4 seaters: best at handling AND comfort/ride quality

2 adults + 2 kids (say 7 to 15 years old - no car seats)

What car is the best at delivering both awesome handling AND a comfortable ride?

The rest of the variables are wide open (price/power/etc)

Sounds like a BMW to me.

I will wait for someone who knows more than me.

An E46 MAY fit the bill, and does both well. But you may be better off with an E60. An E90 should also work, too. Hopefully, someone with more first hand experience than me can speak on the first gen CTS. I know that it's comfortable, but I don't know about the handling.

BMW 3 series is likely the answer here, but only if the suspension is in good shape. If over 100k miles they basically need new bushings and struts which gets real expensive.

Is300 is the answer here IMHO.

2016 Chevy SS. It doesn't have to be slow, right?

Infiniti G35 or G37 if you want to add reliability and ease of maintenance to handling and comfortable ride

RX-8 have great handling and a pretty smooth ride IMHO.

What's your cost range?

bmw e39, especially the m5

the e60 generation was far too soft for its own good, a problem the e90 shared

the e46 might be too small and darty for true daily driving comfort

i personally own a 03 540i touring (wagon), which has excellent handling, smooth comfortable ride, good feedback, and a big torquey V8....as well as more cubic feet of cargo space than most crossovers

beware, reliability is an issue but considering even the cleanest best maintained 540i tourings are less than 9 grand these days, spending 2 grand a year on dealer repairs/maintenance isnt such a tall order.

just wish they made an m5 touring...

(if you're considering AWD, don't. spend $650 on a set of brand new blizzaks snow tires and just rule the winter)

What is your annual mileage usage? You state that mileage and cost is wide open, so that changes a lot.

I had been in the German camp for a long time, I have had great Audis and awful BMWs. I did a happy dance the day my Lexus GS was totaled in a flood, what a boring, soft appliance. I am on the high end being in sales and project management and will put on 30k plus miles all in the city in a year.

I have gone to a G37 as a fun car that is low on maintenance and fits my family of 4 well (kids 1 and 7). Has plenty of rear leg room for adults, while still being good.

Going up market, AMG makes a great sedan as well as Porsche in the Panamerica. I have my eyes on the new Caddy right now, I get a different car every other year and I think I need to have an American car beyond the weekend SUV kicking around the house.

CTS-V, an M, an AMG?

BMW 3 series comes to mind, but it will depend on how big everyone is. The rear seats get pretty uncomfortable on some generations if you have to push them back to accommodate a tall driver.

I totally love my G37 and I'm glad I got it when I as looking for the exact same thing. I like it better than the wives 328I in both drive and comfort. The good thing is that it will fit 4 adults in it with ease but it doesn't drive big if that makes sense.

Do you care about kiddy comfort? 911s have back seats . Your description sounds like a BMW. E39s are starting to get a little long in the tooth, but are great driving cars. After I squashed mine I went e61. The e39 is sportier. E60 is a way more modern car on the feature/electronic and safety features (good and bad).

I've had the following...

E39 540i, unreliable as hell, fast, fun. Get the six cylinder version if you don't want it to blow up in various ways.

E46 330i ZHP (performance package) really good overall, very reliable, perfect balance of comfort and handling IMO.

E90 335i (sport package, lux package) huge power, little more room than the E46, much more of a grand touring car overall than the ZHP E46, much more vague in steering and handling, still not bad.

Harvey wrote: E39 540i, unreliable as hell, fast, fun. Get the six cylinder version if you don't want it to blow up in various ways.

the 540i's reputation is sort of overblown, it just has four big weakpoints that can be addressed

-the cooling system, which if you use a lower pressure 1.2bar cap and upgrade to a two speed electric cooling fan + aluminum expansion tank + metal impeller water pump, will last a good long while

-the leaky seals, which previously were made with crappy buna rubber, now the OEM seals are made of viton which is indestructible and will probably outlast the car

-the vanos system, which you can rebuild yourself over a weekend, and is actually nice since it makes the low end of the engine even more grunty than it would otherwise.

-the timing chain guides, which give you plenty of warning before they go out (grinding sound on cold start) and is also a weekend job but you'll need to rent tools to lock the camshafts.

you can also pay a shop to do all this, it'd be like 4 grand of parts and labor but that'll make the engine unkillable for another 150k miles at least

Acura TL with the SH-AWD? It comes with a 6-speed manual in the previous generation, seems like it would be fun and the SH-AWD is pretty good in the corners (for a heavier FWD). I have a third-gen and they made the manual Type-S in that body style too.

joekitch wrote:

Harvey wrote: E39 540i, unreliable as hell, fast, fun. Get the six cylinder version if you don't want it to blow up in various ways.

the 540i's reputation is sort of overblown, it just has four big weakpoints that can be addressed -the cooling system, which if you use a lower pressure 1.2bar cap and upgrade to a two speed electric cooling fan + aluminum expansion tank + metal impeller water pump, will last a good long while -the leaky seals, which previously were made with crappy buna rubber, now the OEM seals are made of viton which is indestructible and will probably outlast the car -the vanos system, which you can rebuild yourself over a weekend, and is actually nice since it makes the low end of the engine even more grunty than it would otherwise. -the timing chain guides, which give you plenty of warning before they go out (grinding sound on cold start) and is also a weekend job but you'll need to rent tools to lock the camshafts.

And by getting one that has the M62 engine vs the M62TU, you get the benefit of not dealing with the Vanos, a bit more revvy, and a normal alternator instead of a water cooled unit. They really aren't very unreliable overall, in fact.

My own answer to this was, along with the E39 540i, is the E38 740i M Sport, and I put my money where my mouth is and bought (another ) one for $7500:

Much space, much fast, much fun, much class.

Drives like a much smaller car and gets smaller around you the faster you go.

How about a Taurus SHO or Lincoln MKS? Pontiac G8? 4 Door Legacy GT? I know its wrong wheel drive to some and a little vanilla but what about an Accord Sport?

I second the E38 Sport. Even with the automatic, they are great cars.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Just to clarify "comfortable ride" I was thinking strictly the suspension... something my wife would tolerate but can still tear up the corners.

Luxury and interior space are not too important as long as kids fit in the back. Power is desirable but not as important as handling.

I've never driven 5/7 series BMW or G37 - can they really handle?

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the current crop of hot hatches.

Since price isn't a consideration I'm going to go with the Panamera Turbo S.

jv8 wrote: Just to clarify "comfortable ride" I was thinking strictly the suspension... something my wife would tolerate but can still tear up the corners.

7/5 series Sport versions do both just fine.

I've never driven 5/7 series BMW or G37 - can they really handle?

Surprisingly well. Many midsize or larger cars that are comfy tend to get worse and feel bigger as you push them in the twisties. These cars feel smaller and more agile the more you push them. So you can have your cake and drive it too.

BMW M3 sedan for the win. The E90 with a manual. Drive it, and you will see. Not too stiff, either, especially if you can find the ZCP model with the extra active suspension programming.

The E92 coupes are easier to find, and my teenagers do not have any problem with the back seating arrangements in that, either.

Maintenance is not cheap. This is not a grassroots ride. "But when you shoot it, you will know where that extra money went."