Robert A

My car has a few miles on it now, but more importantly, I've had several months of driving it too. It handles great with the Active Roll stabilization and all, and the RFs don't seem to intrude too much into the ride quality for a semi-sport setup. As a US car, it also has sport suspension calibration (you lucky Europeans, Canadians, Aussies, etc., can order M-Sport, but we can't)

The road feel -- the sense that the tires are in constant contact with the road and I can respond to any emergency within the laws of physics falls a few measures short of my previous E39 car. That car had tremendous road feel -- you just KNEW what you could and couldn't due. The E60, OTOH, feels a little more remot

I suspect the stiff sidewall of the RFs are the culprits, or maybe my tire pressures could use a little adjusting.

Any ideas here? I love everything else about the car.

fraseman999

yes, said it many times and got shot down in flames. ok nobody wants to hear a car is going backwards. Well its not going backwards. It looks fantastic, its more up to date on the inside, its got more space in the rear and its got more luggage room.

Then there is the handling, i have a guy who lives 5 minutes from me called colin mcrae, colin was the world rally champion. If i gave him my e39 and its old now, then gave him my e60 he would most certainly say the better handling vehicle was the e39. I took the runflats of and now its bouncy. And its also worth pointing out that my e39 has 225 wide tyres on the rear. The e60 has 275s!

Anyone who can really push a car at speeds over 100mph driving the e39/e60 back to back on winding roads, a little bit rough maybe. should agree that the e39 handles better.

dlevi67

Have you? And what did he say?

fraseman999

not yet

jet190rs

what cars does he drive around in?

back to the original topic - yes, the rft's aren't very good at feeling the road. and yes, i know a few ppl who passed on buying an e60 because the ride doesn't feel as solid/hunkered down/glued to the road as their old e39's.

TXPearl

No, it's not just the runflats. Getting rid of the runflats is an improvement in ride quality (read "smoother"), but this car, at least in current US spec sport pkg, is not going to have the same feel as your E39. It's too bad, for all its improvements over the prior 5 series, this car simply falls short on suspension and driving feel.

Maybe the M-sport suspension will be better on the 2008 550i sport package. I hope so. If not, this issue, along with the slow/unresponsive I-drive, will cause me to leave BMW until they get their act together.

JDN

My experience is the same as yours. However, I have road feel that satisfies me to the extent that I KNOW I am driving a BMW.

I am a fan of the run flats because my experience has been good. Any performance tire I ever had always got noiser as the wear increases. Besides, I had a catastrophe where I lost two runflats on the same side instantaneously and simultaneously (split wheels) and the E60 never swerved in a safe stop.

I like the E60 Sport tuned to tires that were tuned to it. My E39 was a great car. The E60 is better and safer in ways beyond the run flats.

Ray Hull

Having come from the identical model E39 to this E60 (sport 6 speeds), I can certainly say that there is a difference. How I would characterize it though is "ISOLATION." The thumpflats at full pressure are VERY annoying but they are only sharp repeats--imagine how brutal they'd be if the old E39 supension was present? I run myThumpflats set at minimum recommended pressure (and much more acceptahble ride), I still do not have the "connectedness" that I felt with the E39.

But to bum you out a bit more, I will also say that the E39 lost a lot of its feel from my old 87 535iS 5 speed. That car, the first Sport 5 was the most tactile BMW I have ever driven. The clutch was a Thighmaster workout, when that engine came on cam at 3200 RPM, the only way to describe it was a "boot in the butt." (The Recarro sport seats however were murder on the lower back.) And those early low profile Michelin TRX tires were great.

Ever since then, "smooth, turbine-like" has been the watchword. And that smoothness of power and effort has also been transferred into the clutch, the suspension and even the seating. (Yes, I think the ergonomics of the E60 are awful, especially narrowed foot well that impedes clutching, hard surface of door grab handle that bruises me right on the bony side of my knee, lousy visibilty aft and sides, etc.)

But, it's all "progress." I guess the only consolation is to compare it to everything else on the market, and still, especially in manual transmissions, nothing comes close.
Cheers,
Ray

Ricracing

Had a E39 525iA with 225 wheels and is currently driving a E60 525iA with 225 non RF winter tyres.

I do not miss my E39 in any sence.


Congrats on you new BMW K 1200 GT Ray Hull

Is the bike with a B2- or R4-engine?

Any pics? Is like this one?

fraseman999

colin macrae: last time i seen him a few months back he has a range rover and my friend tells me he also has a 330d. He also has a helicopter and a 5 car garage with several rally vehicles. And up until recently spent most of his year in tax exile monaco or monte carlo one of those. Now he is not with a rally team and not making as much money he spends more time in Scotland.