MagneRide

There's an interesting article in this weeks Autocar regarding MagneRide. Apparently the company that supplies it (Chinese-owned BWI Group) were developing the Gen3 version of it but weren't expecting to start production until 2012. Land Rover told them 'if you can do them for 2011, you have a deal', so because of the size of the order they rushed them through.
Apparently they are a big improvement on the Gen2 version that's fitted to the likes of the Audi R8. They respond twice as fast and are the first to offer terrain sensing.

To be honest I didn't even consider them when I placed my order, now though, with all the articles saying how great they are, I'm coming to the conclusion that they are a 'must have' option.
Will probably add them to my spec. but it would be great if there were cars at the unleashed events with both options, just so we could do a direct comparison.

Acording to LR, they should be better than srandard shocks on boh exreemes - comfort and dynamics/road holding...

I agree, Magnaride is a must have option.

i agree too

There's a write-up on this type of damping in either Car or Evo this month (sorry, cannot remember which). The same system is used in the Ferrari F599 Fiorano. In some models of the Porsche 911, the same system is used to stiffen the engine mounts when cornering to stop the engine wobbling about and upsetting the handling. It's clever stuff.

I wish they'd allow it on Pure orders. I'm willing to give LR another £1000ish to get the magnetic suspension, but not the £4000ish I'd have to pay to upgrade my order to a Prestige or Dynamic.

A few magazines like Autocar and Car aren't rating Magneride that well. I'm starting to wonder if it isn't just a gadget. Unless you actually go offroading (where the dampers can soften the ride).

Anybody tried cars with and without magneride?

Without boring you with engineering stuff, the problem with fixed rate dampers is that they are necessarily compromised over the expected range of operating conditions - much broader potentially in this car - and having a continuously variable damping rate allows the performance of each corner to be optimised according to what the car is doing over a wide range of operating conditions.

The software will be trying to maintain as smooth a ride as possible and it may be that in extreme conditions, it loses the plot and the ride becomes worse, not better, with the car pitching and the damping unable to control it. It may be they are trying to be too ambitious with it and should be a little bit more conservative with the control they're applying.

They should certainly have access to the right people because Jaguar handling is said to be pretty good; I expect this is something which might get a software upgrade at some point.

One thing for sure, when one unit fails and your warranty has just run out it will cost the earth to replace at a Land Rover dealer because none of the Kwik Fit places will stock them...........

Oh yes, the words "leaking damper" at an MOT will have people crying into their beer...