My wife has driven BMW 3 Series cars for the past 7 or 8 years, and for the last 3 years a 330i Sport Automatic on 18" wheels - so the tyres are very thin. She has much enjoyed it, but is now becoming disenchanted with the harsh ride and heavy steering when parking. Maybe I should add that we are now both approaching our (very active) 70s, and ride comfort is becoming more important to us. She much prefers to use my similarly-aged BMW 740i - also on 18" wheels but of course much bigger tyres. We could return to a standard BMW 3 series with the smallest wheels, but could you make any other suggestion of an alternative with more comfortable ride and good performance, preferably of a make with some "prestige", even if not as high as that of BMW?