Road Test: BMW 750i

The new BMW 7 series will be a familiar sight along Leninsky Avenue in Moscow and West Nanjing Road in China and you may even see a few in Sandton and Cape Town. It’s in BMW’s key markets of China, Russia and the United States, however, where the traditional saloon flagship still carries serious kudos and big sales writes Richard Webb.

In the bigger picture, BMW is slugging it out with Mercedes and Audi in an epic battle to be the plutocrats’ vehicle of choice. This 2012 BMW 7 series is meant to give next year’s all-new S-Class the politest middle finger when it eventually arrives.

You’ll be forgiven for wondering what has changed on this latest flagship from BMW. Adrian Van Hooydonk, Head of Design for BMW Group says, “The revised 7 Series has a strong character, but is definitely not flashy.” I agree. Okay, so it’s got full LED headlights (the next generation will have laser lights), as well as new grille and front bumper treatment, but is that it? Not quite, because BMW have been engineering away on the oily bits that you can’t see under that familiar sheet metal.

The rear suspension has been re-engineered, with new dampers, bushes and self-leveling air-suspension. The move from hydraulic power to an electric steering system has improved efficiency and it is noticeably better. Nominally the 7’s Achilles heel, ride quality, has been much improved. It even deals with our poor road surfaces much better than before, but that improvement alone may not tempt you out of your S-Class.

Inside, the new multi-function display changes depending on which of the Eco-Pro, Comfort and Sport driving modes are selected. It is unfortunate that the digital speedo and rev counter is not all that convincing and leaves one wondering what happened to BMW’s crisp graphics.

To really appreciate BMW’s ConnectedDrive portfolio, you’ll need to take some time off from the buying and selling of conglomerates to fully appreciate what technical masterpiece it has become. The car, like a flirtatious encounter, slowly reveals its multiple charms in a way that keeps you intrigued. BMW Night Vision (that helps you to recognise pedestrians in the dark), the anti-dazzle LED High-Beam Assistant, Driver Assistant Plus with Lane Departure Warning, Cruise Control with Stop & Go function and Speed Limit Info, all tie into a more powerful operating system.

After a while, they are all simple to operate and, unlike a flirtatious encounter, the familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. You have to hand it to BMW. They plugged on with iDrive and they have now got it down perfectly.

In the back, where most buyers will plant their expense-account bottoms, there’s a new entertainment package offering DVD screens as big as iPads, floating celestially on the back of the front headrests and various gadgets to make life more opulent. The cabin is pretty much as it was before, which is no bad thing because the materials are top class and it’s built like a beautiful Swiss watch, but the real fun is in the driving of the thing.

The 750i, has been given a revised TwinPower, 330 kW, 4.4-litre V8 engine and rockets the car from a near silent tickover to 100 km/h in just 4.8 seconds. The 8-speed automatic gearbox keeps things smooth around town, shifting quickly and smoothly. Activate Sport or Sport+ modes and the steering sharpens up, the bulk barely rolls and the car feels as playful as that powerful 3 series.

Get up to cruising speed though and the 7′s refinement and road noise is no better than the current S-Class. Efficiency, as you’d expect from BMW, is off the scale for such a huge car, which sees the CO2 of the 750i weigh in at 199 g/km and a claimed combined fuel consumption figure of 8.6 L/100 km; although I couldn’t achieve anywhere close to that. That’s a phenomenal figure for such a weighty limo.

The 750i is an impressive car when it is on the move. In every setting, the car feels incredibly fast, with that muted V8 burbling under acceleration and fading away to a restrained thrust once it settles down to cruising speed. Select Comfort or Comfort+ and the suspension softens up, but not quite soft enough.

The more time you spend with the car, the more convincing it is as BMW’s worthy flagship, even if it doesn’t especially look like one, with the ‘same sausage, different length’ school of design. It does hide its bulk beautifully though, requiring many to look twice to tell it apart from a 5 or even 3 series. Despite the seemingly huge size of the car, it is immensely practical. The boot is huge, parking is easy thanks to radar parking sensors and the turning circle rivals a London cab. Almost.

The new 1 200-watt, 16-speaker, Bang & Olufsen High End Surround Sound System delivers unimpeachable sound quality and can be seriously loud enough to annoy the neighbours, in the next suburb. The illuminated B&O Acoustic Lens Technology speaker retracts almost fully into the centre of the instrument panel, giving a child-like satisfaction as you watch it lift up to reveal its jewel like quality upon ignition.

Last year more than 1 500 examples of the 7 Series were sold in Russia, but locally, we will see tiny volumes sold and a continuation of buyers shifting towards SUVs like the X5 and X6.

What we like…

• The peerless engine, gearbox and drive-train.
• Indecently easy to hustle down narrow, twisty roads and in the city.
• Makes a convincingly discrete statement wherever you go.

What we would like…

• More limousine type ride.
• More design character in the folded metal.

Comments

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments