I had the opportunity to test drive the 2016 BMW 750li for a couple of days. It was a lovely experience. As an executive saloon, one would expect the car to be quiet, comfortable and luxurious, and the 750 is certainly that. The ride is very supple, there is little wind noise at speed, and the interior is a very nice place to be in. All these things could be said about the previous generation 7 series or any other luxury saloon. So what's new?
Well for starters, it’s an all new car. It certainly looks a lot like the previous generation; it has roughly the same dimensions and profile, but it’s built differently. The car is now considerably lighter because of its new Carbon Core, which uses carbon fiber reinforced plastics into the cars chassis. Carbon fiber elements are used in the floor panels, the roof and the A, B and C pillars. I imagine incorporating carbon fiber into mass-production vehicles is a learned technique from the making of the i8 and i3, and of course a very big deal. That’s because it’s been difficult for car makers to use carbon fiber because of the high-cost and time consuming production of the material, which was for a long time reserved for limited production and expensive supercars. That does not mean the car now handles like a super car, but shedding weight does contribute to better driving dynamics and fuel consumption. The active front kidney grills, along with slats at the edges of the front bumper and wheel arches, help guide the air around the car to improve its aerodynamic efficiency and boost fuel economy.
Well for starters, it’s an all new car. It certainly looks a lot like the previous generation; it has roughly the same dimensions and profile, but it’s built differently. The car is now considerably lighter because of its new Carbon Core, which uses carbon fiber reinforced plastics into the cars chassis. Carbon fiber elements are used in the floor panels, the roof and the A, B and C pillars. I imagine incorporating carbon fiber into mass-production vehicles is a learned technique from the making of the i8 and i3, and of course a very big deal. That’s because it’s been difficult for car makers to use carbon fiber because of the high-cost and time consuming production of the material, which was for a long time reserved for limited production and expensive supercars. That does not mean the car now handles like a super car, but shedding weight does contribute to better driving dynamics and fuel consumption. The active front kidney grills, along with slats at the edges of the front bumper and wheel arches, help guide the air around the car to improve its aerodynamic efficiency and boost fuel economy.
The 750li comes with the familiar 4.4 liter twin turbo V8, putting out around 440 horsepower and 480 pound-foot of torque, paired again with the brilliant 8 speed gearbox by ZF. The low end torque and smooth gear changes make it a great cruiser with not a lot of revs required to move you along. The gearbox is quick to react to driver inputs and always finds the right gear to be in as needed. It does, however, deliver more ‘dramatic’ shifts in Sport Mode, which I find to be unnecessarily harsh.
The all-wheel drive xDrive is now available as an option on all models. This test car came equipped with it, and since I’ve not had a chance to push any limits, I can tell you that it works fine driving around town. It was stable driving around bends and ramps, and delivers power smoothly from a stand still. The car stayed flat around curves thanks to the adaptive air suspension. The new rear wheel steering came in very handy in tight multi-storey parking lots, effectively shortening the car’s wheelbase to that of a standard length 750. The light steering meant maneuverability was easy but it wasn’t very communicative during spirited driving. The variable ratio steering rack is tuned well making it predictable in judging how much steering input is required for a turn.
The all-wheel drive xDrive is now available as an option on all models. This test car came equipped with it, and since I’ve not had a chance to push any limits, I can tell you that it works fine driving around town. It was stable driving around bends and ramps, and delivers power smoothly from a stand still. The car stayed flat around curves thanks to the adaptive air suspension. The new rear wheel steering came in very handy in tight multi-storey parking lots, effectively shortening the car’s wheelbase to that of a standard length 750. The light steering meant maneuverability was easy but it wasn’t very communicative during spirited driving. The variable ratio steering rack is tuned well making it predictable in judging how much steering input is required for a turn.
Executive Drive Pro is a new feature on the car. It can be best described as BMW’s equivalent of Mercedes’ Magic Body Control. I noticed it working the most when tackling big bumps and speed-humps on the road. You can certainly sense the compression and rebound of the air suspension changing in order to keep the body leveled. This does make an undulating and bumpy road seem flatter, but the low profile tires on the rather large wheels do make a consistent thudding noise over smaller cracks and potholes. Fatter tires would take of that and therefore it is not a problem as such.
The cabin is very well put together, with wood veneer, stainless steel and leather covering the whole place. The headliner is particularly nice as it is made entirely of Alcantara. The dashboard is a very familiar place. It does, however, borrow from the new layout featured on other BMW models which were released before. This, I’m afraid, does make it feel less special because it’s not very unique to the flagship vehicle, which traditionally has been the design tank from which other models leech off of. That said, because it’s familiar territory, it’s very well sorted and everything is where you would expect it to be. The touch sensitive controls for the radio and air conditioning work well, but like the iDrive control knob, they are magnets for fingerprint smudges. |
I found the iDrive system to be great. It’s fast and responsive, the screen is large, projects high resolution images and, for the first time, touch sensitive. The menus are intuitive and easily accessible. I really like the way the map on the navigation screen can be zoomed in and out by pinching the screen like on a smart phone. Moving around the map using the touch pad on the dial is also great for dropping pin locations wherever you like. Having not experienced the iDrive before, and judging by the level of criticism it received in its early iterations, I can imagine the amount of development it underwent to be as good as it is now. The new gesture controls for adjusting the volume, skipping tracks and answering phone calls seemed gimmicky at first, but the more I used them the less I found myself occupied with looking for the right buttons to press.
As the flagship model, the 750 comes packed with all the safety gizmos and technology in the ConnectedDrive system. This includes things like the new and improved head-up display, blind spot warning and lane departure assists. The surround view parking assist was very useful for avoiding curbs and the overlaid hologram distance indicators were pretty neat as well. Pulling out of perpendicular parking spaces, the car also warns you of traffic that you wouldn’t have otherwise seen sitting so far in the front. |
One thing that people have to deal with on a daily basis driving in large congested cities is stop-and-go traffic, which made me find the traffic jam assistant to be fantastic. Setting the cruise control from a stop with the lane keep assist, the car will select 30 km/h as a maximum speed and follow the vehicle ahead, stopping and going with traffic and centers the car in its lane. It’s not an entirely autonomous system as it does require the driver’s hands to be on the steering wheel, but it takes away from the strain of driving in heavy traffic. Autonomous driving is certainly the technology manufacturers are trying to perfect, with the unveiling of the Vision Next 100 concept by BMW at this year’s Geneva motor show being an example of such efforts, along with Mercedes, Google and Tesla’s ongoing developments.
Something I found particularly interesting is the pedestrian detection system which warns the driver of walking pedestrians by flashing a red silhouette of a person on the head up display while driving at night. The car even flashes its high beams to warn the pedestrian of a vehicle passing by. Speaking of lights, the new 7 series is only second after the i8 to be equipped with the new Laserlight headlights. They shine brighter and further than the short lived LED headlights that they replace, and from what I’ve experienced, they never leave you wishing for more visibility when driving down dark roads. Their projection is also more controlled which reduces glare for oncoming traffic. The way the whole cluster lights up and dims down is rather cool.
Driving the car was a great experience but perhaps the rear seats is where it’s best. The Executive Lounge option allows the rear passenger side seat to enjoy a reclined position with the front passenger seat scooting all the way forward to present ample leg room and a leather wrapped footrest. The passengers I drove did enjoy that the most, not even bothering to see what’s on the LCD screens in front of them. The pop-out tablet in the center armrest also provides rear occupants with more control over some of the car’s settings, such as the ambient lighting and stereo, albeit with granted permission from the iDrive system from the front. The rear passengers are given much more control in dictating how their journey should be like.
All in all, the car is enjoyable whether you’re behind the wheel or reclined in the massaging back seats. It does, however, just edge itself slightly ahead as a car to be chauffeured in rather than driving. I don’t imagine it to be more rewarding to drive than the smaller and more agile 5 series, but I can guarantee it to be more comfortable and spacious in the back. The new 7 series is much like the one it replaces except with incremental improvements to nearly everything, making it a better car. But has it pushed the boundary enough to challenge the competition in the segment? I think that would be best answered by how well BMW develops its Carbon Core into forth coming models.