[RaceCyborg]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

I found Slavia a bit softer than Rapid. Rapid was perfect balance between ride and handling. Altroz tips a little more towards handling than ride.

That is spot on!! I observed the exact same thing when I test drove most cars of this price segment before finally choosing the Altroz.

Haven't had the chance to drive the Slavia at the time, but the Rapid and Altroz were pretty close dynamics wise. But somehow I preferred the steering feel of the Altroz and it's response.

On a side note, I was a long time lurker in Team-BHP without applying for membership for years. Absolutely loved your ownership reports of all your cars and it played a huge role in me selecting the Altroz. I think I am kind of a fan .

[VikramCS]

Voted Balance.

I prefer a car with good balance of ride and handling. I'm not an enthusiastic driver and am more inclined towards comfort for long distance driving, but, a winding road or twisty section makes me little more keen around corners But, such instances are few and i'm fine with a balanced suspension overall.

[pnredkar]

As you can see from my signature, I own one of the rare cars that offers Dynamic Chassis Control - a 2019 Volkswagen Passat. In the initial days, I have played a lot with the settings - Comfort, Normal and Sports. I had observed that the tyre pressure played a significant role in the perceived ride quality. At 39 psi (which I maintained earlier), sports mode was not comfortable at all. I used to alternate between normal (driver only) and comfort (with passengers), but most days it was set on comfort. Now a days I maintain 36psi + Normal mode as default and generally don't have to change it. On really bad roads, I shift to Comfort mode; but on twisties handling is significantly affected. On single occupancy drives, now Sports mode is usable. But I will vote for medium (balance) as most usable mode.

On a side node, the Sports mode significantly weighs up the steering also which I don't enjoy. So I have set Individual mode to be like Sports except for the steering. I stay mostly in Normal, but occasionally shift to Comfort or Individual.

[Small Bot]

Voted for soft. Most of my driving is in the city or well-laid TN highways. So i don't really need a stiff suspension.

Also the recent storm water drainage construction has left most of the Chennai roads dug up and destroyed beyond recognition, so soft suspension serves me best while easing over them at 10-20 kmph. I don't want to count the pits on the road with my bottom.

[Karaboudjan]

I recently test drive the X1 and the Tiguan. Felt that the X1 is extremely stiff and Tiguan is softer of the two. I would prefer a balanced ride personally.
Felt a lot of sideways movements on the X1 on road undulations.
One question for the experienced folks, which suspension tune would be best suited for people who feel motion sick?

[Neversaygbye]

Considering that I own a car with a soft suspension (Beat), and another with a medium one (Vista) and have driven my friend's Sonet extensively, my vote will always be for medium. You get the best of both worlds. Acceptable ride quality (not plush) at low speed and planted ride and handling at high speeds. My second choice would be soft, considering the state of our city roads. However, the body roll is definitely a pain and is one of the weakest aspects of my Beat. I would never buy a car like the Sonet with it's firm ride - it is extremely uncomfortable for those sitting at the back especially on our cratered city roads.

[Malyaj]

I'll be honest. I am not good at judging suspensions, and if not for team-bhp reviews, I wouldn't even know while test driving if the suspension is off-medium, unless it is too soft or too bumpy. When we bought Seltos, I didn't consider the suspension at all, because during the test drive it felt comfortable over regular bumps. After 500 kms of driving it, I do not find it hard as people say, or maybe it's because I have never sat in what is considered a soft suspension.

[car-go]

I voted for medium.

Till now having driven/ driven in quite a few cars - Marutis, Jeep (current one I have), Hyundais, Tatas, and then in the US; Pontiac Grand AM, GMC Envoy, Honda Accord & Civic, Toyota Corolla, BMW X5, Merc R-class (don't remember the exact model), Mustang, et al - what I find is that, both firm suspension and soft one left me wanting on 'grass is greener on the other side' syndrome. So I love to settle for the medium (my erstwhile Maruti SX4 was a best of both the worlds, though a tad firmer that other similar sedans).

My current Jeep Compass is firm, but again so planted and smooth on highways (and for the reason that I bought it) for which I 'feel' it to be an exception

[revsperminute]

It depends on the car doesn’t it? I like the cushy air suspension on a Range Rover but equally love the firm taut setup on a Mini.

[BlackPearl]

It will depend on the car, I would like to have a firm suspension on a sporty car, medium on a SUV and soft on a limousine. The best option would be to have an adjustable suspension for different types of road if cost is not a problem

[lamborghini]

Medium to Firm for me!

Of the cars we have at home, 2 have the typical soft Japanese suspension, 1 is balanced, and 2 are on the firmer side. I have found I don't mind a little lumpy ride in the city, but need it to be flatter as the speeds build up as our road conditions are full of undulations - even the Mumbai-Pune expressway has several undulations, some are quite bad!

What makes it worse is the trend to go lower profile on the higher trims, so even these vehicles with soft suspensions often crash through potholes and the like because of the lower profile tyres; masking away the benefits of the softer suspension in the first place!

[anandhsub]

Havent really driven a variety of cars to comment on what I like, but I am somewhat surprised to see that all the examples for sporty suspensions are SUVs.

Is it that SUVs need to have a sporty suspension to compensate for the higher body roll?

[aadiaksh]

The preference I have for an ideal garage:

Soft suspension - for Monday to Saturday in city and occasional highway rides for office work. I drive an VW ameo on a daily basis and every once in a while, when I'm behind the wheels of Hyundai grand i10, it reminds me how the plush ride of i10 is miles ahead of the VW ameo. soft suspension for daily routine definitely.

Medium suspension - for the weekend drives on the highway. To be honest, this is a preference which I would want only over the weekends. Day to day driving on bad patches on medium suspension isn't something I look forward to.

Stiff suspension - no way I want a car with this. This suspension setup belongs on the track and not on the road.

Notable mention to merc eclass lwb. It has been great on the highways and in the city. Feels as if suspension is on the softer side but drives well on the highway as well.

[NiInJa]

Also depends a lot on where you drive for most of the time. I do a lot of coastal Maharashtra trips and the roads are far from better. Was a pain to drive the Linea back then on those roads, although the drive on highways was much fun. After switching to softer setup (though a little firm) of Ertiga, I have come to like it more at my age. I preferred the hard suspension when I was single

[fhdowntheline]

Amongst all my cars on Indian roads thus far, I found the suspension tune of the Linea to be the best for highway speeds. This is followed closely by the Polo TSI, although that car had a tendency to " bounce" over abrupt undulations just a wee bit because of its short wheelbase. This is followed by my current gen. Creta which is a decent setup tending towards firm. In contrast my Duster which was super comfy on bad roads, tended to be just a bit " floaty" at speeds above 100 kph, although not bouncy. This I feel is a result of its high ground clearance relative to its size. This is followed by the City ( bouncy at high speed, very agile for its size ), Dzire ( neutral) , Micra ( decently balanced tending to soft) and then the Santro, which was an absolute yoyo at any speed, although quite adept at handling. In terms of handling again it would be pretty much the same order, with City being a bit ahead of the Duster. I havent driven my new Tiago extensively on highways yet but I like what I am seeing so far. The car doesnt flinch much at speeds and is a decent handler. Again, a kind of a middle level tune slightly tending to soft side at low speeds, in my opinion. And last but not the least, how can I forget the diminutive Nano, which I never dared to take on the highways at all, but it was surprisingly composed over bad roads.