well, I just bought a set of Vredestein. Up here at Brissie I couldn't get anything else with the same loading at close to their price. I paid a bit more than what you can get in Sydney but I would've had to pay for postage and fitting if I get them sent from Sydney.
Getting them fitted next week. Hopefully they will ride better than the round concrete blocks that are fitted to the car at the moment. The thumps and jolts when going over anything other than a smooth surface are totally not befitting of a luxury car.

Btw Have you got Sports suspension / Adaptive drive or just the standard setup. ? What size wheels were you running again ?

just standard suspension. 20" wheels.

20s on an E70 will never give a true luxo-car ride except on good multi-lane roads ... even with non-sport suspension.

I should probably reword my previous comment. I wasn't expecting a true luxo-car ride, like a merc s class, having fitted the 20" wheels. It was just worse than I expected.

Will see how the Vredestein turns out next week.

Good luck with them.

I've got 21" and rft's and practically everyone who gets in and rides in it, even if it's just from the office to some restaurant for lunch, remarks on how nice a ride it is

Went to the local dealer today and was told the new iDrive will be available from mid-December09. Was also told the current executive package will be renamed and replaced by a package called 'Innovation" from mid December.

Adds the following options to the existing exec pkg: Xenon, high beam assist, auto tailgate & USB/audio.

The dealer was vague on pricing and would not leave a price-list with me.

Has anyone else been told about this package and the pricing?

I heard about the 'Innovation' package replacing the 'Executive' package last week from a friend who has just ordered a 35d. He didn't mention pricing however.

Tires
 

I am surprised at the tyre comments. I have had an x5 for 2 years 30,000 km on 18 inch rims Michelin run flats. Dealer says probably another 20,000 or so to go. Good ride quiet what is wrong with runflats?