Sure by today's standards the ride may 'appear' to be hard..ish...
But let's not forget, the car is a design that is over 13 years old,
and in it's day the ride quality was no worse than that of most
similar mid sized cars, like a Fiesta or Astra then.
If you had the chance to drive a similar aged one of those vehicles
now, and then a drive in the current 2017 model then you would
find exactly the same issue.
It's a bit like Marmite then...you either love it or you hate it.
If you like what the 454 does and what it costs to run, then you
have no option other than to gracefully accept it's shortcomings.
Or you can compromise to a slight degree and reduce the tyre
pressures a fraction with the hope that you don't wear out the
outer edges of the tread due to under-inflation. Make your choice.