German Car Zone

First Drive: 2009 BMW 750i
Still edgy after all these years

It's not easy to replace flame surfacing, the Bangle butt, and iDrive with a new car that's just as radical. Without appearing to try, BMW has pulled this off with equally controversial styling and potentially infuriating new technology. American luxury-car buyers will have the choice of just one version when it launches in November: the 750i, which means we get it only with the new 4.4L twin-turbo V-8, making 407 hp and 442 lb-ft in Euro trim. The engine first appeared in the X6, in which it is rated 400 hp and 450 lb-ft for the U.S. BMW says fuel efficiency is 1.8 percent better than the outgoing 750i, achieves ULEV2 and EU 5 emissions standards, and is the most efficient car in its class.

The two 7s we won't get, initially at least, are the 740i, with its twin-turbo 3.0L six pumped up to 326 hp, and the 730d, an all-new 245-hp 3.0L turbodiesel. With BMW promoting the twin-turbo V-8 as a V-12 replacement and the twin-turbo six worthy of a V-8, that smaller gas engine should be U.S.-bound in time for 2011 Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. Despite the quickly changing market, BMW's V-12 isn't dead. BMW considers it necessary for certain Asian luxury markets. U.S. import chances look slim and unnecessary. The new V-8 launches the 750i very quickly. With the turbos located inside the eight's vee, there's a much shorter distance between the turbos and the inlet manifold, so it spools up seamlessly.

One radical option is called Dynamic Driving Control, which lets the owner complete final chassis tuning (Dynamic Damping Control is standard) in lieu of BMW engineers. The driver can choose between "comfort" (a setting mostly for chauffer-driven European-owned cars), "normal," "sport," and "sport+." The normal setting indicates how you'd get the car tuned without the option, and it's plenty good, able to slalom with some body roll while remaining controllable. The "sport" setting is more BMW-like, though, with minimized body roll and slightly sharpened responses from the active steering. Good as the system is, the four-mode DDC seems to pander to the faux-enthusiast yuppie crowd that has made the brand so popular since the 1980s.

The other radical new option is Integral Active Steering, which controls the steering angles, front and rear. Like four-wheel steering from, say, GMC and Honda before it, the rear wheels turn (up to three degrees, either way) with the front wheels at low speeds, opposite them at higher speeds. The 7's turning radius is tightened, making the car feel smaller than it is in tight places. Turn off the Dynamic Stability Control completely and you can steer with the throttle and bring the tail out, but only within limits of what is still a very large car. Despite an 82-lb weight reduction, including more standard equipment on the new model, it's still too big and heavy to drift through left-right transitions.




The new six-speed automatic's gearshift has been moved from the steering column back to the floor. It's the same non-intuitive system as in the X6, and it demotes the iDrive control to a smaller push/turn/tilt button to the right of the gearshift.

BMW has deconstructed iDrive in order to redesign it. CD, radio, phone, and navigation system buttons now surround it, and there are "back" and "option" buttons to get you quickly out of the current menu. Control the climate with dashboard buttons, and program eight separate "favorite" buttons for whatever you want. AM/FM buttons are now separate, and the old north/south/east/west screen controls have been replaced with simple line-item lists of phone numbers, radio stations or nav controls. The interface on the new 10.2-in., 1280x1040-pixel screen has a vaguely iPhone look. BMW wraps other standard and optional leading-edge high technology into its flagship, including lane-departure warning, blind-spot warning, night vision with automatic pedestrian detection, and a spiffy indicator that lists local speed limits in the speedometer. This last feature is not available in the U.S. because our speed limit signs aren't as simple as Europe's.

And BMW envelops all this in new sheetmetal featuring a distinctive, full-profile character-line just below the equally distinctive beltline. A side-marker scallop straddles the front fenders and front doors (all doors are aluminum-shelled) and keeps the profile from looking too slabby. The new, larger grille is better integrated into the nose, and the halo-headlamps have their own "eyebrows." The rear end seems sharper and better resolved than the old car's. The rear flanks are reminiscent of the new Opel Insignia's, and the Lexus-like taillamps won't be to everybody's taste. While the design is cleaner and more consistent, it will be just as controversial as the old car's look.

What BMW has created is a car that no one can argue has not been vastly improved, and yet it will be just as polarizing as the one it replaces. Love it or hate it, give it this much: The new 750i isn't resting on its laurels.


Link: 2009 BMW 7 Series - First Drive of the 2009 BMW 750i - Motor Trend

First drive???

The only stuff related to "drive" is stated in six(!!!) sentences (out of many):






The guy has no idea, what flame-surfacing is, since F01 is all flame-surfaced, E65 was not - exception was the FL hood.

I just hate car "journalists" who have no clue about some stuff they write.

isn't it actually the opposite?

Yes, it is.

Another proof how "great" this "journalist" is.

Gosh!

The media will not get to drive the car until it's debut @ Paris.
So these first test drives are kind of counter productive.
Why is it only the American media make out they are actually driving the car ? When other countries state that they do not but see how the car performs from the passengers point of view?

There is hardly any driving impressions in this so called "First Drive", most of it can be found in the BMW press release. This guy Todd Lassa should be sacked.

Yeah, this Todd Lassa is a moron, not just in writing about cars, but in a host of other stuff he writes about.

It's not just thyat guy or people from the U.S who claim they've driven the car......

I've today read TWO respected Dutch publications where they claim this too....
Oh well...I suppose with 'driven' they mean the passanger seat...

They meant "Driven in their dreams".