BMW 740d Review

From our point of view, the F01 should be a synonym for comfort. Basically, it's difficult, if not impossible, to find a comfort feature that's not available on the new 7 Series as comfort is a pièce de résistance for the new lineup. It all starts with the windshield and ends with the rear seats with massage function. But first things first.

Our car was fitted with climate comfort lamination windshield and glass which basically means that the windshield will protect the cabin from excessive sunlight and thus allow other systems, such as the air conditioning, to work more efficiently. However, such a feature comes only as an option, with a price of around 250 Euros.

All four seats can be adjusted for the optimal position, with a total number of 8 controls available for each of them. Additionally, BMW installed cooling and heating systems for every seat, but these features are actually options priced as follows: heated and vented rear seats, available separately for 400 and 1,000 Euros, Comfort front seats - 1,800 Euros and Comfort rear seats - 2,600 Euros.

And that's not all. The car comes fitted with automatic air conditioning with four-zones, which means that every single passenger of the car can set up his very own settings for the climate system. The rear occupants however can enjoy an even more friendly and comfortable ride thanks to the massage function that's exclusively available for the rear seats and offered as a 500 Euros option.

Last but not least, we must mention the "Comfort" mode that adjusts the car's settings for the most comfortable ride the car can provide, plus the 19-inch radial-spoke lightweight alloy wheels that come as an option and cost - hold your breath! - 3,100 Euros.

From the technical point of view, the 7 Series is impressive just by looking on the spec list. The 3.0-liter engine is a real state-of-the-art piece of technology, especially if we're taking into account the amount of power it provides with so little fuel. According to BMW's figures, the Common Rail technology helps develop 306 horsepower at 4,400 rpm and 600 Nm of torque between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm, while keeping fuel consumption at a very low level: 26.1 mpg (9 l/100km) city and 41.2 mpg (5.7 l/100km) highway.

Just like on the 5 Series GT, the tested model was fitted with Integral Active Steering which is very useful especially for such a sporty and agile large sedan. In short terms, the system automatically steers the rear wheels in the opposite direction of the front wheels to increase stability and comfort. The use of such a technology has two benefits, depending on the car's speed: at low speeds, it reduces the turning cycle while at higher speeds it increases handling and stability. This was also one of the options added to our vehicle, with pricing going around 1,600 Euros.

The suspension system with all its four modes is also a major feature of the car, as it allows the driver to customize the settings depending on the driver's needs. The Comfort, Normal, Sport and Sport+ levels adjust the setup and provide a greater amount of power and/or increase the comfort rating.

BMW's Steptronic transmission unit has 8 forward speeds which, regardless the selected mode, makes gear shifting almost unnoticeable. Furthermore, the gearbox comes with a manual shift function, so drivers who are looking to bring their very own touch to the car's final performance figures can easily pull the gear stick to the left and then shift manually.

Since it packs so many comfort features, it would be naturally to expect at least the same amount of systems in the gadget section. And as far as we're concerned, we were pleased to see that the new 7 Series is packed with almost every single entertainment feature you would ever desire in such an expensive model.

This is indeed a good thing but the sad thing is that most of these features are actually placed on the options lists, thus increasing the car's final price. The Professional HiFi system for instance is priced at 750 Euros while the navigation system, together with the necessary maps, costs no less than 2,000 Euros.

The rear-seat infotainment system is very expensive as well, 2,500 Euros, but is worth every single Eurocent. Mostly because it not only allowed us to browse among the rear seats' configuration options but also to play virtually all types of multimedia files, including videos and DVDs. The interesting fact is that every rear passenger can select a separate radio station or play a different song than the one selected by the driver and listen to them using a standard headset.

One of the uncanny and we-can't-understand-it-maybe-you-can feature is the USB connectivity. The car comes with two USB ports, each of them with separate functions (don't ask us why): the one in the armrest that allowed us to play music and the one in the glovebox, which is only useful if you intend to copy the media files on the hard-disk.

Besides the massage function we mentioned before, the F01 also includes BMW's very own Night Vision system that monitors the road ahead and displays visual warnings every time a pedestrian, who by the way looks like some kind of zombie on the in-car LCD screen, might step in front of the car. Once again, this is just an option and costs around 1,900 Euros.

There are several "regular" features, such as the rear-view camera and Bluetooth support, with the latter priced at 650 Euros, but the car also benefits from adaptive headlights and the Soft-Close system that automatically closes the door when it is approximately 6 mm of the lock.

The only thing we missed here was the head-up display, which was however available as an option.

As far as safety goes, BMW 7 Series is a very advanced vehicle. We won't present you with safety results simply because it hasn't been tested by any well-known safety institute.

We can assure though that the guys over at BMW did all that was possible to make the F01 the safest it could get. Airbags all around, passive and active systems plus a bundle of electronic functions are all there to make sure that passengers won't be hurt at all.

Safety features include driver and front passenger airbags, front and rear curtain airbags with side protection, front and rear thorax protection plus ABS, DSC and DTC. Furthermore, the car benefits from a brand new bodyshell specifically created to absorb impact energy and avoid the cabin, thus protecting the occupants. There are also the crash-activated headrests that protect both the neck and the head of all passengers.

One of the special features on the F01 is the ConnectedDrive emergency call system which automatically alerts the emergency services and transmits your coordinates.

Last but not least, the adaptive headlights come with a special function that automatically adjusts the light beam at higher speeds to illuminate a greater part of the center of the road, rather than the outer edges.

After a couple of days spent behind the wheel of a 7 Series, we realized that the new 7 Series is indeed worth every single cent. The car appears to be the perfect combination of excellent power, superior comfort and the lowest possible fuel consumption.

The guys over at the Bavarian automaker managed to do an amazing thing with the engine, which develops no less than 306 horsepower but can achieve even 9 l/100km in urban conditions, obviously in a perfect world. From this point of view, the engine, together with the transmission setup, is surely one of the main advantages as compared to its rivals.

Comfort on the other hand is practically at the highest possible level, as BMW equipped the car with almost every feature an eccentric wealthy business would desire. From four-zone automatic climate control to seats with massage functions, the 7 Series could be easily considered a living room on wheels.

The only thing that doesn't impress, if we really want to find such a thing on the new 7 Series, is probably the exterior design, albeit most people consider the F01 looks just like a sedan should look like.

Probably the most significant downside of the car is its price, as the final amount of money you have to pay to buy one of these goes around 120,000 Euros. Unfortunately, it's fairly difficult to cut some features and lower the price as such an exclusive model without its premium goodies, such as the massage function or the navigation system, would simply not make sense at all.