5er_ooomph

Why do they say that BMWs are "real driver's cars"? I am not a big fan of Audis or Mercs but don't they handle as good as BMWs? And do BMWs still handle good even if they don't have sport suspensions ?

Rislar

Its mainly because of weight distribution and balance oh and not forgetting rear wheel drive, ive had all of the said cars and the Audi is great in Quattro form but all others are front wheel drive the merc in SLK is a great well balanced motor but the rest really are nose heavy !!

v_therussian

The one word answer to your question is: engineering.

1. Almost all BMWs have near-perfect front to rear weight distribution.
2. BMW's suspensions are designed for aggressive driving. Even though a sport suspension BMW definitely outhandles a non-sport one, even the "regular" BMW suspension is generally superior to MB or Audi when it comes to twisties and spirited driving.

Audis are inherently nose-heavy cars, so they tend to exhibit a lot of understeer in extreme turns. This is somewhat compensated for by the widely standard quattro AWD on Audis, but quattro only helps to a degree, as there's no way to cheat the laws of physics. This is further exacerbated by the steering setup that is inferior to BMW's (IMO whether the BMW is equipped with the Active Steering or not).

Mercedes, on the other hand, never went for the driver enjoyment with their setups - they always try to acheive a balance of control and luxury/comfort, hence their suspensions are designed with more bounce and less responsiveness than the BMW's. Benzes tend to have higher center of gravity and softer damping, steering systems calibrated for more relaxation behind the wheel (rather than feedback to the driver); they also have a lot of technology that disconnects the driver from the road and makes driving a Benz a bit "generic", for lack of a better word.

Although, generally the above is true for most comparisons between the three brands, the axis continually slide and balance shifts as new models come out, for example in this article:
http://www.automobilemag.com/features/0905...ison/index.html
Automobile Magazine claims that somehow Benz is gaining on the e60, even though they clearly admit the 530 to be the far more superior handler to both - the new E350 and the new A6, despite the e60 being the oldest model among the three... its beyond playing favorites and to the point of straight up product placement, but if you read carefully, you can still find facts sometimes. And facts are that the BMW setup just works better for the driver, who wants to feel driving his/her car.

Basically, this is a VERY long conversation, but you want to look at suspension setups (multi-link vs mcpherson struts and so on, so forth) and steering systems.

Rudy

I don't believe M-B makes any front wheel drive cars...

Phantom Mark

A-Class = FWD as far as I remember

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I test drove the new C-Klass sport model the other week, nice handling, but damping was waaaaaaaay over firm and provided zero damping compared with my E60, figity uncomfortable and annoying ride, sharp handling however, I couldn't live with it tho, was much worse even than my E46 with KW V3's slammed super stiff and low.

Rudy

Thanks, I forgot about that one since I don't think they sell that model over here...

Phantom Mark

hahha, your not missing anything

Rislar

Ha ha, my punctuation was missing if you read it again i was talking about the Audis!!!!!!

Kzang

I don't understand this either.. I mean its not like the engineers from BMW are some sort of different breed of people..

Why can't Audi and MB engineers not do the same with their cars?? I'm pretty sure they have the ability to use space aluminum steel for their frames to even out the weight distributions.
Audi R8 from my test drive seemed to have excellent handling, far superior to any BMW I have driven.
I've never driven any Mercs but I will assume that their cars also handle very well. Both car companies have a racing division that incorppriate their ideas into their passenger cars.

John@Motorcepts

MB aims at over-powered monsters. BMW aims at handling. Audi aims at AWD. Everyone's goal is different. Just as if someone loves AWD, they would get an Audi. u want handling and road feel, get a BMW. U want an over-powered monster, get an MB.