FWIW I optioned in the air on my 90, I will be interested to hear what responses you receive (if any) from someone that has time behind the wheel of both air and coil Defender variants. Coils were impossible to find on the lot when I was shopping and ordered my Defender. I never was able to get a test drive on coils. I can say that with my current setup on air suspension it is by no means 'substantial comfort' you feel plenty of manhole covers and potholes, though I understand if you go with less air in the tires (light load) it supposedly gets better. Anyway I'm doubtful the coils at least for on-road driving will be any less comfortable than air. As for weight I was thinking the air was going to weigh in a bit less, a compressor and a bag vs coil shocks that aren't typically light.. but I could be wrong. If coils are indeed lighter I suspect it will be minimal.

 

I have the D90 with coils. We also have a D5 with air suspension. We like the comfort of the air suspension on the D5, though we rarely have used off road height (have only taken it off the beaten path a couple times in 4 years of ownership). It did feel a pretty bumpy ride on off-road height. Access height is indeed a very useful feature.

With the Defender the plan has always been to use it much more off road. Even though the air suspension offered some extra clearing and would probably be more comfortable in regular driving there were two reasons why we went with coils: a) reliability, not that I am saying air suspension is not reliable, but if it fails on the trail it's a big PITA, so we looked to be as less technology dependent as possible (hard to do these days anyway) b) the extra cost (yes, it's "only" $1,600 but given my previous point paying more did not make sense).

After 7,000 miles of driving in all types of surfaces (including many thousand on highway and daily driving) have no complaints about the ride quality of the coil suspension. The one thing I will say is Access height would probably be even more useful in the Defender than the D5.

 

I found that reducing pressure from the normal load to the light load did make a pretty big difference to ride quality. I thought the quality in my Defender was already very good, even with normal load pressures and the optional Wrangler All Terrain Adventure off-road tires. Dropping pressure to light load made a noticeable difference - ride quality IMO is exceptional. And the off road tires are surprisingly quiet. If you haven’t done it (and you’re not loading up the Defender) it’s well worth trying the alternate setting. I’m very happy with the air suspension.

 

Thanks, yea I've been meaning to try the light load setting. I don't want to give the wrong impression, the ride IS quite good and I'm in no way disappointed with my choice to option in the air suspension. I would recommend it to the OP. It's very cool to have the option (that added capability) of switching it to offroad to add more 'travel' if/when needed. I also think the access height setting is handy to take it down maybe an inch or two especially when anyone needs to climb in and out of the back seat of the 90. My son has a decent amount of trouble squeezing out of there and if it were any higher, (which it would be with coils) speaking for myself it would be problematic. I do love my 90 but I now have to concede the 110 four door was probably the smarter choice for my present 'situation'.

 

Is it worth it? Yes!
It drives me nuts when parking, and someone opens their car door and dings/dents/chips your door. Although I always park at the outer reaches of a park lot, it still happens... Now I have an advantage - by raising the car up, I have so far avoid any knucklehead parking too close, and banging my door. Yay airbags!

Side note: in 1978, I had a brand new Saab 99 Turbo, and parked across two parking spaces - 200 yards away from the closest car in the lot. Went to a movie, came out and found a note on my car that said "you're obviously an a-hole - check your car for dents".
Best guess was a ladies high heel shoe that had left over 50 dents in the hood, roof, doors and boot lid. Bastards!

 

There is a level in Dante's hell for people like that.

 

I fear for the lady that her mind had already taken up residence in 1978, right here on earth. A very tough and difficult decade, as I recall it.

I hope she is in a better place ....

 

I have an MT2500 that is pretty outdated as cars get more complicated. I am looking to move to a Solus since I service a lot of Mercedes vehicles with Airmatic suspension. Does the Solus support the features of Airmatic including raising/lowering the vehicle and "leveling" the ride with the ride height sensor signal?

 

I drove both coils and air before I made my order. There is a different feel, with the air having more float and tippiness (which I didn't entirely like), and the coils feeling perhaps a little more stable with a bit more bounce. Because of the shorter wheelbase, these effects might be more pronounced on a 90. But still, the over-all difference is surprisingly minor, and both are very comfortable on the road.

If access (entry and exit) are issues for you, then get the air. If not, coils totally suffice.

Since my prior LR's, including an OG D90, all came with coils, I didn't spend much time considering air, but I'm totally happy with the coils. It has a very nice and compliant ride, and I don't have as much to worry about down the road.

You really don't need to worry about ride quality, etc., with coils if that's your choice, and their "handling" might even be slightly better.

 

[QUOTESide note: in 1978, I had a brand new Saab 99 Turbo,[/QUOTE]

I miss my Saab Turbo! That thing was a beast…