I'm in a process of working out the spec for my truck order and I wanted to know about how the coil and air systems compared. Local dealerships were generous to allow me extended drive times on my own and I spent hours on the local roads I know well, ranging from interstate to city streets to country two-lane roads. I thought there may be others interested in this topic, so I felt it might be good to summarize here.
My context:
1. Not a money thing for me - I'm fine paying for the option if there is a benefit.
2. I won't be towing hardly at all.
3. I won't be hauling heavy loads very often.
4. I'm primarily interested if there is a ride quality benefit either way. My definition of a better ride is less impact harshness on significant road imperfections - potholes or train tracks or patched roads or asphalt issues we typically see here in Ohio.
Now I've had a number of german cars with air suspension and usually the german manufacturers will go to air suspensions on their higher end models and trims for a ride quality benefit, though not typically for sportier handling. So I fully expected the Ram with 4 corner air suspension to be the better riding vehicle. But because I'm interested in this subject, I had researched all the major reviews and manufacturer's marketing materials about it, and I was noticing an obvious lack of discussion of air suspension ride improvement over the coil suspension. No one really compares them, so I felt compelled to test it myself.
I drove a brand new Laramie with standard coil suspension that very few miles first. The Laramie had 20" wheels. I compared that to a Laramie Longhorn that had about 3,000 miles because it was the GM's personal demo car. Both were crew cab 4x4's with the 5'7" box. The Longhorn had the optional 22" wheels.
The results were a surprise to me, so I felt I should mention it. The coil suspended vehicle definitely felt like it had the slightly more compliant ride. Because of my experience in luxury sedans, I didn't expect this, and it made me start to question whether the 22" wheels were a factor, and maybe they are. Handling in the corners felt the same between the two vehicles. The conclusion I arrived at from the back to back comparison was that the air suspension was noticeably less compliant than the coil suspension, and even if it were mostly due to the 22" wheels, it was hard for me to imagine that the 20" wheels would make it an improvement over the coil suspension, so for my use case I won't be checking that option box. Hopefully this info is of value to the forum.
Thanks,
Don
My context:
1. Not a money thing for me - I'm fine paying for the option if there is a benefit.
2. I won't be towing hardly at all.
3. I won't be hauling heavy loads very often.
4. I'm primarily interested if there is a ride quality benefit either way. My definition of a better ride is less impact harshness on significant road imperfections - potholes or train tracks or patched roads or asphalt issues we typically see here in Ohio.
Now I've had a number of german cars with air suspension and usually the german manufacturers will go to air suspensions on their higher end models and trims for a ride quality benefit, though not typically for sportier handling. So I fully expected the Ram with 4 corner air suspension to be the better riding vehicle. But because I'm interested in this subject, I had researched all the major reviews and manufacturer's marketing materials about it, and I was noticing an obvious lack of discussion of air suspension ride improvement over the coil suspension. No one really compares them, so I felt compelled to test it myself.
I drove a brand new Laramie with standard coil suspension that very few miles first. The Laramie had 20" wheels. I compared that to a Laramie Longhorn that had about 3,000 miles because it was the GM's personal demo car. Both were crew cab 4x4's with the 5'7" box. The Longhorn had the optional 22" wheels.
The results were a surprise to me, so I felt I should mention it. The coil suspended vehicle definitely felt like it had the slightly more compliant ride. Because of my experience in luxury sedans, I didn't expect this, and it made me start to question whether the 22" wheels were a factor, and maybe they are. Handling in the corners felt the same between the two vehicles. The conclusion I arrived at from the back to back comparison was that the air suspension was noticeably less compliant than the coil suspension, and even if it were mostly due to the 22" wheels, it was hard for me to imagine that the 20" wheels would make it an improvement over the coil suspension, so for my use case I won't be checking that option box. Hopefully this info is of value to the forum.
Thanks,
Don
air-ride & eTorque...passed on both gimmicks 
