo of handing over your hard-earned and becoming determined to love the one you're with, but I'm too old to be that starry eyed....besides, even my wife agrees on this!

I'll ask my dealer, but I suspect they'll be ignorant of any changes.

[washy]

I have to be honest ours is a lot better than I thought it might be on 19's with run flats. It is noisy on some surfaces, but no worse thn my 2 series really.

[hanizh]

Well, I'm glad to hear that lately I became very worried of those concerns and it is killing before taking the delivery of my X1

[DHS]

1,000,000 miles in one week. That must be a record.

[B+W]

Originally Posted by DHS

1,000,000 miles in one week. That must be a record.

1000 km = 621 miles

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by DHS

1,000,000 miles in one week. That must be a record.

I get it

Come on he missed an 'm'

[bmtespar]

The X1 is one of the quietest BMW's I have ever owned or driven and that includes a new 5 series I drove for a week on a 600 mile trip. BMW did a great job with wind and road noise suppression on the X1

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by bmtespar

The X1 is one of the quietest BMW's I have ever owned or driven and that includes a new 5 series I drove for a week on a 600 mile trip. BMW did a great job with wind and road noise suppression on the X1

What suspension and wheel setup do you have?

[ttimbo]

Originally Posted by bmtespar

The X1 is one of the quietest BMW's I have ever owned or driven and that includes a new 5 series I drove for a week on a 600 mile trip. BMW did a great job with wind and road noise suppression on the X1

I really think the brand of (RFT) tyres fitted, as well as the rim size, makes a big difference

[PF1]

Hi ttimbo, I was thinking about what you said about the production improvements. I'm wondering if maybe, just maybe, this has something to do with the adaptive dampers DDC that you have fitted vs the standard setup on the demo cars that most of us drove initially. I know we figured technically the DDC probably wouldn't make any difference in Comfort mode but maybe somehow it does? Of course 18" wheels helps too.

Question to the people who are pleasantly surprised by their car's ride, do you have DDC fitted?

[bmtespar]

Originally Posted by The Beast

What suspension and wheel setup do you have?

In the U.S., we only get m suspension. No standard suspension or adjustable dampers. My tires are 18's.

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by bmtespar

In the U.S., we only get m suspension. No standard suspension or adjustable dampers. My tires are 18's.

Interesting I've gone 19" with DDC on an M Sport model

So I'm figuring the ride should be a vast improvement over my wife's current car which has an AMG suspension set up that is very harsh...

[ttimbo]

Originally Posted by mynewx1

Hi ttimbo, I was thinking about what you said about the production improvements. I'm wondering if maybe, just maybe, this has something to do with the adaptive dampers DDC that you have fitted vs the standard setup on the demo cars that most of us drove initially. I know we figured technically the DDC probably wouldn't make any difference in Comfort mode but maybe somehow it does? Of course 18" wheels helps too.

Question to the people who are pleasantly surprised by their car's ride, do you have DDC fitted?

Good point, although I can assure you the ride is certainly firm when the Sport setting is selected with DDC. It might be interesting to compare suspension part numbers using RealOem.com's listing to see (a) the differences in components between markets and (b) component changes over time

[ttimbo]

Originally Posted by The Beast

Interesting I've gone 19" with DDC on an M Sport model

So I'm figuring the ride should be a vast improvement over my wife's current car which has an AMG suspension set up that is very harsh...

My hunch is if you get the car and it is fitted with Bridgestone RFTs, it will be quite...er...firm!

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by ttimbo

My hunch is if you get the car and it is fitted with Bridgestone RFTs, it will be quite...er...firm!

I like firm as I've been running cars with oversized wheels since I was 20, my MK2 Golf had 18" wheels on it back then. Had to cut the rear wheel arches out and fold in the fronts to get them to vaguely fit! My F10 has 20" wheels with RFT's and I'm happy with that, although it is firm.

What I don't want is a crashy ride like our A Class

[ttimbo]

Originally Posted by The Beast

I like firm as I've been running cars with oversized wheels since I was 20, my MK2 Golf had 18" wheels on it back then. Had to cut the rear wheel arches out and fold in the fronts to get them to vaguely fit! My F10 has 20" wheels with RFT's and I'm happy with that, although it is firm.

What I don't want is a crashy ride like our A Class

Ultimately, only you will be able to judge how the ride/handling meets your expectations. I found the ride/road noise of the test drive cars acceptable from my perspective (hence I went ahead and ordered). But what I received is significantly better...which is a good thing

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by ttimbo

Ultimately, only you will be able to judge how the ride/handling meets your expectations. I found the ride/road noise of the test drive cars acceptable from my perspective (hence I went ahead and ordered). But what I received is significantly better...which is a good thing

[davidkn]

Originally Posted by The Beast

I like firm as I've been running cars with oversized wheels since I was 20, my MK2 Golf had 18" wheels on it back then. Had to cut the rear wheel arches out and fold in the fronts to get them to vaguely fit! My F10 has 20" wheels with RFT's and I'm happy with that, although it is firm.

What I don't want is a crashy ride like our A Class

I've had some cars with hard suspension, but they've always been very well dampened, the dampers make a massive difference, even to very hard suspension setups.

I had a 2013 SLK55 AMG, proper AMG suspension but was no means anywhere near crashy, was a very good ride. Same with the renaultsports with cup suspension I've owned, decent dampers.

My current car is a 2016 Porsche Boxster GTS, pretty much set up for the track, it's not crashy, although I did test a car with 20mm lowered fixed sports suspension, this was definitely a crashy suspension, but that's yo expected, and was why I didn't order it that way, I went with PASM (Porsche active suspension management, pretty similar to the X1s dynamic dampers.

Obviously a combination of large wheels, low profile tyres and run flats is never a good combination, especially with stiff suspension, but I'm betting the dynamic dampers make a big difference, which is why I ordered them.

As people have said, the tyre you get will also make a small difference too.

Some of the worst cars I've been in for hard suspension with poor damping were Vauxhalls sport models.

I'm not expecting mine to be at all crashy though.

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by davidkn

I've had some cars with hard suspension, but they've always been very well dampened, the dampers make a massive difference, even to very hard suspension setups.

I had a 2013 SLK55 AMG, proper AMG suspension but was no means anywhere near crashy, was a very good ride. Same with the renaultsports with cup suspension I've owned, decent dampers.

My current car is a 2016 Porsche Boxster GTS, pretty much set up for the track, it's not crashy, although I did test a car with 20mm lowered fixed sports suspension, this was definitely a crashy suspension, but that's yo expected, and was why I didn't order it that way, I went with PASM (Porsche active suspension management, pretty similar to the X1s dynamic dampers.

Obviously a combination of large wheels, low profile tyres and run flats is never a good combination, especially with stiff suspension, but I'm betting the dynamic dampers make a big difference, which is why I ordered them.

As people have said, the tyre you get will also make a small difference too.

Some of the worst cars I've been in for hard suspension with poor damping were Vauxhalls sport models.

I'm not expecting mine to be at all crashy though.

I think part of the problem with the current A Class is the interior quality, whilst it looks good (bar the cheap iPad imitation stuck to the dash) there are way too many rattles form it. This amplifies the firm suspension set up imo, my F10 is firm but does not rattle and creak over the same surfaces, it's more of a solid thud (if that makes sense!)

[ttimbo]

Just a reminder that the DDC only gives you the option of *firmer* damping in Sport over the standard damping in Comfort (ie, there isn't a 'softer' damping setting, in case anyone thinks this). Hence, I'd speculate many people will find that the firmer Sport setting option in combination with 19" RFTs (especially Bridgestones) quite hard to the point of crashy. Justsayin'

[M-Nick]

I've got 19" with Bridgestone RFTs and DDC on my M Sport,
and the ride is awesome .
Very comfortable in Eco and Comfort mode and firm and fun in sport mode.

BUT the Bridgestone RFTs are quite noisy on roads that are not perfect.
I really wish they were a bit quieter.....

[AC in Aus]

Msport (RFT & DDC) running 19" Dunlops - surprisingly quiet. I say surprisingly as I recent swapped my e90 msport Pirelli RFTs to super quiet, soft non run flats and was stunned at the smoother ride quality (and silence). The X1 rides just as smoothly and almost as quietly on the Dunlops with less than 200km on the clock. I assume the RFTs will continue to soften just a little more as they are "broken in" too. With the Aussie press reviews being less than favourable in October last year, I was considering swapping out the X1 tyres to non RFTs. We'll happily stick with the Dunlops now.