Car review: the obscenely pleasurable 2023 BMW i7
The i7 falls into that rare category of cars that you want to drive for the sake of it, writes Sean O’Grady. The kind that you’ll dream up some excuse to visit an old friend or pop out on some long-overdue errand
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The thing about BMW’s new and highly impressive all-electric i7 limousine is that they’ve somehow made it drive like a “proper car” and, indeed, a proper BMW. This is something that is very hard to define but, as we grind on with our transition from the internal combustion engine to more environmentally sustainable transportation, it is something that’s also very important.
We’ve seen in recent weeks, if not before, how the public can become restive if they feel uncomfortable with green stuff they’re unfamiliar with, and, in our democratic society, in that sense the public are always right. We don’t want them getting into a BEV (battery electric vehicle) and not feeling at home, do we?
Electric cars are invariably smooth, surprisingly accelerative, and of course near-silent, but, for those very reasons, they are also “different”. For some, the uncertainties about the future course of electricity tariffs, the extra purchase price premium BEVs command, their residual values and the durability of the new technologies can offer the psychologically reluctant customer plenty of reasons to stick with a petrol model.
THE SPEC
BMW i7 xDrive 60 M Sport
Price: £125,705 (as tested, range starts at £100,205)
Propulsion: Two electric motors, powered by 105kWh battery
Power (hp): 536
Top speed (mph): 149
0-60 (seconds): 4.7
Economy (miles per kWh): 3.3
Range (miles): 230-445
CO2 emissions: 0
So BMW are to be heartily congratulated in engineering something so radically different but reassuringly familiar to drive. For a 7-series such as this, it needs to have that quality of the driver almost perched on the prow of the car, the steering feeling more like manoeuvring a great ocean liner; the power delivered with a kind of understatement, just as it would be in one of the traditional straight-six cylinder or V8 configured internal combustion engines.
In this electric car the twin motors – it has four-wheel drive for extra control and stability – are matched to a single speed transmission, so there’s not even the slightest sensation of changing gears, but the i7 still feels like it’s running with a conventional drivetrain. All the kit, technology and the massive liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack mean that this BMW weighs in at 2.6 tonnes – very heavy by any standard, which makes the car’s agility and poise even more astonishing. That BMW have done all this and endowed the thing with supercar-matching performance, makes this i7 something of a benchmark for its peers – though the latest Mercedes-Benz EQS also makes a strong case for itself.
The feeling of command that the blend of new technology and traditional values gives the driver is obscenely pleasurable, and the i7 falls into that rare category of cars that you want to drive for the sake of it, the kind that you’ll dream up some excuse to visit an old friend or pop out on some long-overdue errand.
It’s safe to say that most of those who’ll find themselves at the wheel of the electric i7 will be professional drivers, and they should be well pleased with what they find. Naturally, the car is equipped with the latest in driver assist aids, which means it will virtually drive itself and keep you and your passengers safe. Indeed, albeit not uncommon on upmarket or even medium range cars these days, the i7 will even park itself – something that takes some nerve with a car that starts at £100,000. For the embassy chauffeurs of the world, the standard of living is about to take a welcome move up.
With rivals such as Mercedes EQS, Genesis G80, Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan, and forthcoming fully-electrified interventions from Range Rover, Jaguar, Audi and (I hope) Maserati, there will soon be more choice than ever at this rarefied end of the market. Perhaps that will give the rest of us a little more confidence as we contemplate going electric.
If things are cushdy up front, they are even more so for the lucky so-and-sos in the rear. Obviously you get the plush leather and alcantara seats, ventilated, reclining and massaging to taste with “vegan leather” (ie plastic) option, individual climate control and electric blinds and the best of the panoramic sunroof, but the showtime starts with the BMW “theatre screen” that drops down from the roof – a £4,000 option. Your very own mobile cinema, where you can settle down at 149mph (where legal) and watch the telly, ought to be on everyone’s bucket list.
As for the mundane business of running the beast, it’ll give you a 300-mile range and about 3 miles per kilowatt hour, which is pretty decent given the size and weight involved, and it charges up fairly briskly too. What might not be to all tastes is the looks: very much in the current giant grill in-yer-face BMW idiom. It suits the i7, which is at least otherwise well-proportioned, much more than it does the SUVs or smaller saloons, but I thought it a little telling that the press cars are generally in all-black livery, with barely a hint of chrome to accentuate the styling. Using the BMW online fantasy car configurator I created one in red with the famous “kidney” grille motif very much in evidence and I thought it looked alright. But then again I’m not an ambassador, not even of style.
From an industry and even an environmental point of view, the i7 is an encouraging development. It’s also available with petrol and hybrid propulsion, but the all-electric version is the greenest, the most sophisticated, the most desirable and the best. BMW may have made a nervous and eccentric start to their electrification drive some years ago, with the brilliant but quirky i3 and futuristic i8 sports car, but they are now firmly in the mainstream, assisted by an alliance with Great Wall Motors of China. For BMW and its sibling brands of Mini and Rolls-Royce, it all augurs well. (And much of the underpinnings of this i7 will in due course no doubt make their way into future Rolls-Royces). Waft on, BMW, waft on.
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