[Fox530]

Hi guys,

I've had an E39 530i Sport for many years and I'm considering replacing it with what seems like the only logical successor, an F10.

My E39 is a Sport on 18 inch wheels. The balance between ride quality and handling is superb. It rides well even over rough roads - it never crashes over bumps. It's no S Class Mercedes, but it's never unpleasant either. Also, at cruise speeding on the Motorway the cabin noise levels are very low.

How does the F10 compare on it's various wheel/tyre/suspension options? I'd be likely to bin the runflats at the first available opportunity.

I notice the 19 inch wheel option has 275/35 rear tyres. This technically gives them a higher profile than my 265/35's and hopefully means there will be no degradation in ride quality. What's the sports suspension like? What about cabin noise?

What about if we swap down to 18's?

I'd be grateful for any thoughts you guys might have.

Obviously the answer is to test drive one with 19's on it but the trouble is I don't want to go wasting a salesman's time test-piloting a car I've no intention of buying and its likely that when I do find one I want to buy it'll be a sufficient enough distance away that I'll likely not be able to test drive it before getting to the stage where rejection will be based on condition rather than preference, if you know what I mean...