BMW 7 Series
Size: XL
There was a moment, somewhere between laps two and three at New York’s Monticello Motor Club, when things got a little strange. It didn’t feel strange — the car was hugging the corners and accelerating out of them like it was made to be there — but to an unknowing onlooker it likely looked odd. Picture it: a long-wheelbase tech-laden luxury-limo whipping around a route usually reserved for racecars. Tires squealing and all.
You can control all this in your preferred mode: old-fashioned buttons on iDrive dial, touchscreen on the dash, or by gesturing in the air.
The 7 Series is a car to be driven around in. The rear seats can be set up like a mobile office with tables and multiple screens and more connections than LinkedIn. The chauffeur is so far away in the front seat, he might as well be in another room. But BMW knows sometimes you like to drive, too — and that’s what makes the big 7 different from the rest.
Although it’s BMW’s largest sedan, the flagship 2016/7 Series has more in common with the usual racetrack suspects than one might imagine. First of all, the all-new model is lighter than its predecessor, because its core is made from carbon-fibre — the same stuff that makes the BMW i8 such a thrill to drive. The second ace up its sleeve is the next-gen air suspension, which keeps the cabin calm and level, no matter what’s happening outside. It’ll accelerate to 100 km/h in just 4.4 seconds, but you’ll hardly feel it.
The cabin features galvanized metal controls, 16 Bowers & Wilkins speakers, an “executive” back seat complete with WiFi, footrest, and quilted leather seats that offer a massage at the touch of a button. On the highway it feels like a first-class seat on an Emirates flight, floating silently over the clouds.
The new 7 wouldn’t be a 21st century flagship if it didn’t have some truly futuristic technology inside. Gadgets can charge wirelessly in the console, including the vehicle’s smart key that displays a myriad of details like whether you left the sunroof open. You can control all this in your preferred mode: old-fashioned buttons on iDrive dial, touchscreen on the dash, or by gesturing in the air.
Strangest of all though is that so much contradiction — performance and comfort, high-tech and intuitive control, quilted leather and gesture controls — doesn’t even feel, well, contradictory. It feels just right. – Coleman Molnar
