Driving The 2023 BMW 7 Series – Exceptional Luxury And Creeping Featuritis

Transportation Driving The 2023 BMW 7 Series – Exceptional Luxury And Creeping Featuritis Sam Abuelsamid Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. A lifetime in the car business, first engineering, now communicating Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Nov 5, 2022, 07:00pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin 2023 BMW i7 Sam Abuelsamid The seventh-generation of BMW’s flagship 7 series sedan has arrived with lots of changes and many improvements.

It’s also the first iteration of 7 to be available with completely electric propulsion. We recently had the opportunity to drive the two different variants of the new 7 in the mountains and deserts near Palm Springs, California and came away mostly impressed with the experience but also with some concerns that apply not just to the 7 but the auto industry as a whole. 2023 BMW 760i Sam Abuelsamid The first thing you’ll notice about the 7 is a major shift in the design.

Prior generations always had a sleeker look that was in keeping with the generally sporting nature of the BMW brand. This 7 is a much more visually imposing beast, especially from the front. Beginning with the 7, X7 and XM, BMW is introducing a new front design language for its top luxury models.

Instead of the traditional pair of headlights on each side, these feature a horizontally split lighting array. The upper slot features slim, LED driving lamps while a slower slot features a pair of LED headlamps. 2023 BMW 760i first drive Sam Abuelsamid MORE FOR YOU Why The Rock’s Social Media Muscle Made Him Hollywood’s Highest-Paid Actor What The Elections Might Mean For Commodity Prices, Especially Oil Federal Reserve: Rising Rates Raise Two Key Questions – Neither Concerns Inflation Or Recession In between is the extra large twin kidney grille.

The big grille first appeared a couple of years back on the mid-cycle update of the previous 7, and interestingly, the new actually looks slightly smaller although BMW says it isn’t. It’s just an optical illusion created by the taller face of the new model. The more imposing appearance carries through to the rest of the 7 with a two-inch taller roofline, and higher beltline, all in service of providing some space at the bottom of the car to accommodate the battery pack of the electric i7.

I’m still not entirely sold on BMW’s use of the large kidney grilles, but overall the 7 looks better in the California sunshine than it did in a darker event space in Manhattan where we first saw it last April. With an extra 5. 1-inches of length and 1.

9-inches of width, the new 7 retains the brand’s classic long-hood proportions and looks handsome on the road or in a parking lot. Like the upcoming XM, the 7 also has a slim LED light around the perimeter of the kidneys that helps ensure that anyone seeing the car at night will know exactly what brand it is. 2023 BMW 760i Sam Abuelsamid BMW’s decision to use a flexible architecture for most of its latest models that can accommodate internal combustion engines or electric propulsion certainly gives it flexibility to shift the model mix based on customer demand,but it also brings some compromises.

For example, the i7, like the i4 retains the transmission tunnel in the floor, even though it isn’t needed. Similarly, the long hood looks good, but BMW has opted not to include any front storage on its EVs. 2023 BMW i7 Sam Abuelsamid The examples we got to drive were equipped with BMW’s new automatic powered doors.

Any or all of the doors can be opened from the key fob, smartphone app or by touching the door handle. A dozen ultrasonic sensors that are typically used for parking assist are integrated into the 7 including into each of the door handles. If the car is in a tight parking space or a pedestrian or cyclist is too close, the sensors will detect this and stop the doors from opening.

From the inside there is a touch control at each end of the dash and on the rear door panels to open or close the doors. Does anyone actually need powered doors like this? Almost certainly not, but when you are buying a $100+ luxury car, you get what you want, not just what you need. 2023 BMW i7 Sam Abuelsamid The interior is where things get more interesting.

Like other recent BMWs, the 7 now features a large curved display featuring the 12. 3-inch instrument cluster and 14. 9-inch central touchscreen area.

Back in 2001, when the fourth-gen 7 debuted with the first iDrive central controller and voice recognition, one of the reasons given was that with more features being added to cars, especially in premium segments, it was becoming increasingly difficult to integrate controls for everything. In the two decades since, the problem has only gotten worse. Both iDrive and voice recognition have improved dramatically in the past two decades and especially in the past few years.

But at the same time, the number of features included has exploded. For example, in 2001, we didn’t have massaging seats, ambient light bars, 31-inch theater screens or doors that powered open and closed. All of these and much more are available on the new 7.

The latest iDrive OS8 retains a fairly similar overall interface to the prior versions with the central screen featuring a series of widgets that can be scrolled through. However a tap on the apps icon reveals many, many more functions. Trying to use these or find what you’re looking for while driving or even as a passenger can be maddening.

2023 BMW i7 Sam Abuelsamid Fortunately, the voice recognition system is now tied into most vehicle functions and can execute most of what you might want to do such as turn on seat heaters or ventilation. You can even say “Hey BMW, crack open the windows” and it will drop the windows a couple of inches for natural ventilation. However, it’s still not quite full natural language processing.

For example, if you want to open or close the sun shades in the rear windows, you have to refer to them as sun blinds. Nonetheless, voice control does go a long way toward overcoming the challenge of creeping featuritis. 2023 BMW i7 first drive Sam Abuelsamid The interior of the 7 continues to raise the bar on premium feel.

Like the iX, the 7 features Swarovski crystal details for the seat adjusters and iDrive controller, shifter switch and volume roller. While it looks a bit more ostentatious than the machine knurled controls in recent Genesis vehicles, the larger facets actually make it easier to get a grip and provide precise inputs. Once we found the seat controls, they proved to be very comfortable and three different coverings are available.

The six-cylinder 740i which wasn’t available to test is covered in a synthetic leather called Veganza while the i7 and V8 760i get Merino leather. A third BMW Individual option is a combination of Merino leather and cashmere wool which feels particularly warm and inviting. The new 7 gets a standard four-zone climate control system with front vents that are hidden in the gap between the upper and lower portions of the dashboard, much like the Tesla Model 3/Y.

Unlike the Teslas which require you to go into the touchscreen to adjust the direction of airflow, the BMW does have some dedicated controls near the vents. 2023 BMW i7 first drive Sam Abuelsamid The rear seat is as roomy as you would expect in a car with a 126-inch wheelbase, but it also features plenty of technology. Controls for the rear temperature, windows, seats and doors are accessed through a 5.

5-inch touchscreen display in the door armrest. As in the front, there are lots of interface layers to go through as the featuritis extends everywhere. When equipped with the rear executive lounge seat, a few taps on that screen will slide the front passenger seat all the way forward, extend the ottoman and recline the right rear seat.

2023 BMW i7 Sam Abuelsamid This makes for an excellent viewing angle for the optional 31-inch rear theater screen. This ultrawide screen has built in Amazon Fire TV so you can stream just about anything to it. However, its 32:9 aspect ratio is far wider than almost any content you can get, which means you will have the option of letter-boxing most content or stretching/cropping to fill the screen.

While BMW doesn’t offer a split screen option so rear passengers can watch different content, the video can be shifted left or right so either passenger can get a more direct view. 2023 BMW i7 first drive Sam Abuelsamid With the screen lowered from the roof, the driver has no rear visibility except for the outside mirrors. Unfortunately, BMW hasn’t yet fitted the 7 with a digital camera mirror system although sources at the automaker are saying that it will be added with the theater screen package sometime in 2023.

2023 BMW 760i first drive Sam Abuelsamid For North America, 7 buyers will have three propulsion options to choose from. The 740i comes with an upgraded 375-hp 3. 0-liter twin-turbo inline six cylinder engine and rear wheel drive.

The 760 gets an updated 4. 4-liter twin-turbo V8 with 536-hp going to all four wheels. Both gas engines are paired with a new 48V mild hybrid system integrated with the ZF 8-speed automatic transmission.

Unlike the previous generation which used a belted starter generator, this one has the electric motor in between the engine and torque converter to provide better responsiveness and additional torque boosting. 2023 BMW i7 Sam Abuelsamid The third option is the battery electric i7 which features an electric induction motor free of rare earth magnets at each axle and a 101. 7-kWh lithium ion battery under the floor spanning most of the distance between the axles.

The motors deliver a combined output of 536-hp and 549 lb-ft of torque. The i7 gets a more efficient heat pump climate control system to mitigate the impact of weather on driving range. The driving range itself hasn’t been finalized by EPA yet, but it is expected to be about 300 miles.

While this may seem light compared to the claims of Tesla and Lucid, so far BMW EVs have pretty consistently outperformed the EPA range estimates. Regardless of power choice all the 7s come standard with a four wheel self-leveling air suspension and adaptive dampers. The 760i and i7 also get four-wheel steering with up to 3.

5-degrees of steering angle and a 2. 5-ft smaller turning circle at low speeds. 2023 BMW i7 first drive Sam Abuelsamid We had the opportunity to drive both the 760i and i7 and despite having weights of 5,300 and 5,900-lbs respectively, they proved to be very pleasurable to drive.

They offer similar acceleration to 60 mph although as expected the i7 seems to leap off the line just a bit quicker before giving way to the lighter V8 as speeds climb. This gets particularly noticeable at speeds above 80 mph where the i7 seems to start losing some of its urgency while the 760i pulls a bit harder well into triple digits. Whether cruising on the highway, trolling through town or blasting along a curving mountain road, the new 7’s body seems to just glide around.

It doesn’t have the floaty feel of a 1970s large American car, but rather, just perfectly controlled body motions with the interactions between the road and suspension happening seamlessly. 2023 BMW i7 first drive All Rights Reserved Like many more recent BMWs, the & seems to have lost much of its steering feedback. Selecting sport mode simply increases the steering effort without providing more information about the road.

On the plus side, the new 7 does feature four-wheel steering which provides some added stability at higher speeds by turning the rear wheels in the same direction as the fronts. At low speeds the rear axle steers in the opposite direction to tighten up the turning circle by about 2. 5 feet.

The 7 features a new generation of driver assist capabilities developed with Mobileye. The former tri-focal front camera system has been reduced to just two cameras, but the longer range camera has been bumped up to 8MP to accurately detect objects at longer distances. There are also five radar sensors and a dozen ultrasonic sensors.

This new system is now capable of providing a hands-free driver assist at speeds up to 85 mph. 2023 BMW i7 first drive Sam Abuelsamid Like GM Super Cruise and Ford BlueCruise, Highway Assist which is part of driver assist professional uses an infrared camera to make sure the driver is staying attentive during hands-free operation and maps ensure that the system is only activated on divided highways. Overall the highway assist worked well, keeping the 7 centered in the lane and a pair of green lights on the steering wheel spokes as well as icons in the cluster and heads up display indicated when the system was active.

Whether using the hands-free highway assist or hands-on drive assist plus, a tap on the turn signal stalk will initiate an automatic lane change as soon as the sensors give the all clear. The lane change on demand worked smoothly and didn’t require an exceptionally large gap in traffic. We didn’t conduct a full-in range test of the i7, but its 101.

7 kWh battery has received EPA range estimates of 296 to 318 miles depending on which of the three tire and wheel combinations are fitted. Given the real world results previously achieved with the i4 and iX, the i7 should easily meet or exceed the EPA numbers in real world conditions. That’s not in the same ballpark as the Lucid Air or even the Mercedes-Benz EQS, but most owners are likely to need a bio-break before the battery is depleted.

2023 BMW i7 first drive Sam Abuelsamid Overall, despite its size and heft, the 760i and i7 proved to be surprisingly enjoyable to drive. BMW and other automakers should perhaps start to show a bit more restraint in adding more features that most drivers will rarely if ever use. Nonetheless, for those interested in a very luxurious electric sedan with a more traditional looking shape than the Mercedes-Benz EQS or Lucid Air, the i7 should be on the consideration list if you can live with the controversial face.

The 2023 BMW i7 xDrive60 starts at $119,300 while the 740i starts at $93,300 and the 760i begins at $113,600. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Check out my website .

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