JD15

Anyone have experience with both the fixed suspension and the DRC suspension for a B9.5 RS5? I have seen many comments mentioning that the DRC is only usable on the comfort setting because it is so harsh and I am trying to determine whether the Dynamic Package is worth $3400.

ywang98

It's not harsh, it's underdamped.

To me, it's not stiff enough and obviously underdamped.

superswiss

It's definitely underdamped in Comfort mode, but in Dynamic I'd lean towards overdamped at least at typical road speeds. In Comfort mode it's floaty and oscillates too much, but in Dynamic it's rather bouncy at lower speeds. It gets better as the speed increases, although it got poor reviews from German magazines at Autobahn speeds. But generally speaking the damping is neither here nor there at least for US roads. A well damped sport suspension should compress w/o too much harshness, then rebound and quickly level out. There should only be one oscillation. The issue with the DRC is that it isn't actually adaptive. The three modes are fixed, so you have to pick the mode that is the least compromise for the driven road.

I haven't driven a B9 with the fixed suspension, but my B8 had the fixed suspension as the DRC wasn't offered for the B8 in the USA. I found the fixed suspension in the B8 to be well damped for the most part, but wished it was adaptive and had a sportier setting for when I drove more dynamically, but not quite ***** out. It did well in the canyons, but on fast highway sweepers it had too much roll. Comparing it to my AMG I'm much happier with its adaptive suspension now. The middle setting is just right for dynamic highway driving. Still comfortable yet much flatter around those same highway sweepers and in the Sport+ setting it's excellent in the canyons while Comfort mode has just the right level of luxury w/o being floaty and oscillating after every bump. As I've said before, Audi should have given the RS5 a proper adaptive suspension.

JD15

What about the fixed suspension without the Dynamic Package?

Burrcold

The B9.5 RS Sport Suspension with DRC is fine in all modes. Comfort is comfortable but not sporty, Auto is perfect, and Dynamic is a bit too harsh for pothole ridden roads, but on track or smooth roads is right at home. 99% of the complaints came from B9 owners (myself included). No idea what was changed between the model refresh, but it's well worth the money now in my opinion.

JD15

How does it compare with the S5's adaptive suspension? Your description of the RS5 DRC modes is similar to how I would have described the adaptive suspension on the S5.

Burrcold

Pretty similar, although the S5 has a true adaptive suspension versus 3 fixed settings found in the RS suspension with DRC. The RS5 is slightly more firm in each setting, but that's to be expected in an RS model. The other thing about DRC is that colder weather impacts how comfortable it is, something I didn't find in the S5 adaptive setup. That being said, the months it's cold enough for me to see an impact on the quality of the RS suspension, is kind of offset by the larger sidewalls on my winter tires.

You compromise ride comfort as you go up the model chain with any car and brand in my opinion. Hop in an M3, they are stiff when compared to the M340i then compared to a 330i. Same with A5 -> S5 -> RS. Just a matter of what you can tolerate.

superswiss

To be fair, this happens with the fixed suspension as well. The tires and rubber bushings get stiffer at colder temperatures. Softer winter rubber can offset some of it, and yes an adaptive suspension will adapt to this additional stiffness in the suspension and maintain fairly constant comfort etc. regardless of the temperature. My B8 RS5 with fixed suspension got noticeably stiffer during the winter. In my case I'm on summer rubber all year as it doesn't get that cold here, but the tires do get stiffer with temps in the 40s and 50s during the winter and compounded with the stiffening of the bushings it made the ride quite bouncy in the winter. It mellowed out a bit once the tires were warmed up from driving.

Burrcold

Yes, for sure all types of suspension do get more brittle in the winter. I guess I should have said that I notice a bigger difference with the DRC vs the adaptive in the S in cold temps.

Dan99

Keep in mind that DRC does not control ride firmness. It is really a hydraulic mechanism that provides diagonal anti-roll capabilities, in addition to what's provided by the front and rear anti-roll bars. It allows the car to remain more level in cornering, braking and accelerating. The Sport Suspension is what provides 3 levels of firmness. So, if you get the standard suspension you lose the 3 settings, but you also lose that additional anti-roll capabilities of DRC, and the car will have more roll in every situation.

I have a B9 RS5 and like the Sport Suspension with DRC. I hear it's better in the 9.5, but have no first hand experience with it. That said, I use Auto for daily driving, Comfort for a load of passengers or for really bad roads, and use Dynamic on the track. In addition, if my tire pressures are correct, I get neutral handling in Auto, slight oversteer in Dynamic, and slight understeer (like most production cars) in Comfort. I like the flexibility and would get it again.