The New BMW 7 Series

Hey look, it’s the new BMW 7 series. The top of the line, flagship of the fleet.

You’ll notice that the overall exterior design is MUCH more improved and integrated than in 7s past. The “Dame Edna” front end is way toned down (although still sort of present), and that rear trunk/bumper/taillight is handled much better as well’ less of that bustle/”hit with the Bangle stick” look.

The interior … well, as you can see from the shots (of the Brit model, hence the RHD), it’s a mixed bag. They still have that iDrive thing, and there’s lots of overly techy looking bits - that shifter for one, what the hell is up with that?

The meat of the matter, the driveline engineering is about what you’d expect from BMW: Engineered to within an inch of it’s life, dependable as an anvil and enough power to make Dick Cheney, well, feel even more like Dick Cheney.

There are three drivetrains to choose from (over there anyway, we probably won’t be getting the diesel just yet): a 3 liter diesel, and a 4 and 5 liter gasoline burning mills. The diesel is pretty impressive. It’s a new, all-aluminum engine that produces 245hp and 540Nm of torque, that can launch a hefty can like this from zero to 62mph in 7.2 seconds and a top out at 153mph and still get 39.2mpg (I’m assuming that’s highway)

The 740i is powered by a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged engine that cranks out produces 326hp and 450Nm of torque to enable the 740i to accelerate from zero to 62mph in 5.9 seconds before going on to an electronically-limited (boooo!) 155mph top speed.

And the 5 liter? It’s got twin-turbochargers located within the engine’s vee (guess they got the thermal loading better than Ferrari did in the early 80s) and it cranks out 407hp and 600Nm of torque. Which punts the beast down the road at a zero to 62mph time of 5.2 seconds, an electronically-limited (boooo again!) top speed of 155mph.

Not bad for a big sedan.

There’s more shots after the jump.

Certainly a step up from the current 7. Every time I see one I wonder why someone would pay anywhere from $80-120,000 for it. I must say though, I do like that shift knob.

Yeah, you, me and a LOT of my friends that are into BMWs were just mystified by the styling starting a few years back.

As far as that shift knob goes, I guess it’s wrong for me to call it a shift knob, since you don’t really shift with it … more like “gear selector”. All the 7s are auto-boxes, right?