items wanted

[Taka Mizutani]

In terms of punishing ride on broken pavement, it also could be a case of
way overdamped shock valving- my STi is overdamped for the spring rate
(hence the ride improvement when switching to stiffer JDM spec pinks).

Suspension tuning is quite a complex art- that's why so few cars get it
right.

BTW, a lot of sport package BMWs that I've driven really nail the
ride/handling
combination. I loved the way the E39 M5 handles bumps while still being
pretty
sporty.

Some of the adaptive air suspensions (MBZ Airmatic for one) work really well
in
this regard- I've driven the current chassis E500 and it really does well in
giving
a smooth ride while still avoiding the "Buick-type" floaty yacht-like
feeling. And when
you want to firm it up to BMW sport settings, you can do that as well.

Audi's air suspensions that I've driven do not accomplish this very well- I
don't know
about the Q7, but the A8 and A6 do not have that much adjustment range. They
still
roll, squat and dive way too much even in "dynamic" mode.

Taka