Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) with Dynamic Suspension

HectorPascal · Sep 29, 2016

Do any of you recent California owners have this option? Having had a short test drive I did think the rear was a bit bouncy (admittedly not really laden - only the salesman and he was admirably svelte). At about 1100 GBPs it may be a rather nice addition.

I know that microprocessors are appearing in suspension systems these days and they can make a very big difference in motorcycles. It would seem a sound logical progression for a vehicle which is subject to large weight ranges and perhaps a larger range of road conditions than a delivery van.

Thanks in anticipation,
Aspiring Cali owner - 82% likely to order a new Cali (gone up a bit in the last week)

sidepod · Sep 29, 2016

I have it on my RS3. It's fab but then it depends on what the settings are on the Cali.
Does it make the standard setting firmer or softer?

Throttle response and steering are also involved.

Again I'm not sure of the Cali system but the Audi allows individual settings i.e. stiff suspension with less responsive steering.

You may find the stiffer setting is rarely used as it's to firm. Phone around the dealers and find a unit with it fitted and test it.

Recommended.

WelshGas · Sep 29, 2016

HectorPascal said:
Do any of you recent California owners have this option? Having had a short test drive I did think the rear was a bit bouncy (admittedly not really laden - only the salesman and he was admirably svelte). At about 1100 GBPs it may be a rather nice addition.

I know that microprocessors are appearing in suspension systems these days and they can make a very big difference in motorcycles. It would seem a sound logical progression for a vehicle which is subject to large weight ranges and perhaps a larger range of road conditions than a delivery van.

Thanks in anticipation,
Aspiring Cali owner - 82% likely to order a new Cali (gone up a bit in the last week)

Agree with a test drive, but also, How often will you be driving it empty?
I have no problem on my SE, but then It is loaded all the time apart from water, and I use mine as my daily driver averaging 20,000 miles a year and I drive as a car not a HGV.

soulstyledevon · Sep 29, 2016

Horrible waste of money. More gimmicks for Volkswagen to sell and fix at lucrative £££.
This is a campervan not a high performance hot hatch.

sidepod · Sep 29, 2016

soulstyledevon said:
Horrible waste of money. More gimmicks for Volkswagen to sell and fix at lucrative £££.
This is a campervan not a high performance hot hatch.

Well there we have it. The definitive answer.

Npf1 · Sep 29, 2016

I posted this on another thread ... as it's a bit of real world experience to add

"DCC - we have this and 18" wheels and it is does work. On the 'comfort' setting there's no longer any jarring etc when hitting bumps in the road. I've not tried the sport mode for more than a few minutes so can't offer any comments on body roll etc, but there is a noticable difference when in comfort mode compared to the other two when going over bumps. So comfort is now permanently engaged, which works well for us as we only pootle around or hoon down motorways.

I wouldn't have specced it, but it's what the van came with. And for the first few weeks was fairly non-plussed about it. But on our Europe trip in Aug I got a chance to play with it a bit more, hence the comments above."

And to add to the above, last weekend, I took out the back seat, loaded up with about 30 cubic feet of hardwood and set off on a 200 mile trip to deliver it. DCC in comfort mode was unsuitable with the heavy load, even slighly unstable, so switched back to normal mode and all was good. I also switched to sport mode going over a long bridge as the crosswinds were buffeting the van around - sport mode solved that.

I second the suggestion above to go and have a test drive of a van with it, which will proably end up being a Caravelle.

soulstyledevon · Sep 29, 2016

sidepod said:
Well there we have it. The definitive answer.

I've tested it on the current T6. Absolute waste of time.
Its for people who like to talk about specifications down at the pub.
:headbang

HectorPascal · Sep 29, 2016

A nice range of views there. I will take the advice of a test-drive - back to back hopefully. Personally, I have a BMW 1200 RT and this has ESA (electronic suspension adjustment) which is an absolute must on this bike but this is not an 'active' system. Suspension of the future will be adaptive on higher-value vehicles. It would seem that a Cali would benefit maybe it's too new and underdeveloped and falls in the 'gimmick' folder.