Hi friends, been a while! I've been keeping my eye out, but due to the weather up here in the Great Lakes, no test driving nor buying has been happening this winter.

I thought I had settled on an R, but a thought occurred to me, and no amount of google-fu has been able to tell me much except that the ride height on the R is some portion of an inch lower.

Does anyone know if, on the earlier/pre-facelift cars, what kind of differences, if any, the suspension had between the S and R coupes? Some say that the S is softer, and the R is harder (ignoring dynamic mode etc). I guess I don't need like spring rate or damping numbers etc (although I wouldn't turn them down), but does anyone know for a fact if there were any objective differences?

One thing I'm definitely not looking for is a punishing ride (although my modified STI was fine fwiw), so I've been second-guessing on if I want an S or R, since this will 80-90% be a GT cruising car rather than something I track or try to eat Mustangs with for whatever reason.

 

I have an early R (2015 RWD) and it is totally fine. Mine is even on H&R lowering springs and it is fine. Is it a cushy sofa? Nope. Does it have thst magical sport ride a Lotus Evora has. Nope, it is a 4000lb car with heavy rims and brakes. It has a sporting firm ride that rides better at highway speeds vs. navigating potholes around town. I have driven a V6 before, been a while but don't recall any major differences in ride. Best is to test drive one, but I get it, I am in CT and it is all ice and salt on the roads

 

This is off the top of my head from when purchasing 10 years ago so may be wrong, but I think the R had dynamic adjustable (magnetorheological) and the S did not.

 

I think there are variations - I believe the S and the R both had the 'adaptive' suspension (or at least an option on the S). Could be wrong though. They aren't mag-ride either, they are normal dampers with adjustable valving driven by a computer and sensors on the chassis. Not a whole lot of difference on mine between the two settings honestly, and since I've gone to lowering springs with different rates, the dynamic/sport suspension setting rides better

 

Yes, the dynamic adjustment is in the valving, not magenetorheological. I suppose that's in the valve too, but different

I don't remember any difference between RWD S and R other than springs, to work with the different weight power plants. I think that all S had "adaptive" suspension but that "configurable dynamics" was the option. It was almost 11 years ago that I filled out the spec sheet for mine, so my memory is a little fuzzy on those details. I knew what I wanted and dismissed what I didn't.