BMW’s 7-series has always been known for two traits; its lap-of-luxury cabin and the surprising ability to speed around corners. It has always been seen as the ‘sporty’ option of full-sized luxury sedans, and the next-generation hasn’t changed that. While little has been done to the design – sleeker stylings were introduced with the 2016 model, and the boffs at BWM decided there was little need to tweak them again this time around – there has been a lot of tinkering under the hood.
Indeed, the 2017 7-series is the first car to ride on BMW’s new modular platform – dubbed CLAR. BMW plans to install it in most of its mid-to-large sized models (the 3-series and above). The platform both helps lighten the vehicle, as well as work with multiple drivetrains. It makes use of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic, making it stronger for less weight, and can fit BMW’s plug-in hybrid engine (2017 will see the first hybrid 7-series).
At the entry level is the 740i – which features a turbocharged 3.0-litre engine, delivering 320-horsepower to the rear wheels. Above that is starts to get interesting. The all-new 740e xDrive iPerformance, apart from being a bit of a mouthful to say, has a turbocharged 2-litre, 4-cylinder and electric motor combo (which chugs along at 308-horsepower). While real-world figures are yet to be released, BMW says the all-wheel drive motor should be able to go 23 miles on a full charge of the lithium-ion battery.
Even bigger news for the 7-series are the high-performance models. While the new BMW Alpina B7 xDrive shares the same engine as the 750i, the engine output has been dialled up to 11 (it benefits from a whopping 600 horsepower). All-wheel drive keeps that power on the ground, and Alpina – which tunes many of BMW’s performance products – says the car will go 0-100 kilometres in just 3.6 seconds. That makes this luxury four-door saloon faster than most sports cars.
The star of the show, however, is surely the 7-series first V-12 model, the M760i xDrive – which is expected to be on the roads in the middle of 2017. This is one of BMW’s highly-coveted M performance models and packs a twin-turbocharged 6.6-litre V-12 engine that’s estimated to deliver up to 600 horsepower. Like the B7, the M760i has all-wheel drive. It will go from 0-100 kilometres in just 4 seconds.
For bells and whistles, look no further than the 7-series key fob. BMW has made last year’s funky display keys as standard – each fob has its own touchscreen display that indicates various information about the vehicles status. The most exciting addition to what it can do is remote-controlled parking – however, the vehicle must be straight and centred while facing a parking space or garage.