Smith's assessment's definitely highlights...pretty much all of it. Simple buffs to the unit itself is probably not what the entire situation really needs.
ofc let's just forget about the same feature on german tanks lol
The Panther didn't have those. I don't think any of the German tanks had them, actually - though I hear the suspension of the Panther might have provided some help on the move/firing from stopping anyway (the latter of which was the only true practical benefit from the stabilizer for Sherman tank crews as it turned out).
I think that as a unit they are fine, just too expensive for what they are. At this price, 60 range shouldn't be out of the question.
I'd say that's far too dangerous. 60 range is something many 100+ fuel AT-specialized vehicles rely on, from Elefants to Jacksons. There's too much risk of it becoming some variant on the Comet's complete bullshit if you traded the AI for +10 range.
...and frankly, it's still be fairly weird then because it'd still reload a second slower than a Comet while clearly being AT-based and having the same damage per hit. I really think it's a slope not worth standing on, I wasn't a fan of the IS-2+Tiger range changes either.