Test drive BMW 7 series F01-02 Restyling since 2012 sedan

Older brother

The BMW of the 7th series grew in many ways, but at the same time remains elegant, obedient, easy to manage. Sergei Kanunnikov shares his impressions. Photo by the author and BMW.
At the wheel of large, long -drawn sedans I usually feel like a professional driver. The only way to at least partially get rid of this sensation not to wear a jacket with a tie. Not put on. But even in it, it seems, would not make the impressions of the hired driver. Passers -by are looking at an unfamiliar seven with obvious interest. Neither they, nor me, the car seems huge, massive, heavy. And more close communication with BMW leaves a feeling of lightness
MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO
BMW with the IL index stretched 80 mm. It is difficult to imagine more scope for passengers sitting behind in a car with a reasonable length. I'm trying to imagine myself the owner of such a seven, sitting in the back seat. Banker. Or maybe a minister? Two large monitors are built into the backs of the front seats. What are you deigned? Cinema, Internet? The joystick of the IDRive proprietary system controls all this is the same as the driver. The device has finally noticeably simplified. It has become much easier to use the menu, and the climate control was generally returned to the buttons and rotary handles block. Designed for the rear passengers is placed in the end of the tunnel between the front seats instead of cigarette lighters that are now nonsense in Europe. That's just some miniature buttons. Yes, and monitors, on which the directions of streams are highlighted, are blind. This irritates equally the driver (at his disposal the same device) and the passenger. However, it is still better than rebuilding air flows, wandering along a computer menu.
The door closers smoothly pull them to the locks and almost inaudibly close them. Excessive muscular efforts are not for such a car. As well as loud sounds. It turns out we already went! If you press the pedal smoothly, then when acceleration, you almost do not capture, as in European express. Up to 130 km/h, neither tires nor the motor is heard, then the silence violates the aerodynamic whistle. At the first moment, both the driver and passengers accustomed to silence, it seems that they accidentally opened the window. No, external mirrors sing.
The air suspension (for long BMW basic) works perfectly, you feel comfortable on any coating. True, on noticeable irregularities that you will find even in Germany (much more often in the eastern one), sometimes not a harmonious bang is heard.
Official compliance
The driver of this liner will also agree that everything is noble and rich. In the once adjusted seat, you can spend a clock without a hint of fatigue a sure sign of excellent work of designers. The language will not turn to make claims to the quality of decoration. But, trying to get rid of controversial ergonomic solutions in the previous seven, designers did not escape contradictions somewhere.
The gearbox selector was removed from the steering column. Now the joystick is controlled by the joystick on the tunnel, the same as on other BMW. Comfortable. But for some reason, a clear large indication of the box modes on the instrument panel disappeared. The symbols are small, barely noticeable, besides, the rotated steering wheel blocks them. Perhaps the developers believe that manual switching is uncharacteristic to drive such a car? There is logic in this. Maybe the next step is generally abandoning him?
The operating modes of the chassis and the feedback on the pressure of the gas pedal are very boasted. There are four Comfort, Normal, Sport, Sport+. Let's say Sport is almost perfectly setting up cars for active movement along mountain roads or high -speed carbanes. The seven does not swing and does not scour, but even writes the trajectory that the driver sets, even hot. You can move from one mode to another without taking off your legs from the gas pedal. Sports settings, of course, make the car harder and allow a small wheel slipping.
I probably would have enough pairs of modes, but to increase their number on expensive cars became a good tone, and computerization, apparently, allows you to increase the steps at relatively small costs.
... The canvas of the autobahn flies under a long hood. On the windshield, speed, navigation arrow, warning of the next bend, distance to it and speed restriction. The built -in camera reads road signs and broadcasts them next to the actual speed. Exceed? The leg itself releases the accelerator. I did not notice unusual behavior in corners, at least in normal modes. It is good: understandability, obedience to the driver the main automobile virtues.
The option of my seven steering the rear wheels. They can turn 3 degrees at low speeds in the opposite relative to the front, and on higher in the same direction. The option gives real benefits with a sharp maneuver or rebuilding at high speed.
Two big differences
New V8 motor with a capacity of 407 hp Already shown at BMW-K6. So far, this is the senior unit in a range intended for the seven. The engine is perfectly agreed with the gearbox. She reacts extremely quickly to a sharp press of gas pedal, to smoothly and imperceptibly. It is difficult to imagine a road situation when such a motor with such a box may not be enough.
But an even greater impression was made by a 3-liter diesel with increased by 20 hp. power. It works almost without vibrations and noise, the feedback on the gas pedal is fast and energetic. And at a speed of 160 km/h, the tachometer arrow freezes 3000 rpm. It seems that the declared 7.8 liters per 100 km in a mixed cycle, if you moderate the agility a little, is a completely real indicator. And this is on a sedan more than 5 m long!
Make a huge comfortable sedan (in Russia the most affordable BMW-730D costs 3.206 million, the top BMW-750IL from 4.2 million rubles) pleasant (like all BMW) for a driver who knows a lot about cars, utopia? Not! Bavarian engineers and designers succeeded. The car added in many respects in size, power, and the possibilities to change the chassis settings. What lost? Some monumentality, limousity. But this is probably even good: you will not feel like a hired driver at the wheel.
Five seven
The current seven of the fifth generation. And the company presented the first large sedan back in 1939. BMW-335 was not very different from democratic models, but was equipped with a 90-horsepower 3.5-liter engine. Before the war, only 415 cars were built.
The next page of representative cars was opened in 1951 by the famous BMW-501 baroque angel (ZR, 2006, No. 11). It stood on it a pre-war 6-cylinder engine, and then the first V8 in post-war Germany.
In the late 1960s, the 1970s, a line of not very large, but solid sedans with engines 2.53.3 liters were built. Well, the first seven, known for us under the name of the shark, started in 1977.
WHAT TIME IS IT NOW?
Traditions and modernity, thoroughness of the decoration of each detail and manic accuracy of the assembly. BMW would like its cars to be associated with expensive mechanical hours. In the town of Glasyutte, which is not far from Dresden, several small hourly factories. Lange and the son was founded in the middle of the 19th century, revived in 1990. Five hundred employees make only 5,000 watches a year. The average price is 20,000 euros. After manual refinement, fitting parts and assemblies, the clock is carefully regulated (a driving or lag in a maximum of 6 per day), then again partially dismantled to replace small screws on which traces of screwdrivers remain. In the fall, the master Lange and the son ended the party at 380,000 euros. It’s good that BMW is not collected manually ...

 

 
 

Source: The magazine "Driving"