We sold both our e53 for trading "sideways" for E70s and I was lothe to "sidegrade" to e70 after reading lots of posts regarding loss of road feel/feedback and then wife got hers about 9 months before me.

It is true the wonderful road feedback is dulled. However, note that I've driven 5-6,000 miles with the N55 and 500-1000 in wife's N63, I'm mostly on board with the "improvements".

My 35i rides a lot smoother than my old 3.0i and smoother than wife's 50i. I'm very happy with the trade "over".

Where the E70s beat the crap out of the e53 since we just had m54s; the passing power is amazing. 70-100 zone to get around some traffic to get into an exit lane etc as wife says; "don't even worry about it, she'll get you there".

I never got to drive 4.6 or 4.8 e53 and that was meant to be my next car when corona car pricing made a nice e53 cost more than a decent e70. I wanted to get a newer model year to stave off some of the plastics degradation.

I still read/post on e53 forum prob more than the e70 since my '01 e53 was my first BMW and prob still my favorite.

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2011 E70 • N55 (me)
2012 E70 • N63 (wife)