With the Z51 suspension enhancements over the base C7 in mind, for those of us who ues the vehicle recreational, why then opt for the Mag ride?

 

For many people it won't be worth the cost. But the Z51 standard (non MR) suspension is noticeably stiffer on the road than it is with the mag ride set to Touring, so having that option may be nice on the highway or if you've got crummy pavement where you live. If you're just a cruiser, and will never track the car, the Track setting won't do anything for you.

 

I love Mag Ride with my Z51. I had the F45 on my 2002 C5 and it was very subtle, almost unnoticeable in its effect compared to the MR. I really like being able to shift it to Tour when I hit rough/choppy pavement. There are some fairly bad roads in the town where I live and in many areas in SoCal and I just leave it in Tour when I drive around those roads. The ability to shift to Sport and Track on the canyon roads I commute on, though, is awesome.

I bought my '14 Z51 used so I was grateful the PO ordered it the way he did.

 

If you use the car as a DD the mag ride is a must That said if you use the car as a DD and don't track the car the Z51 suspension is a waster of money, imho

 

The magnetic selective ride makes the Z51 much better. The road control is awesome.

 

Std. Stingray rides nice .Track it go for Z51 Have Z51and want a nice ride get Mag ride. Now, after spending several thousand dollars having a Z51 you won't use. You have the benefit of lower profile tires that wear out quicker and more brake dust what more could you ask for .GM does a good job of marketing.

 

Mag Ride available on base for 2016. Worth the cost..MIke

 

I also ordered the FE2 suspension option, that is the magnetic ride control, along with the bigger wheels and tires [19" and 20"] and the Z51 style spoiler. The best of both worlds IF you DO NOT plan to track your car, and we all know that the vast majority of Corvette owners do not track their cars. Again, while most just enjoy their Corvette for the great American sports car that it is, there are probably those who track their car once in a while, and some that just like to say "I've got a Z51" ..................

 

Z51 with mag ride. Touring mode on highways and rough roads. On rails in track mode.

 

Just curious where you had the opportunity to drive a Z51 w/o mag ride for your comparison?

We had mag ride on our C6 Z06. Set on touring it still beat you to death on less user friendly roads. I now have a 2016 Z51 w/o mag ride and it rides a LOT better.

It would be interesting to do a poll of mag ride owners. How many select one setting and just leave it there all the time. I know we did with our Z06.


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My car is in sport 99.9% of the time unless we're on a long highway only trip then I'll throw it in eco to enable AFM and I run Track at AutoX and on track. Don't remember a time on the street when I said "oh this is too rough let me turn it down to tour" but I have turned it to track on some bumpy roads and went back to sport quickly.

 

I don't know if things have changed with the C7. I had MRC on my 2011 Grand Sport and could not tell much of a difference between the two modes. On my C7 I have the Z51 option without MRC and it rides fine. Where I live the roads are decent, so that probably helps.

 

Randy G.
Good question. In my case, I did have the opportunity to drive a non-mag ride, Z-51 that I intended to buy but we couldn't come to terms on the price. I passed on that Vette, then found another nearly identical Z-51 Vette at a dealer in another state that came with mag ride. We did come to terms on the price. On the way home the difference was very noticeable in Touring mode. I'm very glad I picked up the mag ride. When I took a friend for a ride in it, we went over a speed bump while in Touring mode. His comment, "that was really smooth". Keep in mind, I didn't want mag ride when I started out, but that's how the car came. Glad it did.

 

Some of the misconceptions about Mag Ride are, it's only about selecting a softer or stiffer ride mode.
Which can be done
Or it's only needed for the Track.
But it's good for Track or Street and especially on the street where road conditions are not always good..

No matter which mode is selected, the shocks are not Static in that mode.
In each mode the shocks react to road conditions and are constantly changing between a softer state or firmer state depending on road conditions and force put on the shocks.
All this happens in Milliseconds to keep the wheels in control which makes the car more compliant and more in control.
Each mode is Programmed with Different low and high Parameters for Softness and Stiffness which the shocks work within, depending on which mode is selected.
The Parameters progress in stiffness from Tour to Sport to Track

But again, regardless of which mode is selected, the shocks are Not just Statically softer or Stiffer in each of those modes.

The shocks softness and stiffness are constantly and infinitely changing within the low and high Parameters of "each" mode.
That's why many want/like MAG ride either on the base suspension or Z51 suspension
The different modes are a Bi-Product of the MAG ride which is a great feature in itself, but not what MAG ride is all about

 

Mag-ride's advantages are pretty obvious, IME. The ride in touring mode, though not quite as comfortable as that of the base suspension, is much less floaty. The ride is softened, but the dampening is still very well controlled. Also, when turning sharply the car rolls very little and remains surprisingly flat, almost as flat as using Sport or Track mode. This kind of ride/handling combination is rarely achieved with a conventional suspension system. Another advantage, under hard acceleration mag-ride allows some rear weight transfer in Touring and Sport modes (less so in Track). The rear squats a little, increasing traction. Yet, on the other end, there is little nose dive under heavy braking. It's a very impressive system.