Does the E39 handle?

Peter Fenwick wrote: To be honest thge first line of the answer says it all doesn't it "First off, if you enjoy driving your 530, then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks"

Never a truer word spoken

True but they did follow it up with:

"Having said that, we reckon the E39 is still a darned good saloon

 

Regarding the tyre test, i.e. cheap versus expensive, it's true that you get what you pay for, but only in terms of wear and tear. I have a few close contacts in the tyre world (I work in a garage) and a guy once said to me (he has 15 years experience in tyres) ALL tyres have to pass the stringent european safety standards test and these aren't a quick stint around a track, these are run until destruction, testing in all cars, all road conditions and several times over and over.

All tyres you buy have to pass these tests to be able to be sold within the EU. There are differences between the way they perform and feel on each car and it differs between personal preferance too, but on comparable situatoins, they should all perform quite well.

The main difference is cheap tyres will last less time than expensive ones. I was shown a good quality tyre (either yokohama's or goodyear, I forget) and a budget copy. Both treads were identical, the EU safety digits were on both tyres, but the budgets were half the price and you'd get about 2 thirds of the wear from them.

The expensive ones may be a little quieter on the road but the grip and water displacement effect should be fairly even.

Not an opinion, just something I was told once by a guy who knows a thing or two about rubber!!

Mike

Edited by 540 V8

spokey wrote: spokey wrote: Peter Fenwick wrote: ...besides according to the tests the Toyos are better OK, I'll give them a go next time. And just to prove that Telegraph readers CAN learn something (unlike Guardian readers!) I have fitted four Toyo Proxes T1-R's to my Z1 and I'm very happy with them!

Glad to here you like them. I'm going to be getting some fitted to my 530 after christmas.

Oh and I wouldn't bother reading any news papers, except of course to do the sodoku

kbannon wrote: Peter Fenwick wrote: Oh and I wouldn't bother reading any news papers, except of course to do the sodoku Not a Sun 'reader' then?

I have been for the last two weeks!

I have been doing Jury duty and have have had a lot of time to kill, so I have been reading another persons copy of the Sun. For reading I do of course mean checking out page 3 and doing the sodoku

nsmjm02 wrote: The Senator is by a million miles the best car I have ever driven.For a car of its size its handling and total composure on a twisty B road is totally amazing and I wouls say it even shades the E39.

No Vauxhall I ever drove would even shade my E21.

did they not stockpile omegas too?  i seem to remember reading something about that - i thought mine was great fun, a genuine rival to the 5-series

bmwcare wrote: spokey wrote: No Vauxhall I ever drove would even shade my E21. Obviously you haven't driven many... The Lotus Carlton is a better drive than an E39 M5/E34 M5/E36 M3/E46 M3 --- but only if you're able to drive...

Spot the difference.

bmwcare wrote: The Lotus Carlton is a better drive than an E39 M5

Are you sure?

When Evo magazine compared the Lotus carlton to the E39 M5 they said it fought it's corner well but it was certainly not a better car.

As for E46 M3? I seriously doubt it.

The Lotus carlton was undoubtably a great car but to say it is better than an M3 and M5 built 10 years later is just being silly IMO.

 

Edited by Peter Fenwick

UweM3 wrote: My523 wrote: stephenperry wrote: in my experience over the years the cheapy tyres (nankang, marshall, federal, avon etc) have really hard compounds so they last forever at the expense of wet weather grip, whereas the expensive sports ones (yokohama, pirelli, michelin) aren't that much better in the wet for the price difference yet wear much more quickly.. Exactly, that's what Iv'e allway's found too.. second that too. I have had some good experience with "cheap" tyres in the last 5 years. Many no name brands are owned by the big players now and just move their last years technology over to the east and produce for less (you just need to find out who is who) I only spend loads of money and track day tyres, everything else will be a value for money purchase.

i kinda go along with this too.  my brother in law is a tyre fitter (cost price tyres for me!!!!) and he put Marangoni Herons on my 520.  they were the best wet weather tyre i've ever used.  using falkens on the 525 at the minute because the tread pattern that was on the marangonis is no longer being made.  at the end of the day its all about personal preference, there was a guy used to come in to him with a merc. and fork out €1200 for a set of 4 (don't know what they were) and get at best 12,000 miles out of them.

wrt to o/t, i think that the e39 is the best car in my experience of driving.  i've had a couple of hot hatches (92 civic being one) and i much prefer what i have now.  we have an opel vectra at work, '05 one, if it was on fire i wouldn't cross the road to put it out i hate it that much.  it has zero road holding, the handling is all over the place.  any kind of speed at all on a bumpy road and it's all over the shop.  it just doesn't feel safe at all.  a man i used to work with said that his favourite car over the years was the 2.8 granada, a tank of a car and nigh on bulletproof!!!.

D.