2006 BMW 7 SERIES Review - Base Price $71,800
Dynamically, an ultimate driving machine.
Introduction
BMW sparked debate four years ago with the introduction of its radically redesigned and heavily computerized 7 Series sedans. Critics assailed the styling and some drivers did not like the iDrive controls. While the company has toned down the styling and backed away from some of the more convoluted electronics, the car still sparks debate. However, we can assure you this: This is a luxury sedan in the truest sense and it is impressive to drive.
Its responsive engines and six-speed automatic transmission, its magic-carpet ride quality, its excellent handling, its awesomely powerful brakes, and its well-tuned electronic stability control systems deliver the ultimate in big-sedan river control. This car flat flies. The 760 models are two of the quickest, fastest, normally aspirated 2.5-ton vehicles in the world.
Whichever 7 Series you choose, starting with the standard 750i, you'll get a sedan that's big, smooth, fast and inspiring. It'll also be equipped with the latest safety technology. No matter where you sit, you'll experience a cabin that's beautiful and wonderfully comfortable. The 750Li and 760Li (L for long) offer even greater legroom in the back seats. All the 7 Series models are exceptionally powerful and responsive, and if the V12-powered 760i and 760Li don't stir something inside you, you may as well call a cab.
Virtually everything in the cabin is controlled through a single mouse-like interface called iDrive. It controls the entertainment system, the navigation system and myriad settings managing the car's suspension, lighting and driver/car interface, and it demands some study to master. Once that's accomplished, however, driving the 7 Series cars is easy and quite satisfying.
The whisper-quiet cabin is a great place for quiet conversation or magnificent solitude. The 7 Series has a superb stereo, so it's an insulated sound studio where you can hear Mozart concertos, crystal clear vocals or crisp acoustic guitar notes. The level of technology the 7 Series offers is mind boggling, and a negative in the minds of some. Almost-silent, hidden fans and heating elements cool or warm your rear end or your soft drink; microchips stand by to instantaneously detect and restrain a skidding tire or to apply the brakes full force just in case you were distracted by a phone call; power sunshades keep the sun off your rear passengers. Adaptive headlights turn with the car.
There's more, much more, but the point is made. Among the big luxury sedans, the 2006 BMW 7 Series retains its status as the ultimate driving machine.
The 2006 BMW 7 Series models offer a freshened appearance with a redesigned grille, hood and headlamps. The lower grille opening now looks like it's smiling, rather than frowning. The V8 engine on the 750i and 750Li has been revised for 2006 and delivers siginficantly more power. And the iDrive system has been revised on 2006 models for improved graphics and easier operation.
Interior
High-quality materials and elegant design make the 7 Series cabin an exceedingly pleasant, luxurious place in which to conduct the business of driving. The dash looks particularly clean and elegant because the iDrive system eliminates so many switches and knobs. Beautiful, buttery leather is used throughout. Wood trim is spread tastefully on the dash, center console and elsewhere. A variety of other materials adds interest without making the interior look busy. The standard roof liner in the 750i reminds us of fine suit material, something you might encounter on a woman's business jacket; the 760Li's roof is lined with suede-like alcantara.
The front seats are supportive and comfortable, and by that we mean all iterations in both model lines. The standard seats in the 750i adjust 14 ways. The available Comfort Seats adjust in 20 directions. Some adjustments are automatic, including the headrests, which change height according to the position of the seat. The sport package seats have bolstering on par with those in a sports car. Active Seat Ventilation cools the front and rear seats in the summer by blowing air through micro-perforations in the leather; the system includes a vibrating feature.
All 7 Series sedans feature dual-zone temperature and airflow adjustment for the front passengers, managed by familiar knobs and buttons arrayed across the center of the dash; the 760Li adds separate temperature adjustments for each side of the rear seat. Window shade-like slats seal off vent registers when and if desired. An automatic humidity control maintains relative humidity near an optimal 40 percent. Rain-sensing wipers detect misting on the windshield and automatically wipe it off.
The rear seats are roomy and comfortable. The long-wheelbase L models provide as much rear legroom as you'll find this side of a stretch limo. Waterfall LED atmosphere lighting inside the C-pillars adds to the evening elegance of the rear seats. For bright days, the 760Li includes power sunshades for the rear windscreen and rear side windows. Comfort Seats for the rear come standard on the 760Li and are available for the 750Li, along with moveable, floor-mount footrests. Rear Comfort Seats include electric heating and 14-way power adjustments, with a control that allows rear-seat passengers to move the front passenger seat forward, a great feature. Having a skilled professional drive you around while you luxuriate in back is not the worst way to travel. Rear Comfort Seats make the BMW 7 Series the ultimate riding machine.
Under power, the 7 Series cabin remains whisper quiet. The only outside sound we could hear while driving the 750i was the tires whacking over expansion joints or humming across grooved concrete. Ambient noise is wonderfully deadened inside, making conversation easy and pleasant. We could, however, detect hums, clicks and buzzes in the background generated by assorted servo motors, switches and pumps in support of all the amenities and creature comforts.
The quiet cabin provides a perfect environment for a superb stereo that delivers crisp highs, sharp bass, and clear mid-range tones. BMW's Premium Sound Package is truly sensational. Unless you have a state-of-the-art stereo at home, you'll hear things in your favorite songs you've barely noticed before. The package delivers seven channels of surround sound through 13 speakers, including a pair of subwoofers ingeniously integrated into the chassis itself; it includes a CD changer. We'd spring for the optional Sirius Satellite Radio, which offers mostly commercial-free music, news, sports and talk.
The 7 Series provides more interior storage space than some of its competitors, but storage isn't one of its strengths. The center console lid is split down the middle to create a pair of leather-covered access doors. The driver's side of our console was cooled by the air conditioner, the passenger side filled with CD storage and a cellular telephone holder. The glove box was no cave, either, being too small even to hold the owner's manual, which we had to stuff into a door map pocket or into one of the magazine pouches on the back side of the front seats. Thankfully, the CD changer has been relocated into a space in the dash above the glove box concealed by a retractable panel matching the metallic trim piece running across the dash. The two cup holders are handsome, high-tech and practical, with sliding covers. The sun visors do not appear to live up to the quality of the rest of the interior.
BMW's voice-command system works reasonably well for people willing to learn how to program and use it. You could use it to call home, check voice mail, or to switch among two or three favorite radio stations. It'll do much more than that for those willing to invest some time in it, however. A command to remember is "Options," because that will prompt the system to call out a list of recognized commands you can use. "Radio on" turns the radio on. Saying "106.7" switches the station to FM 106.7. You can also tell it to play CD track number five. You can really impress friends (and kids) even if you set up just a few functions.
Technology abounds inside the 7 Series. Working the multitude of systems comes closer to operating a computer than any mainstream production car we've seen. There's a downside to all this technology, to be sure. It requires familiarization and effort to begin to master it, and many will find the learning curve steep. Even simple, intuitive operations that we learned the first time we drove a car no longer apply in the 7 Series. You'll have to relearn old techniques just to start this sedan, release its parking brake and back it out of the driveway.
To start the car you insert the key, except that it's an electronic device rather then a traditional key (a keyless system, called Comfort Access, is optional). Then, with your foot on the brake, you press the start button. Press another button to release the electronically controlled parking brake. To shift into reverse, pull a small lever on the dash toward you and press it upwards. Snick the lever down into drive to go forward. The shifter feels more like a switch or an electronic stalk than a mechanical shifter because it is, indeed, an electronic switch. There is no mechanical link between the selector and the transmission. It's controlled by wire, and takes some practice to use as naturally as a traditional gear selector. However, once mastered, the 7 Series shifter may end up being quicker and less distracting than a traditional automatic shifter, most of which require that the driver look down to ensure the proper gear is selected, troublesome when in a hurry.
The transmission offers three shift modes, one for everyday motoring, another with quicker shifts at higher engine speeds for sporty driving and a manual shift-like Steptronic, where shifts up or down are executed by pressing buttons on the back or front of the steering wheel rim. We found the shift buttons awkwardly located, with those on the front side of the steering wheel manipulated by the thumb, which wasn't difficult, and those on the back of the wheel most readily pressed by the ring finger. In addition, the transmission doesn't hold the gear selected, automatically upshifting as the engine neared redline and readily downshifting, often two or three gears, when we floored the gas pedal.
iDrive use a big, round, leather-topped, aluminum knob on the center console to manage virtually everything in the cabin, including automotive functions, entertainment, communications and navigation. The iDrive knob turns like a volume knob, presses down like a switch, and slides in eight directions (left and right, forward and back, and diagonally). Corresponding menus are presented on a video screen deeply recessed in the top center of the dash. From the main or start menu, sliding the big knob toward each of the eight compass points selects a different sub-menu, or the primary menu for a system. Slide the knob due south (toward the back of the car), for example, and you'll move from the main menu to the entertainment menu. Now rotate the knob to scroll around the stereo menu, and then press down as with a mouse when the cursor lands on the appropriate function (e.g. Preset Stations). As with a menu system on a computer, you may immediately reach the function you're after, or you may get another sub-menu with more selections to spin through.
The evolution of the iDrive continues for 2006 based on what has been learned through five years of production and ownership experience. Previous improvements include two buttons just behind the main iDrive control: one that automatically returns the display screen to the main menu, and another that can be programmed with whatever sub-menu the user prefers. The first button should substantially reduce frustration levels. The second button should add convenience so that the owner can quickly get to the most often-used function (audio or climate, for example). For 2006, there are new graphics that BMW says are easier to read, more distinctive color coding of menus, easier-to-use scrollable lists in submenus, a new climate menu with clearer selections and additional on-board data.
The iDrive knob is easy for a driver to locate with the right hand without a glance; the display screen is big, and can be viewed without completely removing your eyes from the road ahead. Though improved, iDrive takes a fair amount of practice just to get a rudimentary grip on its operation, and you'll need to do some reading of the voluminous owner's manual to fully exploit it. It can be frustrating when you're at the bottom of this learning curve. It took us the first couple days of our time with a 2006 BMW 750Li, for example, to figure out how to tune in a radio station other than one already preset by a previous driver. And this despite the fitment of new hard controls on 2006 models to select band, sources and presets or tracks. Some common functions have been made easier, like pulling up a map, for instance. Unlike previous iDrive versions, where this multi-step process severely tested our tolerance for frustration, it's now quite straightforward, almost easy, involving nothing more than tapping the iDrive knob to accept the screen filled with disclaimers and caveats that appears every time you start the car and then sliding it to the right to select Navigation. That said, we expect most owners will master iDrive to the point where they use it more or less intuitively. But learning isn't the only problem. Even when you've mastered the new and improved iDrive, you'll have to wade through various menus and sub-menus to get to the function that needs adjustment. And that function may be one you could more simply operate on a conventional dashboard by flicking a switch. More clicks is not progress, in our view.
A split screen on the display can be configured to show all kinds of information depending on the mode selected by iDrive. But it's not ideal. Like many of the electronic displays increasingly popular in cars today, polarized sunglasses render some graphics in the iDrive display nearly impossible to read.
Besides iDrive, many controls do not function in the traditional fashion. We spent several miles switching back and forth between lanes on the freeway the first time we drove the new 7 Series, for example, before decoding how to cancel the turn signal without instead merely making it indicate the opposite way. Once we learned, however, it became almost second nature; and we like the three-blink lane-change feature.
Park Distance Control employs sonar sensors in the front and rear bumpers that detect objects near the car and beeps a warning with increasing frequency the closer you get. Different tones for the front and rear greatly facilitate parking in tight locations, making parallel parking quicker and more confident. While not as effective as the rear-view video system appearing on some SUVs, the system can help you avoid backing into or over something you can't see from inside the car, like a child on tricycle. We also like the park-assist system that presents a pictograph of the car and graphically displays the distance and location of the obstruction. It sounds like a gadget, but park-assist adds convenience in daily driving and can help prevent an annoying or even tragic accident. It's a good feature.
Walk-Around
The BMW 7 Series cars come in two lengths. The 750i and 760i ride on a 117.7-inch wheelbase, while the 750Li and 760Li stretch that to 123.2 inches. The long-wheelbase Li models are 5.5 inches longer bumper to bumper, and nearly all of that is directed into more rear-seat legroom.
BMW stepped out of the box when it launched the current 7 Series as a 2002 model. The objective was to boost its luxury sedan's presence and curb appeal. Indeed, the 7 Series looked more agile and muscular than the previous-generation models, which had aged, and to some, not so gracefully. Though the trademark twin-kidney grille and long hood remained, making it clear that this was still a BMW, the design was a dramatic departure from past BMWs.
That the styling has not pleased everyone is evident by the fact it's still a widely discussed topic. The overall design, and particularly the rear half, have generated continued controversy among design critics and automotive media. BMW claims its buyers love it, and sales tend to support this. And other manufacturers, including Acura and Lexus, are beginning to use similar design solutions on the rears of their cars to manage airflow.
In the past few years, BMW has tweaked the styling here and there, softening some of the more dramatic cues and returning toward more traditional BMW styling cues. For 2006, there are some welcome refinements.
The grille on the 2006 models is now slightly larger and consistent on both models; it was slightly wider at the top on the 2005 760s. The hood has been re-contoured, losing some height, with a less prominent power bulge, and sloping more quickly to the new grille and headlight housings, themselves re-shaped to parallel the grille's outline and wrap farther around the fender, ending in a sharper point.
Set relatively low, the headlamps are trimmed by turn signals above them, looking like the eyebrows of a hawk. An extractor vent straddling the hood just forward of the cowl looks out of place on a car in this class. The lower air intake is reshaped and partitioned, looking more like a smile than a frown, with fog lamps housed in separate indents. A sliver of chrome adorns the bumper.
The side view shows the faster hood flowing into the nicely proportioned glasshouse. BMW's trademark dogleg in the rear side window continues as the longest-running, brand-specific styling cue in the industry. Door sills and rocker panels are fuller, more pronounced, breaking up a stretch of sheetmetal otherwise featureless except for an understated character line creasing the doors beneath flush-mounted door handles. The exterior mirrors can be retracted inward with the touch of a button, reducing the parking width by more than a foot. It's a great convenience for drivers with narrow garage entrances or when parking in a crowded city garage. Tires fill circular wheel wells placed where they should be to balance and support the body's visual mass. The contentious trunk has been softened, rounded off a bit and in general, just stylistically relaxed with a slicker transition between the backlight and trunk lid.
New taillight clusters bridging the seam between the rear fenders and the trunk lid and reaching halfway to the license plate recess draw the eye across the back, making the car look wider. The lights employ a feature BMW calls adaptive brake lighting. Under normal braking, the outboard and center-mounted, third brake lights illuminate as usual. Under hard braking or when ABS is activated, secondary brake lights in the trunk-lid elements join the outboard brake lights for a significant increase in visibility of the brake lights. The distinction is intended to warn following drivers that you are stopping very quickly. A monitoring system indicates when a bulb is burned out. And while waiting for you to have it replaced, the system will commandeer other bulbs in the taillamps to fill in as brake lights. The thickened, less-pronounced, spoiler-like lip across the top trailing edge of the trunk lid casts less of a shadow across the rear bulwark. A chrome rub-strip on the bumper mirrors the treatment on the front end. A diffuser panel beneath the lower bumper tucks up into a recess running the width of the car.
Impressions
Body style and computerized interfaces aside, when it comes to driving dynamics, there's no controversy. BMW's 7 Series has been widely lauded for its outstanding performance and ride, and almost everything about the 2006 BMW 7 Series is top notch.
Heading the list is the car's wonderful, magic-carpet ride. The high-tech suspension smoothes out bumps, even speed bumps, to a point of astonishment. It's incredibly comfortable, yet the driver does not feel completely isolated from the road. It senses when it's being driven hard, instantaneously re-tuning itself appropriately for improved handling, and then adjusting the other way when the going gets easy and relaxed on long, inter-city trips.
BMW's Active Roll Stabilization uses computer-controlled, two-piece anti-roll bars to increase roll resistance in hard cornering and keep the body flat in turns. It's as if on entering a turn, the inside tires lift to keep the car level, which is, in effect, what actually happens. At the same time, the system maintains enough suspension compliance to keep the tires planted on the road. Bumps in the middle of a high-speed corner do not upset the handling balance one whit. Several factors are at work here: a near-perfect weight distribution of 50 percent front to rear (helped by lightweight aluminum hood and front fenders), which means neither end of the car is more prone to slide than the other; a highly rigid chassis that allows precise suspension tuning; and minimal unsprung weight, thanks to lightweight aluminum wheels, brake calipers and aluminum suspension components.
Remember, weighing more than 4900 pounds, depending on equipment, the 7 Series is not a small, lightweight car. But in some respects it feels smaller than it is. The electronic stability control makes adjustments to maintain handling balance whenever grip is lost to any one tire. By applying braking force to individual wheels and, when absolutely necessary, reducing engine speed, it almost seems to bend the laws of physics. Just steer this thing where you want to go and the 7 Series takes you there. We felt this on a fast, greasy corner, flat-out over a crest that unweighted the suspension. All four wheels lost grip, but we simply motored around the corner, drifting just slightly wide of the intended line, never lifting off the accelerator pedal or making any adjustments in the steering. No special action was needed. The car did all of it. The anti-skid system is transparent, in that you can't feel it kick in and out. BMW's system is less obtrusive and more performance-oriented than similar systems found in Mercedes and Lexus automobiles.
Steering a 7 Series sedan is a joy. The rack-and-pinion steering is super sharp and precise. It's very light at low speeds for parking lots, but firms up at higher speeds for improved driver feel. It also steps up response by 10 percent as the wheel is turned off center, which means that the more you turn the wheel, the faster the car responds. With this steering system, it's easy to drive with extreme precision on winding roads at high speeds, placing the tires exactly where you want them. When hitting bumps, there's little or no kickback to the steering. Our only reservation about this system, and it's a minor point, is that it's so sensitive to road speed that accelerating in the midst of a tight turn occasionally catches it out, leaving the front wheels more sharply angled than optimal.
The V8 and V12 drivetrains are absolutely silky when cruising around. The six-speed automatic is extremely smooth, yet it's among the most responsive we have ever experienced. Hit the accelerator pedal and the transmission drops a gear or two without any of that hesitation found in so many automatics. The additional gearing of the six-speed allows a lower first gear for quicker performance off the line, closer ratios in the middle gears for better mid-range response, and taller top gears for improved fuel economy. Frankly, we found the Steptronic feature superfluous. With a transmission as responsive as this one, manual shifting seems more of a toy than anything else. Just put it in Drive and control the transmission with your right foot.
The 4.8-liter V8 engine is a delight, very smooth when cruising, but ready and willing to play at the edges when asked. Combine the smooth drivetrain with the smooth ride and the 750i feels deceptively slow. This car feels so smooth cruising at 80 to 100 mph that it's almost more comfortable to drive in traffic, as then you can easily see when you're turning into a ticket magnet. For the same reason, you're likely to find yourself coming into corners carrying more speed than you realized, then having to get on the brakes a little harder than originally planned. Unlike in most cars, this isn't a scary thing, though, because the 7 Series almost never loses its composure. Just kind of a "Whoa, Nellie! Slow this baby down." This combination of outstanding dynamics and deceptive travel speeds says something about both the joy and the trepidation in a car as capable as the 7 Series. Put more simply, watch your speed in this car, because you just may find yourself having too much fun.
The same goes for when you're sitting at a stop light, impatient to get on your way. Punch the accelerator and the 750i leaps into action, almost too quickly if you're not paying attention. BMW claims a 0 to 60 mph time for both 750s of just 5.8 seconds. The V8 in the 2006 750i is rated at 360 horsepower, up 35 from the '05, and 360 pound-feet of torque, up 30 from the '05. It earns an EPA-estimated 17/25 mpg City/Highway, giving up 1 mpg from the '05. Its sophisticated Valvetronic system has eliminated the throttle completely, eliminating pumping losses for improved efficiency by letting the valves, which benefit from BMW's double VANOS variable timing, control the airflow through the engine. For 2006, the V8 trades the previous engine's infinitely variable intake system, which optimized power across the engine's rpm range, for a two-stage setup, one of which is tuned to low-to-medium engine speeds, the other to higher rpms. BMW says the larger engine's increased torque lets this less sophisticated system do the same job and as well as last year's more refined system. We're not persuaded, as the acceleration on the 2006 750i was not as linear as on previous models, with a perceptible transition between the two intake stages. It still scoots, but just not as silky as before.
If pure silk is what you want, try the V12. The 760Li was launched as a 2003 model with a 6.0-liter, V12 engine that shares its basic architecture and most of its technology with the V8. For 2004, BMW introduced the sportier 760i with the shorter wheelbase to the North American market. The V12 engine added an innovation of its own: direct fuel injection, which delivers fuel directly into the cylinders, rather than to intake ports on the cylinder head. This improves power and reduces emissions. The V12 generates 438 horsepower and an impressive 444 pound-feet of torque. The V12 is turbine smooth, and whisks the sumptuously luxurious 760i from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.4 seconds, while earning an EPA estimate of 15/22 mpg City/Highway.
The 7 Series can stop in a big hurry when necessary. Massive, ventilated disc brakes, among the largest and most powerful BMW has ever used, are fitted with aluminum calipers at all four corners. Electronic brake proportioning ensures that the meaty tires are making best use of all available braking traction by transferring braking force to the tires with the best grip. Dynamic Brake Control reinforces the driver's pedal effort in emergency braking to help the car stop in the shortest possible stopping distance, even if the driver mistakenly relaxes pressure on the brake pedal. The underlying electronics, however, are less than ideal, at times keeping the brakes applied longer than we wished as we rolled to a stop at an intersection. The Automatic Hold feature worked as promised, however, holding the car at a stop on a slope until the driver presses on the accelerator pedal, and setting the parking brake when the car is turned off. The feature can be switched on or off using the iDrive menus.
Summary
The BMW 7 Series is so smooth that full days behind the wheel are not taxing, and it's very comfortable in heavy commuter traffic. It's easy to drive this car well, even on winding mountain roads, and few luxury sedans can keep up with it at high speeds. The interior is sumptuous. And these cars are stuffed with the latest technology. Dynamically, this may be the best car in the class. That's no small feat, given that the competition includes some of the best, most expensive cars in the world. But some of the technology sometimes seems to be more of a distraction than an aid.
NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent Tom Lankard reported from Sacramento, California, with Mitch McCullough reporting from Los Angeles and San Antonio.
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