2009 BMW 750i

What are you driving? BMW’s redesigned flagship 7-Series sedan. It’s longer, wider, heavier, and more powerful than the 2002-2008 generation. It’s restyled, too, dumping risky lines and a controversial bustle trunklid for a sleeker body with less-fussy sheetmetal. Underhood is a twin-turbocharged V-8 with 400 horsepower and a stout 450 pound-feet of torque. It replaces a naturally aspirated V-8 that had 360 horsepower and 360 pound-feet. Transmission remains a six-speed automatic. A full interior redo cans the rabbit’s-foot transmission shifter appended to the steering column for a floor lever that merely looks more conventional. Overhauled as well is BMW’s iDrive system, which centralizes control of the car’s daunting array of infotainment, comfort, and convenience features. The system still relies primarily on a single console-mounted aluminum knob, but simplifies its duties and hands off some functions to surrounding buttons. The example in the driveway this week is the 750i model. It’s a substantial car, three inches longer than a Chrysler 300, but nonetheless the “short-wheelbase” 7-Series. The 750iL – as in “long” – stretches the wheelbase and body by 5.5 and 5.0 inches, respectively. The test car has rear-wheel drive, but the 7-Series is also available with BMW’s xDrive all-wheel-drive system.

How much does it cost? Base price of this Titanium Silver Metallic test car is $80,300. For that you get leather upholstery, iDrive, a navigation system with voice recognition, xenon headlamps, and dynamic cruise control that automatically maintains a set following distance. Turn on the windshield wipers and the brakes dry themselves for more efficient stops. Also standard is BMW’s Driving Dynamics Control with a console button that enables the driver to adjust suspension stiffness, steering firmness, transmission gear-change points, and antiskid system parameters. Standard wheels are 18-inch alloys with run-flat tires, so there’s no spare tire. Among the test car’s options are two video cameras that extend the driver’s field of view by showing on the navigation screen what’s beyond the front corners of the car (included in the $750 Camera Package). The doors and trunk lid power closed the final few inches so you don’t have to slam them (included in the $1,700 Convenience Package). And the steering wheel rim vibrates if you wander from your highway lane without signaling (included $1,350 Driver Assistance Package). Also aboard is BMW’s Night Vision with Pedestrian Detection, a $2,600 option that uses a heat-sensitive infrared camera in the front bumper to scan 980 feet ahead and display on the nav screen ghostly images of people or animals up to 300 feet away. Optional equipment totaled $12,145. The 750i’s EPA-estimated 17 mpg combined city/highway fuel economy triggers a $1,000 gas-guzzler tax, and BMW charges $825 for delivery, bringing the bottom-line sticker price of 750i in the driveway to $94,270.

Is it worth it? No, but not because it’s an undesirable car, but because there are other premium sedans that deliver virtually as much but cost far less. Oddly, the 750i comes across as a ‘tweener: not as pleasing to drive as slightly smaller, less-expensive cars that are no less coveted, yet not as big or glamorous as its price and station would suggest. Top-line versions of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6, even BMW’s own 5-Series, furnish basically the same usable passenger space and everyday performance as the 750i. All are under $65,000 and certainly none shortchanges on gizmos you’ll actually use. If you’re in position to spend $80,300 to get into a 7-Series, you can probably fish around in the change jar for another $3,900 to move up to the 750iL. Its extra room – its genuine limo spaciousness – is what really separates the 7-Series from midsize premium cars like the E-Class and A6.  

What’s to like? This is a handsome sedan that that doesn’t shout for attention but attracts it anyway on the strength of great proportioning and crisp details. Front passengers bask in room and comfort on big heated and cooled seats with myriad power adjustments. The dashboard’s an executive command post highlighted by a Cinemascopesc navigation screen 9.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall. Split-screen mapping, large-type data -- it makes lesser displays seem like the monitor of a 1980s Apple Lisa. Interfacing with iDrive is no longer to be dreaded, though the system hasn’t left all impertinence behind; be prepared to deliver the precise voice commands it wants to hear or keep your blood-pressure pills handy. A BMW affectation you’ll learn to like is the new shift lever, which is really a big, springy toggle that triggers gear changes not by moving through a gate but by tipping fore and aft, then returning to position. Leaving all convention behind, “park” is engaged by a separate button atop the lever. It’s different, but it hews to internal logic like a good science fiction movie and operating it is a fun skill quickly acquired, like learning to paddle a kayak. Huge doors open to an interior of rich, subdued materials and exacting assembly. Things are cabin-in-the-hills-quiet in here, too. Straight-line tracking is superb, and should you drift, the vibrating steering wheel entertainingly scolds you back into your lane.

What does it need? Lots of power is obviously available, but initial response seems beholden to the turbos’ mood at the moment; a car like this should leap ahead without hesitation. Jiggle, shudder, bob, and feint sounds like a law firm but describes the infuriating behavior of the 750i on anything but unblemished pavement. Shuffle the Driving Dynamics Control between “Comfort,” “Normal,” “Sport,” and “Sport +,” it hardly matters. BMW needs to return to its playbook for the kind of suspension tuning that once imbued its flagships with such poise, control, and comfort it was reason enough to buy one. While the boys from Bavaria are at it, they need to scour the parts bin for a steering wheel befitting the 7’s station: this one’s simple foam rim and oversized, jutting hub are neither sporting nor distinguished. The rear seat is nicely contoured and comfortable, but leg room gets surprisingly tight as the big front seats drift back past halfway. No car needs nose cameras, but these are useful to extend your vision around, say, piled snow at the exit of a parking lot. The case for nigh vision is weaker, however. BMW needs to find more room for in-cabin storage. The subsurface of every interior panel seems crammed with the guts of this car’s tech features, leaving little opportunity for bins or nooks. And with just four cupholders, the 750i might be the only modern car with fewer beverage receptacles than seating positions. We know this demographic flies for family vacations, but the 750i’s trunk, with its bulky walls and intrusive lid-hinge housings, still wants for useful volume.

What’s BMW’s opinion? “The BMW flagship is effortless luxury and tremendous power. And with countless groundbreaking driving and entertainment options, innovations abound.”

What do you say? BMW’s got it a little backwards: the 750i ought to be tremendous luxury and effortless performance.

Vital statistics
2009 BMW 750i

• Base price: $80,300

• Price of test car including $825 destination fee and $1,000 guzzler tax: $94,270

• Size: 200.0 inches long, 120.7-inch wheelbase, 4,564-pound base curb weight

• Engine: 400-horsepower 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8; rear-wheel drive

• Fuel economy: 15 mpg city/ 22 highway (EPA ratings)

• Warranty: 4 years/50,000 miles bumper-to-bumper

• Safety ratings: at the time of this review, the 2009 BMW 7-Series had not yet been tested by the government as part of the five-star crash-test ratings program. 

Automotive journalist Chuck Giametta has covered the auto industry for more than 20 years as a newspaper reporter, Executive Auto Editor of Consumer Guide books and magazines, and as Managing Editor of Iguida.com. This test vehicle was provided by the manufacturer.