rough road commuter...again...

I need advice... please..please..see my driving video. 

-fun to drive? do not care.

-sporty? do not care. 

-offroad ability? do not care.

it only has to have the best suspension for repeated 4" cracks in the road. 

Your answer is probably a highly depreciated old Lux car preferably owned by an old, rich man who sent it to the dealership for everything.  

Lexus LS400/430/460 would be a great place to start.  For less glamour but still lots of lux...Toyota Avalon.  These big sedans do a good job of separating you from the annoyances of the outside world. 

As you mentioned in the video...Buick Lesabre.  But, it's often said that the Toyota Avalon is the finest Buick Lesabre ever made (and I really liked my Lesabre, and I like my Avalon.)

Yes, full size luxury sedan will rock that. See if you can test drive a Lexus LS460 on your typical roads.

John, You beat me to it. The roads here are just as bad if not worse and the only car I've been in that was comfortable was lexus. LS series and SC. Something that was not horrible was a newer coil springed Ram. 

For real, weird answer,  but my wife's Gladiator soaks up nasty bumps, IMHO, better than a current Lexus. Yes, the princess and the pea version Lexus. 

Fight me. Champaign glasses at dawn it is! 

Edit: and I know I'm going to get slagged,  but long wheelbase and compliant suspension go a long way. 

Gotta be old enough to have decent size wheels/tires. By "decent size" I mean you need some sidewall and a bit less width. So, mid-late 2000s maybe? The current trend to make all cars look like 1:1 scale Hot Wheels cars with 18+  rims and low profile rubber doesn't help when you're crashing over pot holes and expansion joints.

Also, bent rims are annoying. Anything over 16" wrapped in a car-size tire is just asking for it, imo.

Signed, a lifelong Metro Detroit area resident

My Bentley would suck those up without notice but you probably don't want to daily one.

Full sized sedan with high aspect ratio tires would be my suggestion. I had a 87 Town Car that would have worked well. 

My Touareg is pretty decent with AT tires on it. Much better than it was on the stock tires. 

I'd be looking for a big Mercedes or something along those lines. You need a stiff chassis and supple suspension and tires. 

That looks just like North Dakota. I had a used 88 Pontiac Bonneville with a velvet split bench front seat that was like an overstuffed Lazyboy recliner. Cruise set at 75mph and one finger steering. An amazing interstate car that lasted 325,000 miles before I just gave up because the electric windows where too shot to fix again. Always got 26mpg and the best car I have ever owned. It only required one transmission at 125,000 miles that went out one week after I bought it. It broke down 2 miles from the dealership I got it from and when I went in to complain about the piece of crap they sold me and they said, "Sorry, no warranties", I just said that I would leave it on the highway with their dealership plates on it for a few weeks. They quickly said that they would go halfsies on the new transmission cost. 

We have an is250 AWD riding on 225/65/16 winter tires, and they already rub the fenders in parking lots. That car started off nice and after 2 years the dash and door cards and everything else is rattling to hell. I think it needs the suspension bushings redone $$$.
 

the rwd longer sedans are an interesting suggestion but most of the time the roads are snow covered.

I did have a ram 1500 rebel years ago with the air suspension and big tires. it was Ok but you could tell there was 80 lbs on each corner the way the thuds make it thru to the body.

No malaise era cars here anymore, they're all rotted away from the salt. Closest would probably be a crown Vic or town car. I have driven avalons before, that might be a good choice.

I think you'll be looking at something with a longer wheelbase. Avalons, Lexus ES350, and newer Camry's come to mind.

The Avalon is fwd.  There is even a Hybrid Avalon that is rated for 40 mpg which then also gets it a cruising range of up to 680 miles per fill up. Lexus ES is the "tarted-up" version.    

Another choice combining lux with economy is the Lincoln MKZ hybrid (also 40 mpg.)  I have never owned one or ridden in one, I'm just attracted to the rare combination of lux and economy.  

E38 740iL :)

   '05-'12 Grand Marquis/Town Car/Crown Vic with upgraded sway bars and P71 shocks and springs. I'd stay in that year range for the better steering, brakes, transmission, and the 31 spline axles. I'll also echo what BlueInGreen said; you want some sidewall.

In reply to Shadeux :

Is the Gladiator by chance a Mojave?  I've heard those are fantastic for long hauls and rough rides.

Haven't seen the Q45 mentioned yet.  If I wanted to cover highways in comfort and couldn't find an LS4x0 that I liked I would consider a Q45 as well as the previously mentioned Buicks and the Avalon. 

Newer tires help - 

Citroen DS21  . Magic carpet ride with that hydro-pneumatic suspension...

I'd try to find a W126 or W140 Mercedes.

I was astounded at how well my e39 530i (16" wheels) rode on corrugated gravel roads. 

Newer stuff is likely similar, but stay away from low profile tyres.  My current e61 530i came on 19" wheels.  Still smooth over all, but sharp edge bumps aren't taken care of nearly as well. I attribute this primarily to the silly rim size. 

My family has a 1967 Buick Electra 225 convertible my grandfather ordered brand new. One time  we went over a speed bump and the only reason I know that is because I saw from the back seat. I wouldn't have known we had went over one otherwise.

You want a well damped suspension that's got enough stiffness and travel to avoid slamming the bumpstops.  And a tall enough wheel/tire package with enough sidewall height. 

My E38 (740i sport) has 18" wheels and the factory sport springs.  I'd say it rides well on roads like that, but not great.  You'll certainly feel the bumps, although it's got enough travel to soak up the big hits quite well despite feeling the initial impact of it (and small stuff seems oddly more harsh than big bumps).  I DD mine year round in western NY and can't say that it being RWD has ever been an issue in the snow (with good snow tires).  I occasionally wish it had an LSD instead of the open diff, but that's about it.  Then again, I'm an oddball in that I absolutely despise FWD in snow. 

I think one of the best riding cars I've experienced are the XJ40 chassis Jags.  I can't say I'd recommend one as a commuter, but between big sidewalls on 15" wheels and a rather good suspension they soak up just about anything you point the tires at.  And surprisingly, despite that, they don't drive like a pile of mush. 

The_Jed said:

   '05-'12 Grand Marquis/Town Car/Crown Vic with upgraded sway bars and P71 shocks and springs. I'd stay in that year range for the better steering, brakes, transmission, and the 31 spline axles. I'll also echo what BlueInGreen said; you want some sidewall.

A friend (Ottawa here on the forum) has a similar requirement of being able to deal with frost heaves and potholes. He's been through a few cars and just picked up another final-year P71 because millions of taxi drivers and cops aren't wrong. Suspension travel and big tires on not so big wheels. I was quite impressed with the quality of the steering when I drove his first one.

I have to say that the XJ on Fox suspension is a little baby trophy truck. It won't erase the hits - NVH is a little too much for that - but it'll just deal with them. I get annoyed by the slow side by sides on the trails because they're too busy bouncing off things to drive over them.

Stay away from the LS460 if you go the luxo-barge route. Lots of little ECUs that like to go kaput to the tune of thousands of dollars each. LS430 is much preferable in that segment

twowheeled said:

We have an is250 AWD riding on 225/65/16 winter tires, and they already rub the fenders in parking lots. That car started off nice and after 2 years the dash and door cards and everything else is rattling to hell. I think it needs the suspension bushings redone $$$.
 

the rwd longer sedans are an interesting suggestion but most of the time the roads are snow covered.

I did have a ram 1500 rebel years ago with the air suspension and big tires. it was Ok but you could tell there was 80 lbs on each corner the way the thuds make it thru to the body.

No malaise era cars here anymore, they're all rotted away from the salt. Closest would probably be a crown Vic or town car. I have driven avalons before, that might be a good choice.

 

The is250 is a "sport sedan," it's going to be completely wrong for this sort of thing. They wanted to give it road feel - you want something that wants to erase road feel.

RWD is no problem with snow as long as you have good tires. Get some snow tires for winter, all seasons for summer.

In reply to Shadeux :

Come to think of it, I remember having one as a rental in MSP and did think it was pretty smooth. That was only a sport version.