Quote:
Originally Posted by dragoncoach
Don't drive an ugly car! We managed to raise 2 kids w/ SAV/SUV's and no vans. Never liked the look of a van. It's screams family/kid hauler car! Very practical but my wife feels the same as yours...she hates vans! I've managed to make a sport ute work for us, hauling our basketball teams to tournaments etc. The E39 touring sounds like the solution. It has more room than the E39 sedan and the E53 SAV. Good luck finding a well cared for, low mileage E39 Touring.
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So I went over to the dealer to drive the 540iT again for a longer run than last time. I really liked it a lot and was all set to make them an offer on it. And then on some rough roads I started to notice a lot of tailgate rattling. And it got pretty bad. It was really annoying. So I skipped the offer part.
I did some research and seems there is an auto-close motor mechanism that has a pin that breaks rather easily. But there is no replacement for that pin other than the entire motor assembly. So you can jury-rig something and it may work for awhile. I remember having all kinds of trouble with that tailgate with our 99 touring - seems BMW did not improve the design by 2003 like I had hoped. So I just can't see going there - rattles bug the sh!t out of me, and it doesn't seem there is a very easy fix for it.
Too bad because otherwise I really liked it.
And now I have no idea what direction I will take.... Maybe just go back to the 740iL idea. Those cars are tight and smooth. Less than ideal not being a wagon, but I figure if I stick with a long wheelbase model there is so darn much room in the back seat that all the stuff I carry will easily be sucked up in that car with room to spare. No point in looking at a short wheelbase version. I think it's either 7 series or an alternative wagon. I like the V70R quite a bit - I could see getting one of those. It's not quite up to BMW standards, but it's better than a E class wagon in terms of driving dynamics. I could see maybe a S6 if I could find one, but they are so rare. I even have winter tires and rims that would fit one of those left over from my S4 Avant...