Not so much Sport more Grand Tourer

Jimbo1959

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Tonight, I unfortunately, had reason to take my E350 CDi Sport by the scruff of the neck and push it quite hard. In preparation, I set the suspension to 'S' instead of the usual Comfort setting . I was very surprised by how quickly it got outside its boundaries, bouncing and pogoing all over the road.

I was not overly impressed, hence the reason for deciding she's more of a Grand Tourer than a Sport. On a straight or good quality 'A' road it's short comings are not evident, it performs well as long as it's correctly set up for the corner being taken, which means basically, it would be a good idea if one knows the corner well or suffer the consequences when trying to make progress.

I had little option but to push it beyond its limits this evening and only having experienced and explored advanced driving techniques and a skid pan course enabled me to keep it on the black top. This was accompanied by the warning lights on the dashboard lighting up like a Christmas tree, I didn't have time to see what they all were due to being a little busy at the time but I was aware that they were on. Hopefully the necessity will not arise again.

This brings me to the question, is there a suspension conversion kit which might make the car handle better available? I am willing to accept the trade off, of a slight deficit in ride comfort to be happier close to the limit with the handling.

I'm sure I saw an episode of "Wheeler Dealers" where ED China did a McPherson Strut conversion on the multi adjustable standard suspension kit on a Merc unfortunately I can't remember the model type, I just wondered if anyone else has seen this or perhaps done the conversion on their E350 CDi themselves?

Any help/information would be much appreciated.
 

Ricardo_e220

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As a Lotus owner who enjoys nothing more than grabbing it by the scruff of its neck and enjoying a countryside drive, I’ve come to realise that nothing comes close and I often end up with a similar dashboard disco unintentionally when pressing from my brand new bmw 5 series m sport, or Audi A4 sline which are supposed to have sports suspension....

As you say more GT ( the SLk also falls in that category too!)
 

Westheath

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Perhaps more "S" key practise is required on your behalf :)
 
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Jimbo1959

Jimbo1959

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Perhaps more "S" key practise is required on your behalf :)

My last car was an absolute go kart, one of the corners I did in the Merc tonight and it was a scare at 60mph I could easily take flat out, 85mph with no drift, no fight, no fear, turn in and gone!

Honest officer it was a private road!
 
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Jimbo1959

Jimbo1959

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As a Lotus owner who enjoys nothing more than grabbing it by the scruff of its neck and enjoying a countryside drive, I’ve come to realise that nothing comes close and I often end up with a similar dashboard disco unintentionally when pressing from my brand new bmw 5 series m sport, or Audi A4 sline which are supposed to have sports suspension....

As you say more GT ( the SLk also falls in that category too!)

I have always owned and driven cars that handle, first and foremost. Ok there has never been anything particularly special, Lotus, Porsche etc... but, I always researched and bought the best handling family car, hot hatch compromise I could afford. That way I could embarrass the owners of the cars I couldn't afford, particularly after taking almost every driving course available to make sure I had the skills to do so.

Trust me when I say that I've driven, advanced, skid pan, off road, single seaters (Formula Ford), stock cars and rally cars, I love driving, I've been told I'm quite good at it.
 
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Jimbo1959

Jimbo1959

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I've made my bed with the Merc and now I'll lie in it. ;) :D
 

dbanbery

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The best handling cars when driven in anger I’ve experienced have been a Volvo V50 sport (with 18s) and a Honda S2000. The latter was the best thing I’ve ever driven across the strines pass.


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JBell

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Set of H&R springs and thicker ARB's should help, maybe coilovers
 

LostKiwi

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The best handling cars when driven in anger I’ve experienced have been a Volvo V50 sport (with 18s) and a Honda S2000. The latter was the best thing I’ve ever driven across the strines pass.


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Honda S2000 was one of the most evil handling cars I've driven on a track. The back end was twitchy and very uncomfortable feeling (mine as well as the cars!).
 

dbanbery

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Honda S2000 was one of the most evil handling cars I've driven on a track. The back end was twitchy and very uncomfortable feeling (mine as well as the cars!).

We’ve been here before haven’t we mate? Lol

Tokyo proxes all round seemed to make it limitless tbh. And that vtec sound :)


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LostKiwi

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We’ve been here before haven’t we mate? Lol

Tokyo proxes all round seemed to make it limitless tbh. And that vtec sound :)

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We have!
The one I drove was an early S2000 and apparently they improved the rear suspension on later ones. The sound is addictive...
 

malcolm E53 AMG

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Jim you summed the car up with the comment ‘Grand Tourer’ that is what they are, the ‘real AMG’ will give you the sharper handling you mention, a lot of MB owners have a ‘go cart’ as a second car. As J Bell there are suspension upgrades but you won’t get away from the fact that the car weighs too much to handle really well
 

Rotorhead500

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I had one of the last S2000s - fantastic little car, but was a bit lively in the wet! (Read: tail-happy!) Great fun though.

What year is your car Jimbo? I didn't think the E350 Coupé had adjustable suspension...???
 

dbanbery

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We have!
The one I drove was an early S2000 and apparently they improved the rear suspension on later ones. The sound is addictive...

The one I drove was an early one too - however despite my praise my mate still stuffed it into a hedge on a straight road one greasy January morning.


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Craiglxviii

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This is clearly a case for ABC if ever there was one!!!
 
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Jimbo1959

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It doesn't Sport adjusts throttle response and holds it in gear longer

Ahh! that explains a lot, I was under the misapprehension that the suspension response was improved too. :(

Oh dear, looks like I'll just need to get used to the idea and accept my Grand Tourer, like I said "I've made my bed and now I'll need to lie in it".

Still, it's not such a bad place to be, if I can just convince Swmbo to let me buy my old car back or a cheaper mark 2, like my son has. I can have the best of both worlds.

Jeez, did anyone see that flying pig?

In other words, no chance mate, she was on her limit to let me get the Coupe. :D

Modding/upgrading the springs and A/R/Bar looks like my only option, however, the benefits may be outweighed by the cost. I'd better start making some enquiries.
 
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Jimbo1959

Jimbo1959

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This is clearly a case for ABC if ever there was one!!!

ABC??? I presume something fitted to one of the sportier models I haven't gotten around to reading about yet.
 
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Jimbo1959

Jimbo1959

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I had one of the last S2000s - fantastic little car, but was a bit lively in the wet! (Read: tail-happy!) Great fun though.

What year is your car Jimbo? I didn't think the E350 Coupé had adjustable suspension...???

It's a '59 plate and I've since had it confirmed that you are right, it does not.
 

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ABC??? I presume something fitted to one of the sportier models I haven't gotten around to reading about yet.
Active Body Control.
Also known as Another Barsteward Cost.
Very clever hydraulic suspension system loosely based on the Citroen system but with electronic control. At over £500 per strut (£1500 for ECP ones) and over £1000 for the pump it's not cheap to maintain but does an amazing job of sorting body control (and Sport mode stiffens it further).
 


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