While the S and R versions of the F-Type come with standard Adaptive Dampening the base models do not. My question is: does the Adaptive Dampening make for a smoother/softer ride or is it primarily effective for performance driving situations?

 

That's a very good question, and I don't know the answer. I can say the base ride is VERY firm, but I like it that way.

 

Primarily effective for spirited driving. I've driven all 3 cars and I feel the adaptive suspension dampens road imperfections a lot better than the base car at the cost of the cars being much stiffer. If I had to pick, I'd go with the adaptive suspension.

 

+1

Side note to check the wheel size you're driving as well.

 

Base car is much firmer and more "bouncy" than the adaptive suspended cars...there are times that annoys me.

 

On the test drive, the low speed ride of the adaptive damper-equipped car was noticeably better than that of the car with conventional dampers, despite the former running bigger wheels (20" vs. 19").

I bought the base model as other marques charge less than £2000 for adaptive ride, so the £10,000 extra cost of the S is just taking the ****.

After a year of ownership (and fitting 20" wheels), I feel certain Jaguar's engineers can do a better job with the high and low speed damping of the conventional dampers, but are unlikely to be given the job as Marketing will want to protect their Pricing Strategy.

It feels a little under damped, and over-sprung. More low speed damping, keep the high speed damping the same, and maybe a little less Spring Rate. Balance seems good though...

 

Couldn't agree more. Hopefully there will be some aftermarket struts available soon.

 

I'm not sure I agree. Small, square bumps upset the car a little, mostly in the rear, but the larger, rounded bumps are absorbed with little drama. That leads me to think less high-speed compression damping in the rear would be good.


The "bumps" that give me trouble would probably be handled better with more sidewall, but I'll have to give this some thought. Perhaps a little more rebound damping in the front?

Until I get dampers that are at least 4-way adjustable I doubt I'll see much improvement. I'm not really complaining, but since it's been brought up ...

 

My experience conflicts with your extra sidewall theory. I had 18" tires on my base car when I bought it and switched after 2K miles to 20" wheels and tires. I think it's much more settled on the 20s, so extra sidewall didn't help in my view, at least on the available OEM F-Type tire sizes.

 

You may have something there with the rear damping - I managed to spin up the wheels on damp Tarmac yesterday driving across a slight bump and change in the road surface (diagonal trench cut by Utility Company resurfaced with different grade Tarmac). Third gear too...

Sidewalls- maybe not. My car had the 18" Continentals fitted originally and seemed to need a couple of goes to absorb a sudden bump. The 20" Pirellis don't seem to suffer from this.

The low speed damping still seems a bit low though, as undulating surfaces or camber changes in bends still seem to tie the body control in knots.

 

I have an S with adaptive dampers and 20" wheels. To be honest in my view there is not a massive difference between on and off, you can tell if you are thinking about it and switch between them, but if I didn't know which setting it was in I would be hard pressed to tell you just by feel.

 

+1. Exact same here.

 

I *suppose* (all other things being equal and I have no idea if they are) one could fit the 'S' struts to the base car and adjust the actuator by hand to set the firmness. Not a problem on the front, need access to the shock tower in the rear though.





How many settings do the adjustable struts have?

and is it worth it...?

 

This is another bottomless rabbit hole. I've explored this option. I've looked at the wiring diagrams; theres more to it than just bolting on the adaptive suspension up to the car. The module that controls the suspension gets data input from ABS module, ECU, ride height sensors, transmission and accelerometers.

 

I had assumed that the damping adjustment was not by an actuator, or with "settings" on the damper, but that they were magnetorheological. I've not seen anything stating it one way or another (that I remember) but that's what I've been thinking.

 

No, I don't think so. Everyone using that technology which was pioneered by GM and first appeared on Corvettes advertises it. That tech is magnificent. If JLR had incorporated it, it would be all over their marketing material.

 

Didn't it first appear in Cadillac? And do all the licensees (like Ferrari) want to advertise "Cadillac Technology!"?

EDIT: I looked it up, and it seems Delphi originally developed it, and JLR is not listed, at least on Wikipedia, as a user of the system.

 

No, Corvettes came first starting with the C6, then Cadillac. To be more precise, it was originally developed by Delphi, which was a division of GM before they reorganized after the 2007-8 financial collapse. Ferrari does advertise the technology, but Ferrari being Ferrari, they don't have to mention where it came from. It's also used in Audi R8s and Lamborghini.

 

The Wikipedia page where I looked this up mentions more vehicles than just those, but doesn't alter the fact that I thought that the F-Type used that technology. Perhaps that explains why I don't notice a lot of difference one way or the other.

 

First available on the C5 Corvette, in 2003.