2019 BMW 740i Reviews

While BMW is touting the electric i7 as the king of the new 7 Series range, the petrol-powered 740i could be a better option for those who could do with saving almost $30,000.

The BMW 7 Series is Munich’s flagship, the car that fans of the blue and white roundel respect as peak plush motoring. Now, for the seventh 7 Series, BMW has brought electric power to the table in the form of the i7 in order to stay ahead of the curve.

Malcolm Flynn road tests and reviews the G11 and G12 BMW 730d, 740i, 740Li, 750i and 750Li, with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at the 750i and 750Li’s Australian launch.

Ewan Kennedy road tests and reviews the BMW 7 Series with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its Australian launch.

Craig Duff road tests and reviews the BMW 7 Series with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its Australian launch.

Paul Gover road tests and reviews the new BMW 7 Series, with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its international launch.

Ewan Kennedy road tests and reviews the used 1994-2014 BMW 7 Series.

The BMW 7 Series is a large, prestigious German saloon aimed at travelling long distances while pampering its passengers with a smooth ride and near silent interior.

Sitting behind the wheel of BMW's revised flagship car, it occurs that I'm in the wrong seat. I should be where almost all who enter this limo and who don't own/operate one sit: in the voluminous – nay, agoraphobic -- rear compartment.I've rented apartments smaller and less luxurious than the cabin of the updated 7 Series. Yet it's BMW's fond boast that the virtues of its halo car are all within the driving of it. Which strikes one as strange.While Audi can go on about its Le Mans champion inspired R8 supercar and Mercedes-Benz will stroke itself over the exotic SL and SLS series, the brand that bangs on about “sheer driving pleasure” has for its range topper a massive sedan that is, as like as not, chauffeur driven.Still, if you happen to be in want of a $210k-plus four door and you smile rather than wince when the road goes all curvy, here's the limo you're probably looking for.Not for the first time when approaching this part of the Carsguide template does it strike one that the notion of "value" is relative. The revised 7 gets more standard kits and access to a few smart options, a new and entirely irrelevant  hybrid variant, an up-gunned petrol V8, a standard eight speed auto across the range, Start/Stop and economy mode (except 760Li), rear self-levelling air suspension and tarted up satnav and optional Bamg and Olufsen audio system.Prices start at $204,600 for the diesel 730d (and, really, this lookalike is all the 7 Series you'd need if not want). The “volume” 740i and long wheelbase 740Li are $211,500 and $226,500 respectively.The new ActiveHybrid 7 and ActiveHybrid 7L (with the engine from the recently reviewed ActiveHybrid 3) are $222,000 and $237,000. Getting a bit silly now, the V8 750i and 750Li are $281,100 and $297,800 while the sheik's special V12 760Li is all of $391,500.Given the rear seat occupants are likely to be controlling international finance, sudden untimely jolts could have grave consequences for the Dow or the Nikkei.The newly standard self-levelling air suspension for the rear axle could therefore prevent another GFC. All get electric power steering and the ConnectedDrive package of driver assistance, safety, communication and convenience package. Inevitably there's sense of staying abreast of the Joneses about this update, hence the optional parking assistant that all but auto actually parks the massive beast, your inputs confined selecting reverse and spot of accelerator pressure while affording an all-round from above on the 10-inch multimedia screen.The Jones motif continues with the addition if automatic boot opening function. When you, or more likely your man, is standing behind the car with the key fob still in the pocket or handbag, it takes the wave of a foot under the rear bumper sensor to open the lid.Nor is Jeeves, when ordered “home and don't spare the horses”, likely to go crook about the appreciably enhanced performance on offer. Inevitably all engines are claimed to be both more potent and efficient, with Auto Start/Stop shoving its nose in and the addition of the Eco Pro mode for the Driving Experience Control.The new coasting mode decouples the engine when it is overrunning at speeds between 50 and (fancifully for us) 160 km/h, so you freewheel along with minimum juice use. The hybrid drive system combines the 235kW 3.0-litre twin scroll turbo six for a combined output of 260kW/500Nm.That means 0-100km/h in just 5.7 seconds and fuel economy figure of 6.8L/100km. Yet the inline six turbo diesel 730d does better, returning 5.6L/100km - this from a 1900kg limo. The 740i/Li gets the potent turbo 3.0-litre petrol engine that does astonishing service in the M 135i coupe and hatch.If with some half a tonne more to haul the 235kW/450Nm doesn't sparkle as such it still registers a 5.7 second sprint time and fuel use that at 7.9L/100km betters a Mazda3 Neo. Significant fettling has rendered the most impressive powerplant even more so.Fuel use of the turbo boosted 4.4 V8 has been reduced by a quarter to 8.6L/100km despite putting out 330kW/650Nm to achieve a 4.8 second sprint time. Not a whole lot of point then in range topper's atmo V12, which is barely faster but massively thirstier. But it is the last of its breed - BMW's are now almost all turbo charged.Brighter and cleverer lights fore and aft (which mean you won't be taken for an Audi), a few more colours (don't panic - only monochromes and deep blues), tarted up interiors (reassuringly faux wood trimmed as ever). And ... That's about it.We're talking about a massively muscled up version of the instantly recognisable current BMW paradigm. The two heavy hitters in back have plenty of elbow room and access to Internet or television via tonal screens. Missing, totally subjectively, is the last degree of opulence, that which makes Audi's A8 the car to sit in.A saga in itself, the active and passive safety measures here prove again that while lawmakers and politicians preen themselves on reducing the road toll, it is carmakers that make it nigh on impossible to kill yourself on the road. Yet in several Australian states P-platers continue to be forbidden to drive the safest cars on the planet.The renewed 7 has safety kit of which you can bet most licensing authorities know nothing. The Active Protection Safety package includes Attentiveness Assistant which analyses driving behaviour on the basis of various signals such as steering angle and road speed. Detecting signs of fatigue, it posts a warning in the form of an illuminated coffee cup telling the driver to rest up.Automatic braking kicks in if you're slow to react to an imminent shunt. Following an impact, the car is slowed to a standstill with a maximum deceleration rate of 5 m/s² and its brakes then locked for a further 1.5 seconds to prevent a secondary impact.Optional on all but the workplace models, night vision features a Dynamic Light Spot function to improve early pedestrian detection. At the heart of the Night Vision system is an infrared thermal imaging camera integrated into the kidney grille.A cool feature of ten enhanced LED lights is High-Beam Assistant which enables you to keep full glow on but guides the lights around the car in front and shields them from oncoming  traffic, detecting the former from 400 metres and latter from all of a klick.Difficult not to be impressed by such dynamic dexterity in something that is essentially an engorged sedan, even as you wonder at the point of it. Having driven the previous day an M135i, the same engine is enough here to remove the need for anything greater. Indeed in almost all circumstances it is more than enough.Much the same can be said of the diesel. Though driven briefly, it is worth a buyer testing both sixes. But once sampled it's hard to see past that crisp V8. Turbo enhanced it has torque everywhere, and a penchant for skipping away to license shredding speeds without betraying the least effort, only the red dash glow when the Driving Experience Control is switched to sport mode.No roaring aural report here, that's not what it's about, just a business like growl and a kilometre crushing lope. Which serves only to highlight the 7's uneasy status as the self-proclaimed driving brand's halo car. There are a number of BMW's - not least the new 6 Series variant with its graceful four door coupe lines - that run the same drivetrains and shout success with a good deal more style if not as much function. I suppose some chauffeurs get all the fun.As technically accomplished as you would expect, the 7 isn't enough to make you forget there's no shortage of toys in its price point.

It feels good to be behind the wheel of the new BMW 7-Series. It's a car to drive and enjoy, as well as a technology flagship and styling pacesetter.A lot of what was lost or misplaced in the previous Seven — a brutal battleship on many fronts — has come back and that is good news. The styling, too, has been pulled back from confrontational to make-a-statement bold.“This is the very best of BMW. This embodies the flagship of the business,” BMW global sales and marketing chief Ian Robertson says.That means it is packed with technology and engineering, from the first double-wishbone front suspension in a Seven to a user-friendly upgrade of the lacklustre iDrive system, and new safety systems including one that can read speed signs and update the driver.It is also a little lighter yet is just as big and quick. Updated petrol and diesel engines range from an in-line diesel six, which should become the Australian favourite next year, to the twin-turbo V8 that is already a hit in the X6.The best news for top-end shoppers is that the focus has returned to the driver's seat, after an experiment with a car that was more enjoyable as a chauffeured ride.The dash is now wrapped around the driver and the gear selector is back in the centre console.All the changes reflect a return to the basics that made the Seven so good from the late 1970s, even if there is no admission of any mistakes with the previous car.“The predecessor was not without controversy. Nevertheless, it made a statement,” Robertson says.And you cannot call it a failure because it sold in record numbers.But a lot of people will welcome the new Seven, which will arrive in Australia in March with a starting price a little below $200,000. It will be available for the first time with short and long-wheelbase bodies from the start, and an 240kW in-line six for the 740 and 300kW V8 for the 750.Final specifications are still being set, but it is fair to expect the usual combination of airconditioning and premium sound and alloys in the short-wheelbase car, and electric rear seats and a DVD entertainment package in the iL cars.But no one knows yet about the availability of the new four-wheel steering system for the Seven, or the infra-red night vision, or the lane-departure warning or . . .Mechanically, BMW makes the usual claims for a new car — more power and torque for less fuel and emissions. But it has its commitment to Efficient Dynamics and the results are impressive.“The 7-Series has always been a technological spearhead with ultimate comfort and elegance,” chief engineer Johann Kistler says.The 740's six has 6.7 per cent more power with an 11.6 per cent cut in fuel consumption, down to 9.9 litres for 100km, and CO2 is cut 13.1 per cent to 232g/km.The V8 in the 750 has 11 per cent more power, isbmw 7-series peice line-ball on economy and is down a little on C02, to 266g/km.THE BMW 7-Series is a good drive. No, it's better than that. It's a terrific drive.It is a big car, even as a short-wheelbase 730i, yet it shrinks around you and allows you to cover long distances with minimal fuss. It has sporty performance, with loads of luxury, yet is not demanding or nasty.Best of all, after the previous Seven, it is a welcoming car that is easy and rewarding to drive.I was not a fan of the previous Seven, partly because of its nasty iDrive and a cabin which was confrontational and hard to learn, but the failure for me was that it was not a driver's car.Previous Sevens were built to drive, but the last one was a back-seat special loaded like a Harvey Norman showroom.Not now. The new 7-Series has more technology than any car I have driven but it is easy to use and adds to the experience.The rear-steer system makes the long-wheelbase iL easy to turn in a narrow street, the safety gear is all unobtrusive and useful — including the speed-limit camera — and it is good to know the engines are so lean and efficient.Still, visibility can be a problem, there was some wind noise on one of the German test cars, and some people complain that getting into the low-seat rear seats can be a problem. But those are minor niggles.BMW only had the short-wheelbase 730d diesel and the long-wheelbase 750iL to assess on global press preview at Dresden in the former East Germany, and all the cars were loaded.But the basics show how good the car is for 2009 and beyond and reflect a return to the traditional values of the Seven.The cars are crisp and responsive and there is absolutely no indication that the 730d has a diesel six under the hood. The V8 in the 750 is a cracker and easily took the car to its 250km/h top speed on an unrestricted autobahn.They have traditional rear-wheel drive with six-speed autos that slur through the ratios but respond well to a touch on the tiptronic lever. Something else back in the Seven . . .There is a lot to like in the new 7-Series. Best of all, it proves BMW is prepared to step back to go forwards — even if no one admits there was anything wrong with the previous car.