LARGE and fully charged
The BMW i7 is very large and luxurious. Also one of the most technologically intimidating vehicles on sale today
Okay, so let’s get the obvious thing out of the way first: the BMW i7 isn’t just big, it is truly enormous.
At just under 5.4m long and 2m wide, the i7 is longer and wider than a Ford Ranger, albeit 300mm lower, which still means it is more than 1.5m tall. Imposing is certainly a word that comes to mind.
So it’s bigger than the last 7 Series — its wheelbase is 130mm longer and packing a massive 101kWh battery also means it’s heavier, clocking in at a hefty 2715kg. But it’s also plenty fast for all that weight, dropping a 0-100km/h sprint of just 4.7 seconds.
Despite all that sheer size and weight, the i7 is genuinely engaging to drive enthusiastically, with superb body control thanks to the active roll bars, adaptive dampers and air suspension. Minimal body roll and precise turnin mean that you are never particularly aware of how much it weighs, as it simply doesn’t feel like a large, heavy car on a winding road.
But none of that matters in the slightest, because the i7 is made with passengers in mind. Yes, it is huge, but with size comes luxury. And the i7 delivers that as effortlessly as it delivers its sprint to the legal speed limit.
The space inside it is, of course, cavernous, with the rear seats getting the majority share of that 130mm increase to the wheelbase. This, and the fact that there is a massive 31.3-inch screen that folds down from the roof (in overseas markets only, however; we don’t get it here), tells you all you need to know about BMW’s target customers; they prefer to sit in the back.
Which means that the i7 is fully loaded with luxury and high-tech equipment, most of which can be accessed and controlled from the rear via a pair of touchscreens in the armrests on the rear doors.
Options are few in the i7, mainly because BMW NZ has thrown everything in to begin with; a $2600 tow bar pack and a $7500 Connoisseur Lounge rear-seat pack (that adds ventilation, a massage function and retractable footrests to the rear seats), are about your lot, aside from the paint options that include the $2600 ask for a “frozen” finish, or a hefty $17,500 price tag for the two-tone paint option.
This “fully-loaded” approach is, of course, something reflected in the i7’s price: $289,500 is a lot of money, but then you do get a LOT of car.
It is also a deeply high-tech car with so much going on it can seem a bit overwhelming at times.
If you are a technophobe — or are just easily confused — then the i7 really isn’t the car for you, even if you do plan to spend most of your time in the back seat. Anything that doesn’t require immediate, easy access is usually located somewhere deep in a submenu and if you are the sort of person who finds the settings menus on a mobile phone confusing, this may well melt your brain.
However, once you have the car set up just how you want it, you are extremely unlikely to need to access these menus ever again and the trade-off of initial confusion is worth it for the spectacular ease of use an i7 set to your preferences offers — I mean, the doors will even open and close automatically . . .
The vast array of luxuries and high-tech goodies packed into the i7 mean that it really is a car that not only rewards the back seat passengers, but also tech-nerds and the detail-obsessed.
Oh yeah, and the driver too. It is, after all, an Ultimate Driving Machine, and while I did say that its impressive handling and performance didn’t matter at the start, the fact that they are there at all puts the i7 a notch above the competition in the luxo-limo segment.