BMW 7 Series
BMW’S flagship saloon gets styling tweaks, reworked engines and extra tech
Updated luxury saloon uncovered
BMW has given its current 7 Series a bold new look as part of an extensive mid-life facelift for the three-year-old luxury saloon. The reworked model is due to arrive in the UK in April.
The facelifted 7 Series reflects the shift brought to upmarket BMW models by a new brand strategy announced by chairman Harald Krüger in 2017, with a greater emphasis on interior luxury and the move to a more formal design language.
As with its predecessor, the 2019 7 Series is offered in standard-wheelbase and longwheelbase guises, but both models have been extended by 22mm, taking their length to 5120mm and 5260mm respectively.
It is up front where the styling changes are most evident. Key among them is the adoption of a new chromed kidney grille that’s similar in size to that seen on the recently unveiled X7 and 40% bigger than the 7 Series’ old grille. It extends back into the leading section of a newly contoured bonnet as well as deeper into a re-profiled front bumper, which features new chrome highlights within the lower air ducts.
As part of efforts to improve the refinement levels of Munich’s flagship saloon, it adopts side glass that is 5.1mm thicker and new front wings improve airflow and reduce buffeting at speed. Changes to the sound-deadening material in the rear wheel arches have also been made.
Additional minor visual changes continue at the rear, which receives more heavily structured OLED tail-lights with new lens graphics. They are connected by a full-width LED light band that illuminates in combination with the daytime running lights. Also evident on the freshened 7 Series are wider chromed tailpipe trims integrated into a reworked bumper.
The interior features more subtle upgrades, including improvements to the materials and new connectivity functions. An updated Parking Assistant function now has a Reversing Assistant that’s able to back up the car by up to 50m along the course it drove in on.
The 7 Series’ six-, eight- and 12-cylinder petrol and diesel engines receive upgrades to improve performance and efficiency. The highlights include a new 4.4-litre V8 for the 750i that produces 79bhp more than before at 523bhp. Also new is a range-topping diesel, the 750d xdrive, which makes use of a quad-turbocharged version of BMW’S six-cylinder engine developing 393bhp and 560lb ft of torque.
An updated plug-in hybrid drivetrain is also available in the rear-wheel-drive 745e and 745Le and their fourwheel-drive sibling, the 745Le xdrive. It mates a turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor to provide a total system output of 388bhp and 442lb ft, resulting in a 0-62mph time of 5.2sec.
With a 12.0kwh lithium ion battery, the 745e is claimed to deliver an electric range of up to 36 miles, endowing it with combined cycle consumption of 134.5mpg and average CO2 emissions of 48g/km.
The facelifted 7 Series comes as standard with adaptive suspension featuring electronically controlled dampers and air springs acting on each wheel. Buyers can specify the luxury saloon with optional rear-wheel steering for added agility.