Hi All,
I'm on the verge of trading in my beloved E92 for a 535d M Sport F10, but I'm not totally clear on exactly what you get with the above options and my local dealer has done little to clarify my confusion.
The way I understand it is as follows:
1. Adaptive drive controls body roll by constant adjustment of active anti-roll bars and dampers.
2. The adaptive drive also includes dynamic drive control, which adjusts gear shift rate, steering and throttle response
3. There are three modes - comfort, normal and sport; there is also sport+ which disables traction control. These modes are controlled by a set of buttons by the gear selector.
4. Sport auto has normal and sport modes (but so did the SE demo, so what's the difference?), but you get the steering wheel shift paddles.
Is this correct and, more importantly, worth the considerable extra expense?
I have driven the 530d with standard 8 speed auto and I was generally very impressed. Compared to my E92 there is, of course, considerably more roll and pitch through corners and over uneven surfaces; however, it's dramatically more comfortable and quieter.
Has anyone driven both and, if so, is there a noticeable difference? What I'm hoping for is the comfort of the demo car I drove, with the ability to transform it into something closer to my E92 at the push of a button.
Many thanks,
Jon D

Hi Jon D and welcome to the Forum.

I guess you have to wait for the 535dA to next spring.

1. The Adaptive Drive includes the Dynamic Damper Control (includes the Driving Dynamic Control) and
the Dynamic Drive Control that includes the 'Comfort mode'.
Dynamic Damper Control has the electronically set dampers and the active anti-roll bars.

You should also consider the Integral Active Steering, then the car is 4 wheel steered.

3. No, the buttons are close to the shift stick. On the left hand side (in left hand drive cars).

4. The difference is that the Sport auto has a nicer looking shift and the paddles, plus a real sport
mode button that changes the handling of the car more than just the "SE" sport modes transmission changes.

On a 535dA it is well wort to get the Adaptive Drive. It will be such a fast car with it's 300 hp and 600 Nm.

Please browse this site carefully and you'll find a lot of interesting facts about the new F10.

Hi Ricracing,
Thanks for the reply; only problem is that I'm now more confused than ever - what's the difference between 'Driving Dynamic Control' and 'Dynamic Damper Control'? Is the first one the anti-roll bars and the second the dampers?
My dealer has build slots for delivery this year (late Oct/early Nov), but I have to decide very soon.

I'll give it a shot to sort things out:

Driving Dynamic Control or "The buttons"
This is basically the buttons near the gearshifter that allows you to change the driving characteristics from "Normal" to "Sport" to "Sport+".
This function is standard with option 2TB - Sport Automatic gearbox and 2VH - Active Steering.

223 - Dynamic Damper Control
This option are the active dampers and it also includes Driving Dynamic Control above but with the difference that the "Normal" button is replaced with a "Comfort" button (that makes sense right).

229 - Dynamic Drive
This option are the active Anti-roll bars.

And the above options are bundled together in this option:
2VA - Adaptive Drive
Includes options 223 and 229 above, including Driving Dynamic Control with the "Comfort" button instead of the "Normal" button.


I hope that this makes things a bit clearer.

can someone ban this a-hole already? What's up with all the spam?!

^I hope it has nothing to do with the new takeover :lol:

:o Jay Z and Nas are beefing again??? :lol:

Hi

I'm picking up my F10 535d MSport next week - it's at the dealer now - replacing my E60 535d MSport..I specced both Adaptive drive and SAT.

I test drove a 530d SE with 'normal' steel suspension, and compared with my E60 the ride and handling was poor - never felt settled at all. Putting this in context, I live in a rural area, and the roads around here are more pot-hole than smooth, and I'd changed the run flats to normal tyres as well.

Dealer then sorted out a 530d SE from BMW with adaptive drive...what a difference; even in Sport mode, the car felt settled, it didn't crash from one hole to the next - in comfort it smoothed out even more, but I didn't think it as good overall.

So for ride on Uk roads it's a big improvement.

The flat cornering is an added bonus, and when pressing on it's surprising what a difference it makes, roundabouts seem to be that much quicker/easier/straighter.

I wasn't going to bother with the SAT option, but the second 530D SE had it, and I found it really useful to change down quickly approaching a bend, then letting it revert to normal - instead of moving the gear stick around, which with the electronic one - my E60 has the old style gear shift - was a pain. Supposedly the SAT option means faster gear changes as well, but I don't know whether this was the case as it didn't seem much different, but it was a relatively small cost , so I went for it.

Hope this helps

have you seen the used car market mate? i saw some 535d demonstrators with very few miles on the clock on sale... have a look on autotrader (they are very expensive though 50k ish :S) but you wouldnt have to wait till next spring