Sevenupmanship by BMW
FROM F1
shaped seats, space galore and adjustable ambient light and a fragrance dispenser to capture just the right mood.
In ordinary cars, heated seats are not uncommon, but the new 7 adds heated armrests front and rear, while rear occupants can be cooled or warmed to choice in their compartment, and are afforded a detachable wireless tablet to use while the seats’ massage function calms them down. If they need to be kneaded back into sharpness on arrival at that important business meeting a so-called "Vitality" function can be requested too.
Among the debuting technology for BMW’s 7-series VI is a "Gesture Control" set-up that allows us to use the swipe and pinch movements we have become used to when browsing tablets and phones for the iDrive interface, which can still be accessed and used with the rotating knob if you wish or by voice and signature recognition. While driving, a practised twirl of the fingers, a swipe, point or pinch can adjust and select almost anything, as long as you make your movements in the confines close to the lower dash area. Any heigher and it may now be picked up, while passer’sby could think you’re conducting a hidden orchestra or worse making rude road-rage gestures.
The standard Bowers & Wilkins sound system may be able to power out 1,400 watts though 16 speakers, but even better music can still be made by BMW’s Twinpowered sixes and eights, both on the track and off it. The 2016 BMW 7-Series arrives in most markets in 3-litre six-cylinder 730i, 730d, 740i, 740d versions each with rearwheel-drive while the 750i V8 will have xDrive which may also become an option in New Zealand.
All the offered engines are more efficient than before, with the 730d being even less of a gasguzzler than before and able to confuse both the Greens and Labour even more than before with 4.5L/100km combined fuel economy and 119gm/km CO2 emissions.
Just to confuse bootlid badgespotters even further a 740e model is due for sime markets with plugin Powertrain: Inline sixes and V8s with twinpower turbocharging, twin cams, four valves per cylinder and eight-speed transmission. Outputs, performance: 730d – 2998cc I6 – 195kW at 4000rpm, 620Nm at 2000-2500rpm, 0-100kmh 6.1 seconds, max 250kmh, 4.5L/100km, 119g/km CO2. 740i – 2998cc I6 – 240kW at 5500-6500rpm, 450Nm at 1380-5000rpm, 0-100kmh 5.5 seconds, max 250kmh, 6.6L/100km, 154g/km CO2. 750i – 4395cc V8 – 330kW at 5500-6000rpm, 650Nm at 1800-4500rpm, 0-100kmh 4.4 seconds, max 250kmh, 8.1L/100km, 189g/km CO2. Chassis: Automatic self-levelling air suspension, double track control arm axle at front, five-link axle at rear with passive-steer function, anti-squat and anti-dive. Electric power-steering. Front and rear vented disc brakes. Safety: Standard DSC, ABS and Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), Cornering Brake Control (CBC), Dynamic Brake Control (DBC), airbags for driver and passenger, side airbags for driver and passenger, head airbags for 1st and 2nd seat row, crash sensors, tyre pressure indicator. Technology: Wireless charging, iDrive operating system gains a touch display and gesture control, removable 7-inch tablet computer integrated into the centre armrest or rear console to control comfort, infotainment and communications functions, remote Control Parking using the BMW Display Key. Full Sat-nav and bluetooth plus information and data streaming. Dimensions: L 5098mm, H 1467mm, W 1902mm, W/base 3070mm (NZ takes only the standard wheelbase), F/track 1618mm, R/track 1646mm, Weight 1720 to 1850kg, Fuel 78L. Pricing: The range and pricing of the 7-series range is expected to be similar to the current line-up with some adjustments. Decisions on X-Drive AWD are yet to be finalised. HOT: Subtle, yet distinctive styling evolutions; stunning interior treatments; gesture control; complete standard spec-list; refinement levels, tautness and biddability; weight saving. NOT: Some would have preferred a larger visual change; confusing bootbadge numbers; not much else. VERDICT: BMW’s flagship moves up a notch in its appeal with an extra luxury presence that will have been noticed in Stuttgart. hybrid technology using a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol four, an electric-drive unit. The 740e xDrive will be able to go about 40km in electric-only eDrive mode, with a cruising speed of 130kmh without the need to resort to fossil fuelling.
With the shift in focus required for the biggest BMW to up its luxury quotient and compete with the best of the best, the Munich concern could have been forgiven for blunting the model’s famous sporting edge somewhat.
This hasn’t happened, for while the car is refined enough to send you to sleep in its sumptuous rear cabin, it possesses levels and of grip and adjustability - especially in M-Sport form - that makes sense for BMW to allow testing of the new model on the circuit and the on roads around the upstate New York Monticello race circuit, which can ask up to NZ$180,000 for membership and $17,500 a year after that.
Mere mortal motoring journalists cannot afford such costs, so being allowed access to the circuit is a true honour.
Flown, like the circuit’s users and owners by helicopter from Manhattan, we were allowed to witness the agility still inherent in the 7-series, which in fact has been further enhanced in series VI form by the inclusion of a rear-wheel steer function in combination with the BMW’s xDrive four-wheel drive system on the 750i. But it is now supported by additional levels of primary and secondary comfort, making this latest 7 Series more limousine-like in character than any of its predecessors.
The 7 Series now allows you to dial up with Comfort, Sport and Adaptive modes, and a new Comfort Plus setting, where the new BMW 7-series is quieter and noticeably smoother on the open road. Its suspension copes brilliantly with ice-derived surface breaks and rough roading and mops up most bumps as if they aren’t there.
Dial-in Sport and it’s like slipping out of loafers and into sprint spikes. Solid and yet comfortable body control is exhibited control and truly impressive high-speed nimbleness for what is a big but up to 150kg lighter car than before.
That 50:50 front-to-rear weight balance helps as does the rearwheel steer function.
It turns like a smaller, shorter car and with the car’s steering gently weighting-up on the circuit when pressing-on, it justifies the optional M-Sport nomenclature perfectly.
The new 7 Series’ styling may be evolutionary in some parts, but the work that has gone on underneath has enabled the car to course around the circuit and still move the model upscale.
With a brilliantly improved interior, a mix of technology that’s clever, sensible and a tad gimmicky, the 7-series is as desirable for limousine duties as it is for playtime and more capable in either situation than we’d have believed.