Test drive BMW 7 E65 E66 2001 - 2005 sedan

World number seven

I'll sit for you at noon, goes? Yes, yes, of course, I will definitely get touched on the road. I’ll just pick up tickets ordered last week for the premiere of the eighth episode of the stellar wars you love. I hope you will be satisfied: those reviews that are posted on the Internet are very positive. However, I got sick. So, up to twelve. Have a nice day!




Such a monologue on behalf of the car is still impossible. But how can you know, maybe something like this will really be heard in the near future, when, for example, BMW will release the next seven? At least the machine with which we were lucky enough to communicate for two days in the very beginning of autumn left the impression of a very reasonable creature. Completely independent and independent, which will decide a little more and how to do it. Are you saying the problem of furious robots has been thought up? It's time to start doubting this.
 
Do you think these are all emotions? Then the pleasant appetite here is food for thought: 10 airbags, 10 adjustments of the front seats, 117 electric motors and 700 functions of the IDRive intelligent system. Numerous passive security systems are tied to a single ISIS integral complex; Active security devices are led by the recent -generation DSC dynamic stabilization system.

 

The engine is already complete without throttle flashes of their function is performed by the system of variable phases of Valvetronic valves. The world's first in the world is also engaged in the optimization of the mixture of formation of continuous change in Diva. The first in the world, a six -speed machine is equipped with a multi -disc clutch that opens the transmission during a stop. The electronic parking brake is controlled by one button and is able to duplicate the main brake pedal. Information about the passport data of the car, its run and the condition of the main nodes and systems is sewn into the ignition key. The doors are independently fixed in any position. And there are four steering wheel switches, two on-board phones, two CD players and all this, as well as much, much more, are hidden inside the extremely original packaging, and for fans of the BMW brand and completely shocking.

  

It so happened that the car came to us for a test only now, so we cannot join the squall of criticism addressed to his appearance: over the past year, his defiant forms managed to become confused. And the fact that today the seven is no longer uncommon in the highest garages of the capital will most positively affect its image. What Chris Bangle Supervision was counting on: from an incomprehensible individualist, the car turns into a forerunner of a new automobile aesthetics. Bold experiments with body architecture are now in favor, and from the predation of the Bavarian cars of past years there was only a shark floodplain of the antenna above the rear window. Inside, the seven is no less avant -garde than outside. The main elements of the cabin are massive and deliberately rude, the combinations of materials and colors are sometimes unexpected (how do you like light green skin, brown tree and silver plastic?), And the widespread dominance of the buttons cannot but impress. The geometry of the salon is based on the sweeping straight lines even the steering wheel at first seems to be somehow square. However, this simplicity and conciseness reduce psychological pressure from the car to its inhabitants. But they do not get rid of it entirely because inside this high-tech star star, you feel somehow embarrassed at first.

  

Two throne chairs are installed ahead, adjustable in almost all dimensions: you can change the position of the upper back relative to the lower, you can separately set up both floors of lumbar support and even regulate the level of lateral support. Active head restraints are automatically advanced when planting a person; Plus, they are equipped with bending pads for better fixation of the head. The seal adjustment system, like everything in this machine, is quite sophisticated: first by pressing the button on the central armrest, the desired sector sector is selected, which is then regulated by a special joystick. Immediately there are buttons of three -level heating, a three -speed ventilation system and a pillow hydraulic machine. It is difficult to imagine a person with such anthropometric data that could not work normally in this seat.

  

The rear seats are less mobile (only six adjustments) and deprived of a massager. The third passenger will become a person of non grata, because because of him he will have to raise the armrest, thereby depriving himself of access to mini-bar and the control panel, that is, a certain degree of freedom. In fact, the seven is most oriented to the rear right passenger, since he is endowed with the power to command the chair in front of him in order to achieve the maximum of his own comfort.
 
The driver is most difficult, because the burden of the responsibilities lying on it is great. From the number of switches, ripples in the eyes. Let's try to figure out the most logical panel of only two dials, the indicators of the fuel level and its instant flow (which BMW will do without it!) Made in the form of electronic scales. The steering wheel is equipped with an electric drive and heated, and behind it a view of the four switches opens. The key is the right upper lever, which is a selector of automatic transmission modes. The undoubted plus of such a decision is that you can control the transmission without taking off your hands from the steering wheel, while we have repeatedly encountered with the negative side, confusing it with the switch of wipers, located slightly lower.
 

Four buttons are built into the upper part of the rim (two on the front and back of the steering wheel), which are transmitted in the manual mode of the machine. The core of the steering wheel carries a set of keys, among which I would like to highlight one programmed (below on the right). She can be entrusted with any special function: in our case, Autopark's activation was hanged on her. This means that while stopping the car in a traffic jam or at a traffic light, the DSC III stabilization system will automatically hold the car until touching the brake or gas pedals.
 
But the main feature of the car, about which so many copies are broken, a small wheel between the front seats. This is not just a wheel, but a command post of the Idrive system, which replaced hundreds of buttons that did not appear in the BMW. How IDRive is important for Bavarians can be judged by the display, which display the results of manipulations with the controller, the screen is located in the very center of the front panel and as if it is significantly competed with the main devices. We will not be surprised if someday these dash panels change places. Idrive can be criticized, it can be admired, but it should be perceived only as a breakthrough of cars enters a new level of communication with the driver. How do you like the settings menu in relation to the car? Not too much? Then read on.

  

The system was developed by Siemens and is equipped with a Windows CE operating system with a clear and convenient interface. Access to the menu items is carried out using the aforementioned controller, which can be tilted, rotated and pressed. The shift of the wheel relative to the axis is caused by one of the areas of the menu from the management of audio and navigation systems to the activation of active security systems. With rotation, a specific function is selected, and pressing the controller confirms the choice. It should be noted that work with the controller is carried out intuitively: an electric motor that provides feedback allows you to feel the distance between the menu positions with an accuracy of a millimeter.
 
The engine with a power of half -eagle is launched by pressing the button. However, do not expect a rage of rabies from him: an automatic box and ever -awake electronic collars prevent the motor with a booster. However, the capabilities of the power unit are already enough for the eyes and behind the ears from the place of the seven leaves easily and gracefully, in a matter of seconds, bringing the speedometer to one and a half hundred output. Moreover, the most powerful emotions are not even a powerful start, but an unbridled increase in speed after 50 km/h, accompanied by exciting approach to remote objects. One question revolves in my head: what about the brakes here? Everything must be in order and indeed, not to trust the smart system of dynamic monitoring of DBC inhibition there are not the slightest reason. Moreover, the brakes work just for the algorithm that you expect before the first touch of the pedal. So complete harmony!

  

The controllability of the machine was primarily required security and reliability, so it may seem fresh. The steering is facilitated, it is not particularly sensitive, and the steering wheel itself is too big. The ACC AC ACTION COMPLETHER COMPLED WITHING WORK, however, in turns, the driver does not always have complete information about what is happening with the wheels. Well, you should not nimble on such a large car, and in a critical situation you can safely rely not so much on your own skills as on supporting electronics. On a high -speed straight seven, it is unrealistically stable, and in the parking lot is surprised by excellent maneuverability, turning around almost around the rear wheels. These are the priority qualities of the controllability of a representative car. In addition, enormous efforts were spent on the fight against rolls. As follows from technical documentation, with transverse accelerations up to 0.3G, the active stability stability stability Dynamic Drive eliminates the body rolls completely, and in other situations they significantly reduce them. It is very similar to the truth, because even with the provocative of sharp restructuring, passengers do not have to grab the handrails, and their vestibular devices are not subjected to any serious loads.

 

However, there is no dictate from the technique here. Having turned the IDRive controller, you can quickly disable DSC stabilization systems and DTC antiboxes and transfer the ECD-K shock control system to sports mode. The car, which has not spoiled the exceptional smoothness of the move, will become tangibly tougher, but the rut will begin to respond more clearly. The attempt to quickly go through the very turn that was elegantly drawn five minutes ago, turns into the struggle with a protracted demolition of the front wheels. And the most difficult thing is, oddly enough, to go into skids, for this you need to twist the wheels and drown the gas pedal from the heart. Then, perhaps, the seven will put a smoke curtain around him from under the burning wheels. Yes, with deactivated electronics, the car is clumsy, but obedient and predictable. And this is the most important thing.
 
But what if
I will drive after you at noon. Or later how it will turn out. In the last Vogue, I read that the dark gray color went out of fashion, and decided that I would go turquoise more. I think you should know: today I have a visit to the branded technical center. Ah, don't you like turquoise? Well, then look for another. However, you are unlikely to be lucky again, and you will meet another perfection. Well, I have to go


The car is provided by the company Motorsa ..
During the test, the car is insured by LLC Nation Center.
 
Text: Kirill Brevdo, Leonid Klyuyev
Photo: Roman Ostanin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

A source: Wheel magazine [No. 61/2002]