I agree some of the design themes do remind me of several other cars but that’s not too surprising these days. I think the overall shape works much better all around then the previous model. I’m glad they fixed the rear end finally, the last one was absolutely hideous. At first I thought the grille was a little ostenstatious as well but it works on this car, very assertive yet elegant.
This car would outhandle an Audi A8 too even with that car’s all-wheel drive. It’s still a BMW people, and who’s not going to love that Turbo V8.The 750Li, the launch model for North America, features BMW’s potent 400-horsepower twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8, though BMW says hybrid powertrains are on their way to all major markets (including the U.S. and Canada) and we wouldn’t be remotely surprised to see a more potent model eventually show up in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
In the meantime, 7 buyers will be impressed with the V8’s near seamless rush of torque, 443 lb-ft., available from a low 1,750 RPM up through 4,500 RPM. Thanks to the turbochargers, which are simply undetectable at any engine speed, the 7 has no trouble scooting away from a stop or merging onto a highway. Stop-to-60 comes in 5.2 seconds for the long-wheelbase Li (5.1 for the shorter car).
Curiously, the 7 “only” gets a six-speed automatic transmission, but it’s a generally solid unit, providing quick, smooth shifts during normal driving. Only when driven aggressively does the six-speed show an occasional reluctance to downshift into a lower gear; fortunately, with the prodigious torque on tap, the transmission doesn’t need to call upon lower gears too often.
We noticed a little gear whine during deceleration on all of the new 7s we drove; given these were early production models, we’ll assume BMW corrects the gremlins before paying customer models arrive in dealers.
Large 14.7-inch front rotors (14.5 out back) absorb kinetic energy to charge the battery, a small step towards efficiency. Those big brakes do an admirable job of forcing the heavy 7 to come to a complete stop.
BMW’s Driving Dynamics Control, a toggle button located just left of the joystick that puts the 7 into gear, offers four programs ranging from comfort to sport that adjust the shocks, throttle and shift response and level of steering assistance. We couldn’t detect a huge difference between the comfort, standard and sport modes, but the sport plus mode really stood out. Seemingly at odds with the luxurious nature of the 7, sport plus tightened up the suspension and steering and forced the transmission to hold itself in gear when not firing off firm and rapid-fire shifts.
This car would outhandle an Audi A8 too even with that car’s all-wheel drive. It’s still a BMW people, and who’s not going to love that Turbo V8.The 750Li, the launch model for North America, features BMW’s potent 400-horsepower twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8, though BMW says hybrid powertrains are on their way to all major markets (including the U.S. and Canada) and we wouldn’t be remotely surprised to see a more potent model eventually show up in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
In the meantime, 7 buyers will be impressed with the V8’s near seamless rush of torque, 443 lb-ft., available from a low 1,750 RPM up through 4,500 RPM. Thanks to the turbochargers, which are simply undetectable at any engine speed, the 7 has no trouble scooting away from a stop or merging onto a highway. Stop-to-60 comes in 5.2 seconds for the long-wheelbase Li (5.1 for the shorter car).
Curiously, the 7 “only” gets a six-speed automatic transmission, but it’s a generally solid unit, providing quick, smooth shifts during normal driving. Only when driven aggressively does the six-speed show an occasional reluctance to downshift into a lower gear; fortunately, with the prodigious torque on tap, the transmission doesn’t need to call upon lower gears too often.
We noticed a little gear whine during deceleration on all of the new 7s we drove; given these were early production models, we’ll assume BMW corrects the gremlins before paying customer models arrive in dealers.
Large 14.7-inch front rotors (14.5 out back) absorb kinetic energy to charge the battery, a small step towards efficiency. Those big brakes do an admirable job of forcing the heavy 7 to come to a complete stop.
BMW’s Driving Dynamics Control, a toggle button located just left of the joystick that puts the 7 into gear, offers four programs ranging from comfort to sport that adjust the shocks, throttle and shift response and level of steering assistance. We couldn’t detect a huge difference between the comfort, standard and sport modes, but the sport plus mode really stood out. Seemingly at odds with the luxurious nature of the 7, sport plus tightened up the suspension and steering and forced the transmission to hold itself in gear when not firing off firm and rapid-fire shifts.
