Test drive BMW 7 E65 E66 2001 - 2005 sedan

Six hundredth

They say that a coin put on a rib on a real good engine will not fall. Even if the motor works. Those who wish can experiment with the BMW 760LI.
We drove from the airport on a simple seven. Simple-because the rear passengers did not have an IDRive joystick adjustable, ventilated chairs, and instead of a refrigerator-bar, the only ski cover hid behind a central armrest. So -so equipment, for a fairy German.
It seems that this is only we Russians. Only we will come to mind the idea of \u200b\u200bgiving the car a name for one of the possible engines. Here they called Mercedes six hundredth. And speaking of any BMW series, we definitely clarify its index, that is, the engine volume. Yes, no German or Englishman will come to mind!
So, we were taken to seven hundred and thirty-fifth to the most defiant hotel in the world-to the Burj Al Arab hotel-parase, that is, the Arab tower to show the most expensive BMW serial car worthy of this hotel.
According to the laws of Sharia. The luxury, beating in the eyes, almost passing into kitsch, is this Arab tower. A view of the ocean, a personal manager of a two -story room with an area of \u200b\u200b1206 meters, which is called a batler, as well as gold and mirrors, where it is possible. Why do I need two toilets for a day and a half, when will I watch these 58 television channels? .. A thousand and one night, in a word.
Finally, several limousines are rolled to the front door. You can go. So far with a driver: the organizers give us time to take a closer look at local conditions. They are wonderful, if not sterile: even, like an arrow, wide highways, magnificent markings, a minimum of oncoming and proceedings. Someone joked: as in Germany, only with palm trees and without Germans. I transplant behind the wheel, and - no special emotions: already a familiar seven in expensive configuration. Everything seems to be in its place, the differences are at least: the more expensive leather finish of the torpedo and doors, the v12 nameplate on the thresholds and the body, the slightly modified radiator grille and the decoration of the bumper. He rides, as expected, smoothly and inaudibly, the asphalt rustles under the wheels, speed restriction - 120 km/h. As if we were standing still. After about a kilometer drive through this grace, we were overtaken. And How! I managed to notice that something red flashed on the left with such a speed that I only managed to grab the red lanterns rushing over the line of margins: either Corvette, or Camaro ... But I have 760th! I was manufactured and checked and check what 435 hp are capable of by the manufacturer, but I remembered the laws of Sharia. The prospect of spending the night in an Emiratian prison or to be broken sticks did not please me.

The fact is that indigenous people make up only 15 percent of the population of the United Arab Emirates. They own oil wells and land plots, all large banks, hotels and industrial enterprises. All the rest, up to the police, not to mention the waiters and employees of the hotel are hired workers, so to speak, migrant workers from India and Pakistan. And these 15 percent ride Porsche, corvettes and Kamaro, and also look forward to the onset of 760LI. An interesting fact: the 745th did not go very much in the emirates. Do not rack your head, ”marketer reassured sellers. - Local guys are just waiting for something more expensive. So it happened: in the Emirates, the queues for the 760th have been standing for a year, the most sophisticated models with options that are not in any list have prevailing preliminary orders. So, the client who wished to stay unknown to the press ordered buttons of pure gold door locks.
Adventures of electronics. A curious fact. Almost 100 thousand 12-cylinder engines, which the BMW concern has gathered over the past 15 years, brought Bavarian motorbuilders to the first place in this segment. It was on BMW in 1987 that the tradition of the legendary Maybachs and ferrets in the production of 12-cylinder engines for luxurious limousines was revived. And everyone has the same six hundredth on the lips. That's right: BMW made the maximum volume of only 5 liters. The current 760th is the first in history.

 
 
The surname of our driver, whom I first mistook for a representative of local nationality, is Lehrer. The Munich student Lerer Papa has a Turk, mother - German, and he is working on BMW to complete his education and become a teacher. It's funny, after all, Lerer in German is a teacher.
I ask the driver whether it is possible to use the office center of the car and send by e-mail to the editorial office of the newspaper Kommersant File with a photograph. Well, theoretically ... - the driver thinks. - Let's ask our engineer at the first stop, how to do it. However, let's better call the hotel in the mobile phone and ask to send the file from there ...
Here it is, the notorious human factor. The owner of the new BMW 760, if he wants to at least 75 percent use the possibilities of his miracle machine, will probably have to study. One operating instruction here is a very weighty volume.
However, you can give a damn and forget about it all. After all, many, as you know, were not taught life not according to textbooks. And that's why.
I am a drive. Can I get behind the wheel now?
Colleague Andrei from a style -forming magazine for men with an income of $ 5 thousand per month, whose names I have never remembered, asks for a driver's place. He does not speak any language except Russian, therefore I warn the German leader that now we will make a stop on that side of the road. OK.
How will the program turn on? The question is legitimate because it is turned on on the steering wheel. I show. Where is the clutch? ..
This phrase plunges me into a slight shock, for it turns out that Andrei has never been driving a machine gun to the wheel. I explain in general terms what's what. The teacher is bad from me.
I sit for the next half hour, pressing my nails into a chair and gear. Well, you understand me ... Arrived, everything is fine, Andrey is happy. It proves one thing: you can not learn anything, but just sit down and go.
And on this trip this will not care whether the engine reaches the declared maximum torque of 600 nm at 3950 rpm. or not. You most likely will not feel how the world's first six -speed automatic transmission works in a pair with a six -liter engine with direct injection and the Valvetronic system. You definitely don’t even know in two days of driving, how unobtrusively numerous assisting systems work, and God forbid, you will not experience stepped pillows. But, I guarantee you, you will get the pleasure of driving. Because, no matter how blasphemous, it sounds for competing car concerns, a bad car for $ 100 thousand cannot be a bad car. And the disputes of car owners, whose brand is better, resemble the debate of supporters of white and red wine. And which of them is right? ..
Text Alexander Fedorov, photo of the author and BMW
 
Model/Modification BMW 760LI
Manufacturer/country Bayerische Motoren Werke/Germany
ENGINE
Type/number/location of the cylinders gasoline, with direct injection and Valvetronic/12/V-shaped system
Working volume (cubic cub) 5972
Power, kW (L.S.) at about./Min. 327 (445) at 6000
Moment (Nm) at about./Min. 600 at 3950
TRANSMISSION
The rear drive
The gearbox is an automatic six -speed with the possibility of manual switching STEPTRONIC
Brakes, safety
Front/rear circular ventilated/disk ventilated
ABS, Assistant electronic systems system for maintaining the DSC course stability and contrasting, the system of distribution of brake force EBV+CBC, the DBC emergency braking function, differential electronic lock, anti-circus system, electronic control of the stiffness of the EDC-C shock absorbers,
Intellectual airbags, with separate operation sensors: two frontal, four rear, (two knee), two heads for front sledges
Dimensions/mass
Length/width/height (mm) 5169/1902/1492
Wheel base (mm) 3130
Tires/Disks 245/40/R18
The mass is equipped/complete (kg) 2105/2670
The volume of the fuel tank (L) 88
Maximum speed (km/h) 250, limited by electronics
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 5.6
Fuel consumption (city/highway, l/100 km) 20.5/9.7
The price in Moscow from $ 173 thousand.

 

A source: "Autopilot"