All very good points!!

Time to write them all down in a hat and draw a name :) Have you taken the family with you to let them help decide? I know what you mean about the hump in the back of the iL, but the legroom will by far make up for that. I say take the whole entire family with you on the weekend, drive each car together and see which one fits the bill for everyone.

I bought a 740i 8 years ago
I considered a 5 series but the comfort of the 7 is superior especially in the rear seats
I sort of wish I had bought a long wheelbase though because the extra legroom makes the comfort supreme .
it really is a 4 seater car . superb on long trips .
I am about to start some restoration work on the 7, wish me luck .

What are you doing to it? Let me know if you want help or advice.

So I dealt with carrying my drumset in the G37 last night. It does fit, but getting the kick drum in the backseat is a tight fit, and the trunk is just barely big enough to carry all my gear, and I didn't actually have the full thing with me. A wagon would make hauling that a lot easier so would probably be my best fit. Backseat legroom isn't really that much of an issue for me. Actually, I would still probably go for a 7 just as a great highway cruiser if not for my hauling needs. But I do think that puts the 7 off the table for me.

So I have owned a few 5 series, including one E39 touring - it was a 99 540iT non sport package. That was the best road trip car I've ever had. Comfortable for long drives, plenty of space for my family and still very fun to drive. 7 would take it up one more notch, but the E39 touring is a great platform. I think I just talked myself into it!!

Only wildcard I keep exploring in my head is this 30K mile 06 R350 benz crossover van thingy at a dealer near me - they are asking $24K for it. That is $10K more than the E39 touring, but 30K miles is quite low, and that move would get me back into the X5 because the wife could use it for her weekly carpool duty. That would make a pretty good highway cruiser in it's own right. Trading some driving dynamics for comfort and amenities for the passengers. And even more spacious than a 5er wagon or X5 for cargo and matches rear seat legroom of the 7 too.

On the downside, they are really ugly vehicles, look like minivans, wife hates minivans, and wife doesn't like Mercedes as a general rule....

So E39 touring sounds like a pretty good call!!

Mercedes R350 is very nice car and comfortable,here in Europe we have short and long version,i recommend long.my father got 1 and is very happy.Mercedes didn't sell many R350 over here in Europe,but never the less that is 1 comfortable car.

only one version here, probably the long version. At least it sure looks long. That thing is a real beast - it's a big rig. Lots of interior space tho and very well laid out. They have not sold well here and resale is tanking which is why a 4 year old example with 30K miles is less than half of the original sales price making it a good value. I am not all that keen on them, but it would fill a need and there is no doubt that it would be a great family road trip car and give us the flexibility to bring 1 friend each for our kids on occasion.

not sure,but i think Mercedes R is ready 4 new model,that may be the reason the car is cheap.

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.

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...