BMW 750Li XDrive

Part limo, part rabble-rouser!

- Adil Jal Darukhanawala

THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE 7 Series is BMW's flagship, and the Munich-based carmaker has always gone to great lengths to make it as great a rival as it could be to the standard bearer of this class of automobile, which remains the S-Class from its Stuttgart rival Mercedes-Benz. But it goes about doing it in a manner which the S-Class just can’t hack in equal measure: athleticism! This term can also be made to hint at a modicum of sportiness which it manifests in large measure on the latest 7 Series which I got to experience in Portugal last month and having driven the magnificent 8 Series Cabrio a day earlier, I knew that this 7 Series review had to be done in a two-part manner now that I had experienced this rather long (5260mm) and wide (1902mm) and heavy automobile.

The duo-role that I wanted to try the new 7 Series was by means of positional play, one behind the wheel of this new machine and second was by means of wafting in the rear seats, just as most fat cats would consider its prime application in India. Firstly, this isn’t an all-new 7 Series but a mid-life refresh with an all-new large-fanged front end that is certainly more Chinese and with a plasticky adornment to the famed BMW-kidney grille. This is an acquired taste, but over the course of the two days that I spent driving and being driven in it, I kind of got used to taking it in my stride and not being offended as to how could Munich do this to themselves! It is a shock when faced with a grille (now a single-piece framed unit) that is 40 percent larger than before, and just to balance that, the designers had to also increase the size of the BMW propeller logo on the bonnet – up to 12mm larger in diameter according to the BMW spokespersons. If that’s not all, thanks to the dictates of the new frontend aesthetics, the body at the emblem level are now 50mm taller than before.