MacGuffin
Forum Addict
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2008
- Messages
- 8,329
- Location
- Wilhelmshaven, Germany
- Car(s)
- '17 Ford Mustang GT Fastback
Last year in April I already had one of the current BMW 7-series, the 730d. But since I needed that car for a rather long trip to southern Germany then, there wasn't enough time for a proper review or to make videos. So the review back then was a bit short and hasty. I promised myself to be more thorough the next time I get my hands on one.
The opportunity came last Thursday, when I saw a 740d parked at my trusted car rental. I asked about the car but it was already reserved for the weekend and right after that, it was scheduled for sale. But if the customer doesn't crack the 24,000 kilometer mark on the odometer, they said, I could have it. So I hoped he wouldn't.
And he didn't. Actually the previous customer only drove the car about 500 km in 4 days. Why did he rent it at all??? It's expensive, for crying out loud.
Anyway, his loss was my advantage. So I proudly took the car on Tuesday. It wasn't until I took the pictures of the car, that I realized it's not only a 740d but the 4WD version with xDrive:
The engine is the familiar 3-liter 6-cylinder twin-turbo diesel, which I already know from the X3, the 3-Series and the 5-series. In the 7-Series it comes with 306 HP and 600 Nm of torque (from 1500 - 2500 rpm). And of course it has the 8-speed automatic, which is really excellent.
The data sheet says it takes 6.0 seconds from 0-100 km/h but when I stopped the time it was between 6.5 and 7 seconds. The reason is obvious: Weight. This car came with almost everything the list of optional extras could offer. So I did a quick calculation and came to the conclusion, that with two people and a full tank, this car probably weighs 2200 kg.
So it doesn't come as a surprise, that it wasn't nearly as quick as the 5-Series, not to mention the 3-series. In fact, with 20 HP less and "only" a 6-speed automatic, the 335d is 5 seconds faster from 0-200 km/h, than the 7-series, which confirms my assumption, that the 335d might be the fastest factory-standard diesel on the market right now. If they upgrade the 3-series to 300 HP and install the 8-speed gearbox, it will probably even beat the mighty Audi A8 4.2 TDI.
But back to topic. The interior is very nice but also very familiar. That's because it looks exactly like in the 5-series but only a bit wider. As a matter of fact, the similarity raises the question, why to buy a 7-series, when you can also have an equally nice 5-series:
If you ask me, BMW is making a mistake to make their cars look alike that much. The 7-series is supposed to be the pinnacle of automobile engineering, the best of the best. Yet you have trouble to tell by a look in the rear mirror, if it is a 1-series or a 7-series, that's tailgating you on the Autobahn. Even though the 7-series is considerably larger, than the 5-series, the shape is so similar, that you have to look twice to tell which is which.
A luxury barge like the 7-series is targeting a group of customers, that not necessarily have a passion for understatement. If you want to drive such a car, you usually want others to recognize what it is, without having to check what it says on the boot lid. And you don't wanna have to explain to everybody all the time, that it is a 7er and not a 5er.
Mercedes does it right. The S-Class is a completely different animal from the inside and the outside, than any other car in their portfolio. It is immediately recogized as an S-Class, the top model, the legendary luxury icon and nothing else. BMW (and Audi) still have a lot to learn to equal the Benz, when it comes to image and status.
However, the 7-series might look like a pumped-up 5-series but the driving experience is a completely different one. For once, the 7-series is massive and also feels massive. I'd say it feels even more massive, than an S-Class. It also is a lot quieter inside, than a 5-series. Which has advantages and disadvantages.
The upside is, that the driving experience is extremely relaxed, because you are acoustically shielded from the outside world. Even rough cobblestone doesn't produce any vibrations or deep-frequency resonances inside. At high speeds there is some wind noise but it always stays on a level, where don't have to raise your voice, when you wanna talk with your passengers.
The downside of the good sound insulation is, that the grumble of the diesel engine is much more promiment, than in the 5-series. And you will notice even the tiniest creak or fizz, despite the overall superb interior and trim quality.
I wouldn't labour the point so much, if I hadn't driven an S350 diesel before and know, that Mercedes doesn't have that downside. The S-Class is even more quiet and refined and the engine is barely audible despite of that. Maybe BMW wants to give the driver a better "driving experience" and therefore gives the engine "more room", acoustically speaking. I don't know.
The road behaviour is flawless on country roads. Despite the width of the car you don't have any panic attacks, when you are on a narrow C-road and a garbage truck comes towards you. The steering is precise, the directional stability nothing but perfect. Only finding a parking space in narrow towns will definitely be a problem, since in addition to its size, the car doesn't give you a real feeling about where it starts and ends. You end up choosing parking spaces, that are really big, just in case.
Things are different on the Autobahn, though. Size doesn't matter here and the BMW 7-series belongs to the rare species of perfect companions for long trips at high speeds. 200 km/h feels like cruising really.
Unfortunately this car was already equipped with winter tyres (why? it's just October and the car is being sold now!!) and even worse, those winter tyres are only allowed to do 210 km/h. Yup, 210. In a car that's electronically limited to 250 km/h. They put winter tyres with 240 km/h clearance on the X3 but on the 7-series they choose to equip it with tyres with a clearance of 210. Again: Why, for God's sake?
And on the Autobahn those winter tyres are not really good as well. They make the car crosswind-sensitive and in corners or when the road surface changes or has ruts, they have a tendency to let the car "swim", meaning you have a very unpleasant feeling of the car getting light and waggle about. Not a good choice of tyres from BMW, especially since BMW lacks a system like the "Active Body Control" Mercedes offers for the S-Class, which compensates crosswinds and instabilities, before the driver even notices them.
The biggest downside (and the biggest disappointment) of the 7-series, though, is something you wouldn't expect in such a car: A lack of space for the driver and discontenting ergonomics.
I will of course elaborate:
Even when I lower the driver's seat as much as possible and raise the steering wheel to its top position, the top of the steering wheel partly blocks the view on the speedometer for people as tall as I. For some reason, the steering wheel cannot be adjusted high enough, which also means, that whenever I entered the car, I had to squeeze my legs in place, especially when I was caring a wallet in the front pocket. The fact, that the front doors are too short and that you have to literally get around the B-pillar to let yourself down into the driver's seat, isn't helping either. And when you have squeezed yourself in, you often realize, that you have rolled up the carpet with your feet in the process and have to put it into place again.
This is not a matter of body mass, mind you. Granted, I'm a fat bloke but this is a problem that all tall people will have in this car. I was able to find a good sitting position but with reduced visibility on the instruments. And, what's even more strange, also with reduced visibility on the head-up display. When I was sitting straight in my seat, part of the head-up display was cut off. I had to bow my head a little to see the full display. Not good. Especially when you consider, that I had none of these problems with the 5-Series.
At least the backseat passengers have plenty of room. Even with me at the wheel, another bloke of my size has no problem fitting in back there. And entering and exiting is easier in the back, too. This 7-series is only a driver's car, if the driver is shorter than 185 cm. Otherwise you'll better have a chauffeur.
So my final verdict is this: The BMW 7-series is a very good car, that surely belongs among the best out there. But it has some flaws, which the S-Class simply doesn't have. So currently the 7er is "only" the number 2 on my personal ranking list, sharing this place with the 5-series, which all in all is the more harmonic product.
On a side note: Overall consumption was 10 liters/100 km. Which is very good really. I was limited to 210 km/h, though, which helped a lot with that
The appeal, look and feeling of the interior is beyond any doubt. A current Audi A6 feels like a cheap plastic vehicle from Korea compared to this. On the centerconsole you find the iDrive of course, the electric handbrake, the automatic descent function (it's a 4WD, remember?), the adjustments for suspension and gearbox (Comfort, Normal, Sport and Sport+), the OFF switch for the ESP and of course the gear lever, which also contains a manual option (but why would you want that in a car like this?).
In a car like this, a great number of knobs and buttons is standard. This shows the left side of the steering wheel. On the indicator stalk, you also have the following functions:
- Changing the display of the onboard computer (Consumption, range, average speed, etc.)
- Automatic light control for the high beam on/off
Also on the left side of the steering wheel is the control of the radar-guided cruise control. The buttons from top left in clockwise order are:
- Setting current speed as the speed to hold
- Shortening the automatic distance the car shall hold
- Setting the cruise control to higher or lower speed (strangely enough it only works up to 180 km/h)
- On/off button
The cruise control is not very intuitive and especially at night you have to look for the right button. What you cannot see in this picture, is the stalk for the elecric adjustment of the steering wheel. It's behind the cruise control settings.
The right side of the steering whel. The button at the end of the window wiper stalk activates the rain sensor. You can adjust the sensivity.
The buttons on the steering wheel from upper left in clockwise order:
- Mode (switch between radio, CD or USB device)
- Higher volume
- Lower volume
- Button to activate the language control
- Telephone
- Wheel to switch radio stations or tracks on CD or USB device. You can also push it down to select.
A look through the rear window from the outside reveals, that they even put some wood on the shelf back there. The strip at the back contains the electric blinds.
The boot is very spacious. Lots of room for luggage in there.
Here's a video of the electric blinds in the back:
And a video of me browsing through the iDrive:
Some acceleration videos:
[video=youtube;I5K6-2SEA34]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5K6-2SEA34[/video]
Two longer driving videos I call "Driver's Seat": I fixed the keychain camera with duct tape to a baseball cap and wore it.
[video=youtube;4QSgA66nz-Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QSgA66nz-Y[/video]
[video=youtube;iR2D9d-iFoM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR2D9d-iFoM[/video]
A night drive through down with me doing some errants:
I hope this review was thorough enough. If I left out something or you wanna know more, ask
The opportunity came last Thursday, when I saw a 740d parked at my trusted car rental. I asked about the car but it was already reserved for the weekend and right after that, it was scheduled for sale. But if the customer doesn't crack the 24,000 kilometer mark on the odometer, they said, I could have it. So I hoped he wouldn't.
And he didn't. Actually the previous customer only drove the car about 500 km in 4 days. Why did he rent it at all??? It's expensive, for crying out loud.
Anyway, his loss was my advantage. So I proudly took the car on Tuesday. It wasn't until I took the pictures of the car, that I realized it's not only a 740d but the 4WD version with xDrive:
The engine is the familiar 3-liter 6-cylinder twin-turbo diesel, which I already know from the X3, the 3-Series and the 5-series. In the 7-Series it comes with 306 HP and 600 Nm of torque (from 1500 - 2500 rpm). And of course it has the 8-speed automatic, which is really excellent.
The data sheet says it takes 6.0 seconds from 0-100 km/h but when I stopped the time it was between 6.5 and 7 seconds. The reason is obvious: Weight. This car came with almost everything the list of optional extras could offer. So I did a quick calculation and came to the conclusion, that with two people and a full tank, this car probably weighs 2200 kg.
So it doesn't come as a surprise, that it wasn't nearly as quick as the 5-Series, not to mention the 3-series. In fact, with 20 HP less and "only" a 6-speed automatic, the 335d is 5 seconds faster from 0-200 km/h, than the 7-series, which confirms my assumption, that the 335d might be the fastest factory-standard diesel on the market right now. If they upgrade the 3-series to 300 HP and install the 8-speed gearbox, it will probably even beat the mighty Audi A8 4.2 TDI.
But back to topic. The interior is very nice but also very familiar. That's because it looks exactly like in the 5-series but only a bit wider. As a matter of fact, the similarity raises the question, why to buy a 7-series, when you can also have an equally nice 5-series:
If you ask me, BMW is making a mistake to make their cars look alike that much. The 7-series is supposed to be the pinnacle of automobile engineering, the best of the best. Yet you have trouble to tell by a look in the rear mirror, if it is a 1-series or a 7-series, that's tailgating you on the Autobahn. Even though the 7-series is considerably larger, than the 5-series, the shape is so similar, that you have to look twice to tell which is which.
A luxury barge like the 7-series is targeting a group of customers, that not necessarily have a passion for understatement. If you want to drive such a car, you usually want others to recognize what it is, without having to check what it says on the boot lid. And you don't wanna have to explain to everybody all the time, that it is a 7er and not a 5er.
Mercedes does it right. The S-Class is a completely different animal from the inside and the outside, than any other car in their portfolio. It is immediately recogized as an S-Class, the top model, the legendary luxury icon and nothing else. BMW (and Audi) still have a lot to learn to equal the Benz, when it comes to image and status.
However, the 7-series might look like a pumped-up 5-series but the driving experience is a completely different one. For once, the 7-series is massive and also feels massive. I'd say it feels even more massive, than an S-Class. It also is a lot quieter inside, than a 5-series. Which has advantages and disadvantages.
The upside is, that the driving experience is extremely relaxed, because you are acoustically shielded from the outside world. Even rough cobblestone doesn't produce any vibrations or deep-frequency resonances inside. At high speeds there is some wind noise but it always stays on a level, where don't have to raise your voice, when you wanna talk with your passengers.
The downside of the good sound insulation is, that the grumble of the diesel engine is much more promiment, than in the 5-series. And you will notice even the tiniest creak or fizz, despite the overall superb interior and trim quality.
I wouldn't labour the point so much, if I hadn't driven an S350 diesel before and know, that Mercedes doesn't have that downside. The S-Class is even more quiet and refined and the engine is barely audible despite of that. Maybe BMW wants to give the driver a better "driving experience" and therefore gives the engine "more room", acoustically speaking. I don't know.
The road behaviour is flawless on country roads. Despite the width of the car you don't have any panic attacks, when you are on a narrow C-road and a garbage truck comes towards you. The steering is precise, the directional stability nothing but perfect. Only finding a parking space in narrow towns will definitely be a problem, since in addition to its size, the car doesn't give you a real feeling about where it starts and ends. You end up choosing parking spaces, that are really big, just in case.
Things are different on the Autobahn, though. Size doesn't matter here and the BMW 7-series belongs to the rare species of perfect companions for long trips at high speeds. 200 km/h feels like cruising really.
Unfortunately this car was already equipped with winter tyres (why? it's just October and the car is being sold now!!) and even worse, those winter tyres are only allowed to do 210 km/h. Yup, 210. In a car that's electronically limited to 250 km/h. They put winter tyres with 240 km/h clearance on the X3 but on the 7-series they choose to equip it with tyres with a clearance of 210. Again: Why, for God's sake?
And on the Autobahn those winter tyres are not really good as well. They make the car crosswind-sensitive and in corners or when the road surface changes or has ruts, they have a tendency to let the car "swim", meaning you have a very unpleasant feeling of the car getting light and waggle about. Not a good choice of tyres from BMW, especially since BMW lacks a system like the "Active Body Control" Mercedes offers for the S-Class, which compensates crosswinds and instabilities, before the driver even notices them.
The biggest downside (and the biggest disappointment) of the 7-series, though, is something you wouldn't expect in such a car: A lack of space for the driver and discontenting ergonomics.
I will of course elaborate:
Even when I lower the driver's seat as much as possible and raise the steering wheel to its top position, the top of the steering wheel partly blocks the view on the speedometer for people as tall as I. For some reason, the steering wheel cannot be adjusted high enough, which also means, that whenever I entered the car, I had to squeeze my legs in place, especially when I was caring a wallet in the front pocket. The fact, that the front doors are too short and that you have to literally get around the B-pillar to let yourself down into the driver's seat, isn't helping either. And when you have squeezed yourself in, you often realize, that you have rolled up the carpet with your feet in the process and have to put it into place again.
This is not a matter of body mass, mind you. Granted, I'm a fat bloke but this is a problem that all tall people will have in this car. I was able to find a good sitting position but with reduced visibility on the instruments. And, what's even more strange, also with reduced visibility on the head-up display. When I was sitting straight in my seat, part of the head-up display was cut off. I had to bow my head a little to see the full display. Not good. Especially when you consider, that I had none of these problems with the 5-Series.
At least the backseat passengers have plenty of room. Even with me at the wheel, another bloke of my size has no problem fitting in back there. And entering and exiting is easier in the back, too. This 7-series is only a driver's car, if the driver is shorter than 185 cm. Otherwise you'll better have a chauffeur.
So my final verdict is this: The BMW 7-series is a very good car, that surely belongs among the best out there. But it has some flaws, which the S-Class simply doesn't have. So currently the 7er is "only" the number 2 on my personal ranking list, sharing this place with the 5-series, which all in all is the more harmonic product.
On a side note: Overall consumption was 10 liters/100 km. Which is very good really. I was limited to 210 km/h, though, which helped a lot with that
The appeal, look and feeling of the interior is beyond any doubt. A current Audi A6 feels like a cheap plastic vehicle from Korea compared to this. On the centerconsole you find the iDrive of course, the electric handbrake, the automatic descent function (it's a 4WD, remember?), the adjustments for suspension and gearbox (Comfort, Normal, Sport and Sport+), the OFF switch for the ESP and of course the gear lever, which also contains a manual option (but why would you want that in a car like this?).
In a car like this, a great number of knobs and buttons is standard. This shows the left side of the steering wheel. On the indicator stalk, you also have the following functions:
- Changing the display of the onboard computer (Consumption, range, average speed, etc.)
- Automatic light control for the high beam on/off
Also on the left side of the steering wheel is the control of the radar-guided cruise control. The buttons from top left in clockwise order are:
- Setting current speed as the speed to hold
- Shortening the automatic distance the car shall hold
- Setting the cruise control to higher or lower speed (strangely enough it only works up to 180 km/h)
- On/off button
The cruise control is not very intuitive and especially at night you have to look for the right button. What you cannot see in this picture, is the stalk for the elecric adjustment of the steering wheel. It's behind the cruise control settings.
The right side of the steering whel. The button at the end of the window wiper stalk activates the rain sensor. You can adjust the sensivity.
The buttons on the steering wheel from upper left in clockwise order:
- Mode (switch between radio, CD or USB device)
- Higher volume
- Lower volume
- Button to activate the language control
- Telephone
- Wheel to switch radio stations or tracks on CD or USB device. You can also push it down to select.
A look through the rear window from the outside reveals, that they even put some wood on the shelf back there. The strip at the back contains the electric blinds.
The boot is very spacious. Lots of room for luggage in there.
Here's a video of the electric blinds in the back:
And a video of me browsing through the iDrive:
Some acceleration videos:
Two longer driving videos I call "Driver's Seat": I fixed the keychain camera with duct tape to a baseball cap and wore it.
[video=youtube;4QSgA66nz-Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QSgA66nz-Y[/video]
[video=youtube;iR2D9d-iFoM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR2D9d-iFoM[/video]
A night drive through down with me doing some errants:
I hope this review was thorough enough. If I left out something or you wanna know more, ask
