Adjustable hydropneumatic suspension - what cars?

jimogr

Happy New Year All,

A friend's father has a Citroen xantia which he loves because he can adjust the height of the suspension.

He pulls a lot of heavy loads by trailer and this makes it easier on him, as he can lower the car, back it in under the trailer and raise the suspension to hitch the trailer. He is in his sixties and cannot to much lifting or physical work so this works very well for him.

Problem is his xantia is on its last legs and he needs a new car, they stopped making the xantia in 2001, but he'd like something newer.

What other cars have this? I know the some of the new Citroens have the hydropneumatic suspension - but can you control the level yourself?

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks,

Jim.

mike65

C5 uses the same set-up

Mike.

jimogr

Thanks Mike.

kodute

Are there any aftermarket kits that achieve the same effect for other makes of car?

bazz26

The C5 replaced the Xantia and uses the next generation of the same suspension set up.

Re: aftermarket kit, it would simply be too expensive and complex for to have one fitted my guess. While Citroen's suspension set up is generally reliable if something does go wrong it depends be expensive to put right.

peasant

Mercedes Benz used to do a similar self levelling rear axle (rear only) on their estates. On some of them you could order the lowering function as an extra.

No idea if this still holds true on more recent models

mike65

Fancy fitting this?!

Mike.

MuffinsDa

Koni makes on-car and off-car adjustable dampers, but AFAIK it's only the stiffness that's adjustable, not the height. I can't imagine and aftermarket product being able to achieve that.

peasant

peasant wrote: »

Mercedes Benz used to do a similar self levelling rear axle (rear only) on their estates. On some of them you could order the lowering function as an extra.

No idea if this still holds true on more recent models

Citroen's system is so good that Rolls Royce, Bentley and Mercedes use it in some of their cars.

unkel

ronoc wrote: »

Citroen's system is so good that Rolls Royce, Bentley and Mercedes use it in some of their cars.

I didn't know about Bentey. Any links?

prospect

unkel wrote: »

I didn't know about Bentey. Any links?

I remember watchin an episode of The Garage and they were working on a Bently (afair) and they ordered a suspension part.
Along comes the courier with a Bently package, and in it a nice Bently box, and in it the part wrapped in nice Bentley paper. When he took out the part it had Citroen written on it....

paulksnn

MuffinsDa wrote: »

Koni makes on-car and off-car adjustable dampers, but AFAIK it's only the stiffness that's adjustable, not the height. I can't imagine and aftermarket product being able to achieve that.

Muffins, what's the difference between on-car and off-car?
My wife finds the ride very bumpy in my car, so I've been thinking about what I could do, apart from changing the suspension permenantly.
Do you have any links for the Koni stuff? And do you need a specialised mechanic to install it, or should any of them be able to do it?

MuffinsDa

paulksnn wrote: »

Muffins, what's the difference between on-car and off-car?
My wife finds the ride very bumpy in my car, so I've been thinking about what I could do, apart from changing the suspension permenantly.
Do you have any links for the Koni stuff? And do you need a specialised mechanic to install it, or should any of them be able to do it?

What car do you drive?

I contemplated putting them in my car but at the end I went with OEM Sachs which is the same as what Saab had originally put in.

AFAIK, they are exactly the same as ordinary ones and can done by any mechanic. There is two types (at least there were for Saab), one that you can adjust when it's off the car and one that has a special key that you can use to adjust it while on car - i.e. you can make it stiffer if going on bendy road and softer otherwise. But be advised that it wouldn't be something you'd do on a daily basis. Here's the ones I was thinking about anyway.

If you want smoother ride quality overall just get a non-adjustable smooth one. Sachs generally have BRILLIANT balance between ride quality and comfort. You can download their manual and see if they have one for your car, and usually source it very cheap (much cheaper than dealer prices) on the net. I got mine here.

Koni Finder: http://www.koni.com/index.php?id=254
Boge Sachs online catalog: http://www.sachs-boge.co.uk/owx_54_51599_2_6_0_00000000000000.html

crosstownk

The new C5 will have Hydropneumatic suspension as an option. The press blurb for the new C5 (April 2008) mentions 'metallic suspension' as standard. The Exclusive versions of the C4 Picasso have hydropneumatic suspension at the rear. The current C5 (series 2) has a similar set up to the Xantia and used models are reasonably priced.

The Audi A6 Allroader has some form of adjustable suspension. Its adjustable via the Multi Media Interface (MMI). But I don't know if it's hydropneumatic.

mike65

Reckon in 10 years the system will be gone. At one point in the 70s every Cit except the 2CV class (and the Mehari) had hydro suspension now its going to be only C6 as standard.

Mike.