It has been many years since I first got my hands on the BMW 7 series, it was the winter of 2009 and I wafted around in the incredible E66 730Ld. There were innumerable instances of me falling in love with the grandeur of the 7 series, the fantasies that were created by the Bond film featuring Pierce Brosnan and his futuristic 7 series or Jason Statham in the movie Transporter, strengthening my love for one of the best cars coming out of the Bavarian factory. Today however we are 10 years ahead of my first day falling in love with the BMW 7 series, and we have it with us in its sixth generation, code-name G12's 730Ld.
On the Outside
The first glance of it exudes visual pleasure. The cuts and creases around the body panels, the extruding wheel arches, large kidney grill and splashes of chrome at all the right places really make this car stand out in the crowd. It is one of the most beautiful looking limousines in the world at the moment. The features do look richer in the Sapphire Black shade of our car especially under sunlight, where the body lines are visible through contrasting reflections and shadows, this makes one appreciate the design of this car even more.
BMW has thrown in some very detailed multi-spoke 19-inch alloy wheels, which is one of the standout features on this particular car. The car is enormous from the side profile, and even in this darker shade, it looks longer and wider than any car in its segment. At the rear, there are a pair of long wrap around tail lamps that ups the visual width of the car in addition to the chrome plate in between these lights. There is a set of large exhaust tailpipes with more chrome surrounding it and on inspection, we found out that they are not fake like other cars in its competition. Car enthusiasts, Rejoice! This rear end absolutely deserves a Rank-1 moniker on it.
BMW has made sure to offer the entire range of the 7 series with a set of high intensity LED Laser Headlamps that light up the road upto 400m ahead of you. The laser system detects any oncoming cars or pedestrians and cars ahead of you and blacks out that area to prevent dazzling them. Very smart indeed!
Step Inside
It is a wonderful thing when BMW keeps up with the expectations of the true blue BMW enthusiasts and loads its cars with clinical BMW driving experience. Sit in the driving seat and one gets awestruck to the maximum level. The quality of materials, little details everywhere, real wood, real steel and extremely soft leather from the same hide manufacturers as Rolls Royce make a magnificently lasting impression. An impeccable cabin to touch and feel which also is robust and technologically packed to the brim.
The steering wheel is accurately placed and not offset unlike most of its rivals, the central console area and multimedia interface is slightly tilted towards the driver to make it more focused. There are real buttons! Yes, in this fast-moving world headed for the touch screens and touch panels, BMW kept some really well-finished button and knobs everywhere around the cabin for various important functions of the car and in my opinion it is the most satisfying and safe thing to have when you are doing highway speeds. The new iDrive system gets a 10.8-inch touch screen that also can be controlled by the generic iDrive rotor on the central console. The system also features a few gesture controls to adjust functions like volume and calls on the screen without physically touching anything. The seats are 14 way adjustable and are built to take humans the size of Gulliver. They are extremely comfortable with a lot of support and soft cushioning from all corners. The seats also feature the incredible massage function with seat heating and cooling to suit your body temperature. The powerful seat cooler for us in the plains is a boon as we go through very hot summers.
The rear seat base is placed a little high so there is an incredible amount of visibility for the passengers at the back and with 8-way powered individual sofa seats you can always get that perfect position to relax and enjoy the drive. There is a massive amount of legroom, thanks to this being a long wheelbase version and an ample amount of headroom as well. There are 2 large 15 inch TV screens for rear entertainment which allows you to mirror your mobile phone screen and play your favourite content. These screens and some other parts of the 7 series's rear cabin are controlled by a tablet computer, latched onto the central armrest. This can be unlatched and held in your hands at the press of a button. This perhaps is the most technologically loaded rear seat situation across the rivals besides being mega comfortable. There are some really bright ambient light colour options, mood fragrance module with 6 changeable fragrances that can be selected directly from the iDrive system makes me feel like I have purchased a Spa on 4 wheels.
How is it to DRIVE?
BMW cars are designed to get all boxes ticked of the true driving enthusiast. The situation in the 7 series is no different. Behind the steering wheel, it shouts loud to be driven like a sports sedan than a luxury limousine, cocooned inside you barely notice the vastness of the car on the outside. The 3 litres in-line 6 cylinders turbo-charged motor produces code-name B57 produces 265 bhp and 620 Nm of incredible torque number. It all comes down to the ground via an 8 speed ZF gearbox connected to the rear wheels to sprint the 730Ld from a standstill to a 100kmph in 6.1 seconds. Fast? Very! This is also thanks to the CarbonCore Carbon-Fibre central tub of the car the helps decrease the car's weight to almost 170 kilograms from the previous generation.
The limited slip differential and active suspension system ensure that cornering this two-plus tonne car is a pleasurable experience. The engine noise is largely filtered by triple layer insulation all around the cabin but on inspection we found that the exhaust note is an absolute delight to hear even though it is a diesel driven motor. The Sport+ mode allows the traction control to lose out a bit and have a little fun around the bends making it the only luxury sedan that you can really truly enjoy driving.
Switching to comfort mode changes the characteristics of the car significantly. The suspension softens up, the steering becomes lighter and more useable in the city limits and the entire driving experience becomes very Rolls Royce like which in fact is based upon the 7 series itself. The new 7 series also comes with the full-size spare wheel to enhance safety and convenience on the Indian roads.
Verdict
The BMW 7 series is a car that has been a dream to a lot of people looking for an upgrade, it ignites the youth in top company executives as nothing else can. It is the epitome of Luxury, Driving Pleasure and Ownership Experience and in the 730Ld DPE, which now comes loaded to the brim with all the features as standard, it easily is a big bang for your buck. Also, it is the car that inspires the young generation of luxury car buyers with its technology and awe than just 40 plus-year-old CXOs. and for that it is a full 10 on 10 product by BMW.
Pictures : Aryan Juneja
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