From e60 550i to e70 40d at weekend
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2016 11:44 am
So - after a deep breath and far greater expense than I have previously incurred when buying a car I took the plunge into x5 ownership on Saturday. Leggy, unwarranted X5 ownership. Why? I am extremely fussy and had also been spoilt by my 550i. Any replacement therefore had a lot to live up to in terms of spec. This popped up on Friday afternoon, I put down a holding deposit that day and bought the car Saturday lunchtime.
It has about £16k of options which is why I felt a little pressured into moving quickly.
I drove it about 140 miles over the weekend, country roads, motorways and town and my very initial observations are this:
Despite riding on stupidly large (although I think cool) wheels and stupidly thin rubber, the ride is great. Very comfortable and quiet. I do not know whether the car has runflats, I will have to check that.
Perhaps because of said wheels and rubber, the car handles unbelievably well. Better than my e39 530i and SO much better than my 550i. I was utterly dumbfounded. Each corner had me in raptures, perfectly weighted steering, outrageous grip and non existent body roll (the car does not have adaptive suspension, allegedly).
I had imagined that with a combination of the torque of the 40d and BMW's excellent cabin soundproofing driving the 40d would feel quite similar to driving the 550i. I got that wrong. That n/a 4.8l v8 engine truly is in a league of its own.
Looking forward to some more driving soon, although ironically it will be not for the grunty pace of the car but for the sporty handling. I wouldn't have expected that!
It has about £16k of options which is why I felt a little pressured into moving quickly.
I drove it about 140 miles over the weekend, country roads, motorways and town and my very initial observations are this:
Despite riding on stupidly large (although I think cool) wheels and stupidly thin rubber, the ride is great. Very comfortable and quiet. I do not know whether the car has runflats, I will have to check that.
Perhaps because of said wheels and rubber, the car handles unbelievably well. Better than my e39 530i and SO much better than my 550i. I was utterly dumbfounded. Each corner had me in raptures, perfectly weighted steering, outrageous grip and non existent body roll (the car does not have adaptive suspension, allegedly).
I had imagined that with a combination of the torque of the 40d and BMW's excellent cabin soundproofing driving the 40d would feel quite similar to driving the 550i. I got that wrong. That n/a 4.8l v8 engine truly is in a league of its own.
Looking forward to some more driving soon, although ironically it will be not for the grunty pace of the car but for the sporty handling. I wouldn't have expected that!