The issue of ride comfort for vehicle operations has generated considerable interest in vehicle systems. The road condition has an important influence on ride quality; however, the road condition cannot be sufficiently controlled. The proper design of vehicle components is the only way to improve ride quality. This work is an investigation into the ride behavior of passive and active suspension systems using half vehicle model. The mathematical modeling approach is developed to enhance the ride characteristic and assist in the design of good ride properties of vehicle. The influence of spring stiffness, damping coefficient and tyre stiffness on ride comfort is studied. Also, the effect of anti-roll bar stiffness on the roll acceleration is discussed. Finally, the ride performance of active and passive suspension systems are evaluated. The results obtained give a solution to avoid load carrying capacity problem during vehicle motions. The spring stiffness, damping coefficient, tyre stiffness have a significant effect on the vehicle ride performance. It has been found that, the anti-roll stiffness has a significant effect on the roll acceleration. The active suspension system gives a better ride comfort compared with the passive system.