[Auto] Munich’s new flagship arrives as technology-laden electric luxury saloon to rival Mercedes-Benz EQS

[BirSaNN]

 

you can tell much about a car in just the first few metres of driving it. Yet in the case of the new BMW i7, the electric flagship saloon that sits atop BMW’s range, we’re not actually doing the driving.

Instead, the start of our test route has been preprogrammed so the car can drive itself. The Parking Manoeuvre Assist function can ‘teach’ the car up to 600 metres of road, such as in and out of driveways, so it can do it itself next time. It’s debatable quite how useful that really is, yet it’s impossible not to be impressed as the i7 creeps silently out of the car park, the steering wheel spinning on its own.

 

 

As a scene-setter, this gives insight into the i7’s role as not just a flagship model in size and prestige but also in technology, of which it is jam-packed full. The i7 is not a replacement for the BMW 7 Series but a part of the new line-up. All eighth-generation 7 Series models are derived from BMW’s now familiar CLAR architecture, which allows electric and combustion-engined models to be built on the same underpinnings – unlike at rival Mercedes-Benz, where the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Mercedes-Benz EQS models are entirely different underneath.

The i7 is the launch model for the range, arriving in the UK next month in the xDrive60 form we are testing here. This four-wheel-drive model uses twin electric motors (fifth-generation motors from BMW that are said to use no rare earth materials) with a combined 536bhp. A 102kWh battery is good for an official 367-mile range on the WLTP cycle, and it can be recharged at up to 195kW, at which speed a 10-minute charge will add 106 miles of range.

 

Next spring, it will be joined by two plug-in hybrid versions, comprising a base 750e xDrive and a range-topping M760e xDrive that mixes a 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor for a combined 563bhp. Later next year, i will meet M in the i7 range with a 597bhp i7 M70 xDrive flagship. While diesel and petrol versions will be offered in some markets, the UK is not among them.

All UK models will be longwheelbase as standard. Make no mistake: this is a very big and very heavy car. It is the largest BMW yet at just shy of 5.4 metres long, and it weighs in at 2715kg. It’s 100mm longer than an S-Class and 130mm longer than the outgoing 7 Series, and it does look bigger and more substantial on the road than a predecessor that was hardly shy and retiring. That the i7 is likely to sell particularly well in China gives you an insight into why it has taken on the, er, ‘imposing’ character it has. Graceful, elegant, timeless: none of these words can be used to describe the way it looks from the outside, most people, China’s discerning buyers aside, will surely agree.

for more info ---> https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/bmw/i7