Test drive BMW 7 E65 E66 2001 - 2005 sedan

Virtual driving

Big is seen at a distance
The wheel exit schedule did not allow us to prepare a report on the new BMW seven simultaneously with the start of its sales in Russia. And yet we did not refuse the test of this car. At the wheel of BMW 735i you are experiencing before the sensations that I was not just a driver, I was a car user. Perhaps it is this circumstance that is the main reason that gives rise to skepticism in assessments of both experts and fans of the Bavarian brand. One thing is indisputable: the new seven is the most technically complex and sophisticated serial car of our time.
When looking at the car, the strategic goals of the BMW management are becoming clear. The design, in my opinion, was developed taking into account the addictions of the Americans. The head headlights with illuminated pupils of overall lights smoothly flow into the wings. The rear lights are continued in the form of horizontal LEDs, this part combines fodder lighting in a single composition. At dusk, when the car includes dimensions, the feeling is created that the car is, as it were, surrounded by a luminous strip. I remember that we have already seen something similar on American models of the early 1990s. The new seven compared to her predecessor was noticeably heard and grew up. Now it has become wider and higher than Mercedes S-class. The car gained weight not only in literal, but also figuratively. To call the current forms of the seven rapidly cheerful or causing means to scream their souls. Apparently, the times when the aggressiveness of the appearance was considered the branded style of the Bavarian concern, remained in the past. Perhaps this is another curtsy to the American market, where they expect solidity from the appearance of the car. The solidity of the car was confirmed by the quite calm reaction to it of Moscow drivers. Following the new seven, as a rule, only owners of other BMWs turned.
In fairness, it should be noted that the BMW designers faced a difficult task: it is quite difficult to give a car with such a spacious salon to give rapid forms. BMW chief designer Chris Bangle admits that a high body has become a real problem for his command. The fact is that there is aerodynamic dependence: the higher the roof, the higher the trunk edge should be. The spoiler in the lower part of the rear bumper, horizontal rear lights, large wheels (disks diameter from 17 to 20 inches) all these parts visually facilitate the feed of the car. By the way, the developers of the Volvo S60 and S80 sedans and S80 are faced with a high -growth problem. If you look at the profile at the new seven and at these two cars, it becomes clear that the Swedish and German designers in the fight against the Gulliver effect used similar techniques.
The dashboard is also designed in American. The front passenger is now in full parity with the driver: the characteristic bend of the torpedo, which turns the driver’s place into a kind of racing cockpit.
700 functions of one right
And now it's time to start using the car. I repeat that the words control or driving describe the sensations from this machine not fully.
To command the main functions necessary during movement, you can without taking off your hands from the steering wheel. On the steering column at a sufficient distance from each other (you will not confuse) there are four exactly the same lever in appearance: indicators of turns, wipers, cruise control and an automatic gearbox selector. You get used to such an abundance of levers, oddly enough, quite quickly. Personally, for me, however, there was not enough mechanical click when the indicators of the rotation and wiper turned on (these functions are activated by simple swaying the lever in one direction or another). But the lack of mechanical feedback on the machine gun does not irritate. On the contrary, I got used to him in a couple of hours of communication with the car.
In the upper half of the rim of the steering wheel, the buttons of manual gearboxes (increasing from the outside, lowering from the internal) are imprinted. When moving in a straight line, it is quite simple to use them, but in the bends it is inconvenient to switch the transfers in manual mode. And I don't want to. I entrusted the machine to monitor the programs, and I myself focused on studying the IDRive system.
Management of all auxiliary functions (about 700) is concentrated on the armrest between the front chairs under the right hand. This metal circle, similar to a volume adjusting pen in an expensive music center, is called a controller. By its principle of action, it resembles a computer mouse. You sway the controller in different directions, and on the screen of the monitor built right in the center of the front panel, one of the necessary functional options is displayed. There are only eight of them. Communication all information from a mobile phone, including SMS messages. Microclimate air conditioning management. This is followed by the management of the audio system and navigation. BMW Assist is a service Internet portal. Calendar settings, indication language, inclusion of the anti -circus system and adjacent subsystems. A car of a memo about when to change filters, pads, butter, etc. There is still a section of help. Choosing the desired section, you travel along it, rotating the controller handle clockwise or against it. I found the desired function to click on the controller (as if clicking with the mouse).
It is convenient to use the system to use the system to understand the algorithm of its work after a hour of fingering in traffic jams. At the same time, I was not too distracted from the road. I think that anyone who is able to cope with his cell phone will find a common language with the joystick. It is not alarmed by the complexity of communication with Idrive, but a huge number of functions that are in it. It only calms that some of these functions in particular, the Navigation system and the BMW Assist Internet portal in Russia have not yet operated.
The display also displays the information of the parking lot. There is no such convenient assistance to the driver in parking in any of the mass -produced cars. When the rear gear is turned on, the car appears on the display on top. Dangerous areas, be it a bumper of another machine or a lamppost are indicated by red zones. When approaching the obstacle, the red zone increases, the sound of a warning zummer also increases. Do not forget, however, that the system will not work if parking sensors are covered with snow or dirt.
Omnivorous Valvetronic
For the test, we took a car with an eight-cylinder gasoline V-shaped engine with a volume of 3.6 liters and a capacity of 272 liters. With. This is not the most powerful motor (there is another 4.4-liter 333-horsepower), but more, in fact, is not necessary. The engine accelerates a 2.5-ton colossus to 100 km/h for 7.5 s. Believe this very acute sensations.
The main pride of the Bavarian Motor Builders is the patented Valvetronic system. With its help, you can smoothly adjust the course of the inlet valves, and the need for the throttle drops completely disappears. Thus, the BMW has been a technological jerk, the revolutionaryness of which can be compared with the transition from carburetors to injection systems. The car began to consume much less fuel, the toxicity of the exhaust gases decreased, the dynamic characteristics improved, the sensitivity of the accelerator pedal has increased. The engine at a low load is even smoother, because the valve stroke is very small. Thanks to Valvetronic, the engine can consume gasoline with any octane number, starting from the 91st (full-time 95th).
It is almost impossible to notice the moments of switching a six -speed automatic box (by the way, the first in the world in a mass -installed one) is almost impossible. In this sense, the work of the automatic transmission of the new seven is somewhat reminiscent of the variator. Acceleration occurs smoothly and without jerks. The lowest gear is selected in such a way as to provide greater craving on the bottoms, which improves accelerated characteristics. For some time, addiction to another feature of this box requires: the automatic transmission automatically turns off the engine when stopping. On a car with a regular automatic transmission, in order to start moving, it is enough to release the brake pedal, while on the new seven you still need to press the gas pedal.
Two new systems of active assistance to the driver deserve special mention: Dynamic Drive, which reduces the body rolls in corners, and EDC-K, smoothly adjusting the shock absorbers to the roadway in accordance with the dynamics of traffic. These electronic assistants, coupled with the traditional contrasting system, give the rear -wheel drive seven of the habits of a full -wheel drive car. In extreme situations, the machine is absolutely predictable. Actually, the matter does not reach extreme. Here, for example, taxiing on a garden ring from the side of the Kyiv station, I sharply pressed the accelerator pedal. The asphalt was wet. The back of the car on a thousandth of a second led to the left, but the car instantly stabilized the course, as if resting with the rear left wheel on a soft air pillow. And in the icy field, I specially tried to provoke a skid, carrying out maneuvers that I would never have decided even while driving all -wheel drive Subaru or Audi. The car implicitly performed all the reckless teams, even not going to go astray. But it was worth turning off the electronic systems of active security, the BMW became like a missile from the development of the cosmos flew anywhere, but not in the direction in which it was directed. Without electronic assistants on a heavy coating, it is difficult to understand the car. A very easy steering wheel interfere with the car with a car without any hint of feedback with the wheels, and a huge mass interfere. However, claims are inappropriate here. The seven is not intended for turning turns in a controlled skid. Her element is the left row of an autobahn.
The overall impression of the car consists of a mosaic of small parts. In the new BMW, the mosaic is cast from precious stones. I will list only the brightest.
The automatic parking brake is turned on the button on the panel. Pneumatic suspension as an option. The electronic ignition key with information clogged into it about the machine is a black box resembling a zippo lighter in size and shape. The electronic key is inserted into the nest on the panel, next to which the starting and stopping button is located is very stylish. The retractable keyboard of a mobile phone (for a portable device and even for a SIM card there are separate niches equipped with microlifts). The lid of the trunk with an electric drive: press the button in the end of the lid and it closes smoothly. Wipers with nozzles in leashes less dirt are delivered on glass. In addition, there are no familiar jets from the washer that limit visibility: the glass is only delicately moistened. Electric solar curtains; heated and cooled safe in armrests; A terrible number of seats (and rear ones too) and their individual parts (the rear are also adjusted separately); built -in massage; memory of the position of the steering wheel and seats; Double xenon light
Igor Komarov
 

A source: Wheel (company)