Review: BMW i7 2022

“It’s a 7 Series, regardless of drivetrain,” insists BMW of its new luxury flagship. But such is the intensity of its progress in electrification since the i3 and i8 arrived in 2014, the focus on BMW’s latest executive saloon is most definitely the i7 EV.

The big picture sees BMW reframe the luxury-car experience around onboard well-being, a class-leading digital experience via its new OS8 software, and standard-setting sustainability. Oh, and a huge 31.3-inch panoramic Theatre Screen that folds out of the roof for the rear-seat passengers. BMW prefers what it calls “shy tech” but reserves the right to be flamboyant when the mood takes it.

Those of us with long memories will remember when BMW promised the ultimate driving machine. In some respects, that might be truer than ever, although the company’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, admitted to WIRED that the 7 Series’ scope now extends way beyond how it goes round corners. Quickly, is the answer. The xDrive60 has a combined 536 brake horsepower from two electric motors, its hardware very similar to the setup in the excellent iX. The front motor delivers 255 bhp, the rear one 308 bhp, with 549 pound-feet of torque overall. 

The drive units are compact and carefully integrated, and BMW says that the charging software has been improved compared to the i4 and iX. The battery’s temperature is now even more precisely controlled, for improved efficiency and a smoother charging curve. The batteries’ cooling has been optimized, too, and it’s even possible to store customized charging settings for specific charging points. You can also manually preheat the battery when you’re heading to a fast charger. And because the motor uses an electrically excited synchronous motor rather than one with fixed permanent magnets, BMW says it has eliminated the need for rare earth metals in the rotor. 

The lithium-ion battery pack provides 101.7 kilowatt-hours of useable energy, and with a cell height of just 110 millimeters, it sits comfortably under the floor. BMW claims between 3.1 and 3.3 miles per kWh, and a range of up to 388 miles on a full charge. I got 2.9 during a particularly hard-driving session. The company has also worked hard to keep the best- and worst-case range scenarios closer together. After 90 miles driving, my estimated range was reassuringly 90 miles less than when I started. Indeed, based on experience with this and the iX, I’d say BMWs are more accurate than most. Find a 195-kW fast charger and you can add 106 miles in about 10 minutes. The claimed 0 to 62 mph time is 4.7 seconds, and the i7’s top speed is limited to 149 mph. 

Photograph: BMW

For some reason, car people tend to be among the most vituperative when it comes to online trolling. Needless to say the new 7 Series has caused uproar, yet Zipse is defiant about BMW’s polarizing design language. “There is no such thing as a future-oriented design without controversy," he tells me. “I want controversy. If we don’t have it, then you already know it’s too easy. Out of the controversy you get engagement. Digitalize it, electrify it, make it a bit bigger. That’s the answer.”

The i7 looks rather less egregious in the flesh than in the first images, especially if it’s equipped with the M Sport Package, which finishes the shiny chrome elements in gloss black. That huge grille lights up to welcome passengers, and there’s the option of Swarovski “iconic glow” crystal glass. The split-level lights are challenging, but actually things go more awry the further along your eye travels: The rear end is oddly generic. 

Available only in long wheelbase form, the new 7 Series is certainly aerodynamically efficient. This is important in the world of EVs, in which slipperiness equates to efficiency. The i7’s drag coefficient is just 0.24. 

And despite weighing a hefty 2.6 metric tons (5,900 pounds), the i7 is an amazingly fluent machine on the move. Electric power steering is standard, and active steering is an option that brings with it rear steering up to 3.5 degrees that helps low-speed maneuvering and sharpens cornering inputs at higher speeds. The new 7 Series is wider, longer, and taller but has never felt quite so nimble.

Photograph: Tom Kirkpatrick/BMW

There’s the further option of Executive Drive Pro, which is basically a 48-volt anti-roll stabilization system that also suppresses body vibrations. In fact, the whole car has the most phenomenal acoustic properties, with clever mountings on the front axle and on the motors. The i7 also includes BMW’s “near-actuator” traction control system, which means that corrective inputs are now 10 times faster than usual. It’s serene and silent to travel in yet handles superbly when you start to push.

The brakes are sensational too—the friction stoppers and regenerative element more seamlessly combined than on the Mercedes EQS. The regen now factors-in downhill sections or traffic lights on a planned route, and the system can use the satnav to work out the optimum charger location. An Efficiency Trainer encourages you toward the most energy-saving driving style. 

Photograph: DANIEL KRAUS/BMW

As you’d expect, there’s also the full panoply of assistance systems—too many to list here. Objectively, it’s difficult to dispute their efficacy, but in reality there are issues. The Collision Warning is designed to improve safety in urban scenarios, primarily for pedestrians and cyclists, but the i7 (like the equivalent Mercedes or Volvo) can be overzealous and slam the brakes on erroneously, and sometimes when it thinks the driver is being a touch marginal in certain maneuvers. Machine learning in the car space has reached a significant moment. 

Similarly, the Active Cruise Control and Steering and Lane Control Assistant advances the long-promised nirvana of autonomous driving. In North America, it will let you drive hands-off permanently up to 81 mph, but when I tried it, the system immediately asked for my hands to go back on the wheel. (BMW’s expert was baffled, but not as much as I was.) The 7 Series will also park itself remotely or via the BMW app. It’s undoubtedly clever, but I remain unconvinced. Still, it can legitimately claim to be the ultimate parking machine. 

Photograph: daniel kraus/BMW

The i7’s interior is a spectacular achievement and backs up design director Adrian van Hooydonk’s claim that his team crafted the car from the inside out. BMW has managed to harmonize the elements, make the technology user-friendly, and create an environment that feels wholly modern—connected, mindful, and hugely comfortable. It’s also impeccably put together. 

The Curved Display we know from the iX. It’s core to BMW’s push to digitalization and combines a 12.3-inch instrument display with a longer 14.9-inch main infotainment glass touchscreen. The whole thing is a sculpture in its own right and sits on slender brackets on top of an open-pore matte wood trim. Audio, navigation, Apple CarPlay, and so on live in individual, customizable tiles. There’s voice activation, too, which works (not all of them do), and passengers can now access the Personal Assistant. There’s even an unnecessary digital clock widget by Qlocktwo that spells out the time. Go for the Heat Comfort package and you’ll get a heated steering wheel and panel heating for the armrests and center console. This is a more efficient way of staying warm in an EV than cranking up the AC. 

Beneath the central screen is the Interaction Bar, new on the 7 Series, which has an unsubtle crystalline surface and backlighting and stretches pretty much the width of the cabin. BMW definitely has a jones for crystal at the moment. It takes its color cues from whichever of the My Modes you’ve gone for; red for Sport, green for Expressive, blue for Efficient. Recent BMW Art Car artist Cao Fei has even created a bespoke Digital Art Mode. These also alter the sound signature, as codeveloped with Hollywood movie soundtrack maestro Hans Zimmer, and they’re mostly variations on an escalating sci-fi pulse. 

The center console is lower and more conventional-looking than in the iX but has the same little (optional) crystal drive controller and other haptic touch points. It’s an easy, swift way to get going and feels satisfying. 

As on the iX, you push a button to get out. New on the 7 are automatic doors. There’s a little button below the wheel that closes the door from inside, or you can set the system so that the driver’s door shuts when you press the brake pedal. Or use the voice activation if you’re incredibly lazy. In fact, there are four ways to open the doors without touching the door handle. The doors’ gyros and sensors recognize inclines and possible hazards and obstructions, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t get out. 

The seats are absolutely magnificent, with multifunctionality and massage programs. The back of the headrests have wood trim with electro-plated accent strips. The (optional) wool cashmere trim is sustainable and looks and feels lovely. Various interior treatments are available for the wood and metals, and there is a vegan spec. The overall effect is as good as a car interior really gets this side of a Bentley, Range Rover, or Rolls-Royce. Interestingly, in the UK at least, the i7 will not be one of the first cars to feature BMW's much-complained-about heated seats as a service model, otherwise known as “features on demand.” 

Photograph: daniel kraus/BMW

Let's get to the much-anticipated 31.3-inch 8K Theatre Screen, which folds out of a recess in the roof lining, has built-in Amazon Fire TV, and runs Bowers & Wilkins surround sound. An optional pimped version gets you 36 speakers and 1,965 watts of output, with “exciters” in the seat backrests. The audio quality is stunning, as it should be for a car of this price and with so many pricey extras. Streaming capability varies according to territory, but I watched some “content” traveling down a twisty road without feeling unwell. The rear and side sunblinds automatically raised, and the panoramic sunroof closed. But the screen’s proximity is likely a little too close for some, and it will descend only with the front seats slid forward to a preordained position.

Photograph: daniel kraus/BMW

That’s achieved via a 5.5-inch digital control unit with an iPhone-like screen integrated into rear door trim. Order the Executive Lounge option and you’ll get perhaps the finest, most complex seat ever fitted in a car: The front passenger seat slides and tilts as far forward as it’ll go, leaving the rear occupant free to recline to 42.5 degrees—a record in this class—and there’s no gap in the calf support area, either. 

Unfortunately, with the screen lowered, the driver’s rear view is comprehensively blocked. It’s an uncharacteristic own goal, but BMW hasn’t fitted a rearview camera mirror (like Land Rover’s ClearSight one) to circumvent the problem.

In Europe, a one-off registration to BMW Charging provides access to 305,000 public charging points. The infrastructure is constantly improving, but BMW claims it’s already one of the top charging providers. It also claims that “green energy” used in the i7’s battery cell production and use of secondary raw materials cuts CO₂ emissions by around 20 percent.

The i7 also advances the new ownership model. BMW Group has a massive central computing center—somewhere in Munich; we’ve asked to see it but were politely rebuffed—that oversees the cars’ assistance functions and over-the-air updates. Software algorithms analyze data and create “environment models” as well as visualization and control functions. The i7 has the latest 8-megapixel cameras that reduce the number of front cameras on the car while doubling the number of measurement points. A Drive Recorder can also capture footage from around the car, including the 30 seconds before and after a collision.

Prices for the i7 start at $119,300 (£108,305 in the UK), but much of the most eye-catching technology resides on the eye-watering options list: The Theatre Screen TV is £4,000; Executive Drive Pro is £3,500; automatic doors cost £1,350. That’s more than a little frustrating, but the reality is, this is unlikely to bother potential high-net-worth owners, the clear target customer for the i7, who won’t just be getting a slick new BMW, they’ll be experiencing a milestone vehicle on the fast-moving road to full electrification.