2018 BMW 760li Reviews

Andrew Chesterton road tests and reviews the top-of-the-range BMW's M760Li xDrive, with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its international launch in the USA.

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.

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

WHAT makes a Rolls-Royce different from other cars? Of course, one thing is that owners never know how much they cost, because otherwise they could never have afforded one in the first place. At least that's what we're led to believe.Everybody else knows they cost a fortune and one other fact: they're so quiet inside, all you can hear is the incessant ticking of that infernal clock. But what else? How different can four wheels, an engine and a metal box be?VALUEBMW, when it took control of Rolls in 2003, had its answer ready in the shape of the Phantom. The Phantom is a statement of such rarefied luxury that it bears little relation to other cars made by the BMW group. It stands alone, like a stately home among the McMansions, hand-built from unique ingredients.However, that answer doesn't work for the second Rolls developed under BMW, the Ghost. Launched this year at the yes-you-can-ask price of $645,000, it must be built to tighter cost constraints. Which means it must share bits with other cars. That makes the question of how it differs a more nuanced affair.The car that comes closest to the Ghost under the skin is the BMW 760Li, a long-wheelbase version of the brand's flagship and the most expensive model it offers, at $386,000. The 760Li and the Ghost share the same platform, or engineering underpinnings.DESIGNThe V12 engine block is the same and so is the eight-speed German transmission. All the control systems, safety technology and gadgets are functionally identical. Rolls-Royce says 18 per cent of each Ghost is effectively a BMW.If you focus on the technology, then there's a lot about the Ghost that will feel familiar to a BMW driver. But around Melbourne's suburbs, at least, it didn't remind me of a BMW in the way it drove. It's huge -- longer, taller and wider than a 760Li -- and you cannot drive one without being aware of its aristocratic road presence.The fittings and furnishings fall short of the cabinet-maker quality achieved by the Phantom, but still feel a class above almost everything else. You don't get into a Ghost and immediately think, ``Oh, I'm in a fancy Beemer.'' Whereas in a Maybach, the badge relaunched by Mercedes to take on the elite market, all you can think about is how similar it is to an S-Class. On the other hand, coming from the opposite direction (and with the benefit of a bit more time in the driver's seat), the 760Li feels nothing like a Rolls.One of the main reasons is the BMW's high-performance low-profile rubber, which leads to one big problem: the ride. The overall composure of the 760Li is good, but there's an unrelenting nobbliness to the ride quality that no amount of fiddling with the suspension settings can fix. Any sort of bump sends a shimmy through cabin. The tyres feel -- and sound -- too heavy. They're wellingtons when they should be brogues.Luckily, you can adjust the powertrain settings and the chassis independently, and even in comfort mode, which is fairly lenient in terms of body discipline, the car handles well. It's easy to place accurately on the road, helped by light and precise steering, and more agile than a car this length deserves to be.DRIVEUnder the bonnet is a 6.0-litre V12 with all the latest fuel efficiency tricks. The Rolls version has a larger displacement, at 6.6-litres, but the 760Li is quicker to 100km/h, with an impressive 4.6 second time. But not by much. Despite hauling an additional 200kg, the Ghost is only a third of a second slower.This engine is a peach and in the 760Li it gathers speed like a train, relentlessly, with a creamy potency that only a V12 can deliver. It's almost impossible to tell when it's changing gear. The soundtrack is higher pitched than a V8 but music to the ears.The 760Li cabin is a great place to enjoy these 12-piece harmonies, with an abundance of leather, an Alcantara headlining and piano black trim personalised with a cream pinstripe in the test example. It's beautifully finished and wants for nothing in the gadget department, with BMW's latest night-vision system the latest toy -- a system that's also offered in the Ghost.VERDICTSo there are an abundance of similarities between the two but despite this, there's an enduring difference in character. The BMW wants to be driven with an intensity of purpose that I can't imagine finding in the more formal environment of the Ghost. And the Beemer needs to be driven like that because thanks to its awful ride, there's simply no way it can do what a Rolls does best: waft.Need to know BMW 760Li - $386,000 plus on-road costsVEHICLE: Long-wheelbase luxury sedanENGINE: 6.0-litre turbocharged V12OUTPUTS: 400kW at 5250rpm and 750Nm at 1500rpmTRANSMISSION: Eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel driveRead more about prestige motoring at The Australian.

Were it not left-hand drive, there'd be little to mark this BMW as remarkable as it courses along the byways of Melbourne. Looks like a 7 Series sedan, sounds just about like a 7 Series.This is one of only 100 examples of BMW's Hydrogen 7, a car which we first met 14 months ago in Berlin. Three were brought here last week (along with a specially imported mobile fuelling station) on the on-going international publicity tour.Hydrogen 7s have been handed out to a selection of such eco-hip superstars as Brad Pitt, Jay Leno and, er, Will Ferrell. Roger Federer has been a bit busy over the past few days, but will accept delivery of one in Switzerland.It combines a petrol engine, alongside an 8kg liquid hydrogen storage tank, giving this six-litre V12 — good for 191kW/390Nm — a range of more than 700km, including 200km solely by means of hydrogen. The driver switches between fuel sources at the press of a button.In Germany, with hydrogen filling stations in several major cities (and fuelling from a hydrogen bowser is an almost alarmingly mundane affair), it's possible to get around the country without recourse to petrol. So it is to some extent in California.In Australia, where even diesel is still considered somewhat exotic in passenger cars, such a journey is still the stuff of science fiction — as is the notion of travelling at the comfortable 170km/h Carsguide drove the Hydrogen 7 on the autobahns of its home country. Yet even in a state whose government's insatiable greed for speed-infringement revenue makes NSW's enforcement regime seem permissive, we get enough out of the Hydrogen 7 to appreciate BMW's launch claim that the driving experience is “spectacularly unspectacular”.But then the circumstances would have to be straitened indeed not to appreciate the fact that you're punting along a 2.45-tonne sedan powered not by some crude oil derivative or contrived hybrid technology but the most common element in the universe. It's one that as long ago as 1874, the author and visionary Jules Verne called an “inexhaustible source of heat and light”.Now, with fossil fuels within perhaps 50 years of exhaustion, BMW is adamant that the hydrogen research program it began in 1978 is now at the half-way point towards a fruition that will see hydrogen- powered vehicles become the planet's dominant form of transport. In insisting that hydrogen must be married to combustion engines, though, BMW are talking as much about a sustained standard of living as sustainable mobility.Critics and proponents of rival technologies have been vitriolic — not least those in Germany. Indeed, on the Hydrogen 7's unveiling, the popular news magazine Der Spiegel declaimed: “BMW has created an energy-guzzling engine that only seems to be environmentally friendly — a farcical ecomobile whose only true merit is that of illustrating the cardinal dilemma of a possible hydrogen-based economy.”A major cause of disquiet is the production of hydrogen requires significant amounts of energy, while climate-friendly mass production of liquid hydrogen requires a vast supply of electricity.Jochen Schmallotz, the man running BMW's international hydrogen roadshow, is ready for that one.“In the next 10 to 20 years we will be able to mass manufacture hydrogen with renewable technology,” he says, pointing to developments that will utilise natural elements in the process.“Imagine what that means for Australia, a country that has to import most of its oil from the Arabian Gulf.“You're surrounded by water and you've got plenty of sun.“You could be self-sufficient in producing hydrogen.”Other companies, notably Mazda, advocate fuel cells, which transform hydrogen into electricity via a chemical process.The electricity generated then drives the vehicle. This method promises far greater efficiency, but currently yields modest driving performance — which is the chief reason BMW aren't taken with it, according to Hydrogen 7 project manger Dr Willibald Prestl.“Advocates of fuel cells say that internal combustion engines have twice the consumption,” he says.“We definitely do not believe that, not with the engine technology being introduced. Even in the last year we reached reductions (in BMW's existing fleet) of up to 20 per cent.“We can say a fuel cell has better efficiency and a wider range of use, sure. But there are so many problems not solved: durability, cooling, weight and lifetime.“We watch this technology very closely but, if there is a breakthrough, it will be in lower-powered cars, not the cars for which BMW is famous.”Although BMW stands to make not a euro from sales, Prestl says the next step is to produce a smaller capacity bio-fuel car, in 3 Series or 5 Series size.Ideally, though, he would like to build a car around the still cumbersome and space-eating hydrogen tank, rather than fit one into existing architecture.For now it's impossible not to be impressed by this marriage of three decades of research to BMW's flagship car.This mightn't be the marque's quickest car, but it is some way ahead of the field. SNAPSHOTBMW HYDROGEN 7Price: not for saleEngine: 6L V12, bio fuelRange: 200km on hydrogen, 500km on petrolEmissions: zero C02 per kilometre on hydrogenPerformance: reaches 100km/h in 9.4 sec 

Controversy over driver distraction by the car's email system has overshadowed some subtle yet impressive tweaking to the Bavarian luxury bus.The 7 Series is no stranger to public outcry and has been one of the most talked about, and often unfairly, reviled members of the BMW stable. It was used to carry Chris Bangle's radical design language into the public forum almost five years ago and opinion remains split on whether it is beast or beauty.Refinements of the styling, aided by familiarity, have made subsequent versions on the 3, 5, 6 Series and Z4 less affronting and given a sense of purpose to Bangle's original plan. The fresh styling changes to the 7 Series have taken the car to a new level of acceptance and wound back some of the more "unusual" design elements.Surgery around the nose with a wider and higher-set grille and a bonnet "powerdome" induce a less confronting and more sporting look. The flat, high-set bootline, originally criticised as looking like a taxi advertising board, has also been softened and an integrated spoiler added. There is also a larger range of technological changes for the two V8 engines – the 4.0-litre and the 4.8-litre – the suspension, interior trim and iDrive.The makeover for the 7 Series is timely considering there is an all-new Mercedes-Benz S-class due later this year and Audi's A8 is making a strong impression.Capacity, output and performance have all been increased in the V8s with a marginal improvement in fuel consumption. The electronic throttle is precise, to the point of taking a little getting used to before being able to launch the big car smoothly. On the move, however, the seamless power delivery from both engines is impressive.The six-speed automatic with steptronic (manual) function is smooth and the ratios well-sorted.At the heart of the suspension is the melded Adaptive Drive technology. The program brings together dynamic drive (active roll stabilisation) with EDC-C (continuously variable electronic damping). The two technologies work in milliseconds to retain a flat, plush ride for the body of the car despite the most enthusiastic movements of the chassis. It can feel a little detached from the driver's seat but while it has the agility to be pushed hard, the 7 Series is best enjoyed as a refined tourer.At the top of the engine range for Australia is the 327kW 6.0-litre V12, unchanged from the current model.Adding polish to the interior of one of the most polished of models was always going to be incremental. Two new three-spoke steering wheels are the visual clue but the most useful change has been a refining of the iDrive.The most welcome change is taking some of the more basic and commonly used controls back and returning them to a button operation. As is expected from BMW – and any $200,000-plus car for that matter – occupant safety is well catered for. There are dual front airbags, front and rear curtain bags as well as front and rear side bags.The array of electronic minders within the vehicle is impressive. That includes ABS with dynamic brake control, automatic stability and traction control, dynamic stability control and adaptive drive (750Li and 760Li).