[Alan l.]

I posted this video in the ride quality thread. It seems like he prefers softer cars even though he's nuts going vmax on the autobahn like he was casually driving to church. His personal car is a F10 wagon which says a lot about his preference. I do not agree with his assessment about the sound being better on the non Ms. Maybe for the M340i vs M3 yes, the non M sounds better to me but the M50 do not sound as good as the M cars in the same model.

With that said the X5MC is a firm riding suv. More so for those riding on Pirelli pzero tires vs the Michelin PS4S. My car has the pzeros and it rides firmer than my F85 X5M with 22" wheels all around running Conti Sport Contact 6 tires. Others doesn't seem to agree but this is my opinion and I notice these things. I come from a history of M cars, modified cars on springs/coilovers so I have a pretty good gauge of what rides soft and what rides firm especially living in NY where we have the shittiest roads. I've even messed with the tire pressures by lowering them slightly to take the edge off the sharp bumps but that can only do so much. On the highway obviously its fine. It drives like a M car. Its on the local roads where you have sharp broken pavement where you feel just how firm it is.

I bit the bullet and ordered Michelin PS4S for my X5M and they should be arriving tomorrow so I will let everyone know if the car drives any different compare to the Pzeros. I've put close to 2K miles on my pzero's so I have a pretty good idea how they feel under a variety of road types. While i was researching tires the M5 folks have the same two tires that the car comes with and those that swapped out the pzeros for the PS4S all say that the ride quality is better as well as wet weather traction.

Alan