Instrumented Test
TESTED
Like a one-time college track-and-field champ who has prospered into a bank president, the BMW 7-series is an executive express with varsity roots. It comes by its athleticism naturally, BMW trimming the 7-series with a weight distribution that’s well balanced front to rear—51.5 percent of this test car’s weight sits over its front axle.
Balanced is a good descriptor of the 7-series’s styling, too. Although the twin-kidney grille (bolder and chromier), fascias (slattier), and lighting (all LEDs) were tweaked as part of a 2013 refresh, the 7-series has evolved gracefully. Over a chassis descended from decades of ultimate driving machines, wheels anchor each of the big sedan’s corners and the car’s flanks carry strong horizontal character lines with no untoward ifs, ands, or Bangle butts.
Dignified Deportment
Our extended-wheelbase 740Li test car stretches 5.5 inches longer than the standard-wheelbase “i”, with all additional longitude devoted to the comfort of the aft denizens. It’s as if BMW had the very definition of “sedan” in mind when it crafted the cabin: “A conveyance with two or four doors, a permanent rigid top, and a full-size rear seat,” a description which can be traced back to 1634 and one Sir Saunder Duncombe, holder of the rarely enforced sedan patent. It seems more than prescient: In a world now filled with seven billion souls, isn’t one of the most exquisite luxuries generously proportioned personal space? And while we’re at it, aren’t the best sausages the ones that stick out on both ends of the bun?
While it may be true that making dignified entrances and exits and having sufficient wingtip-wielding clearance are priorities that define flagship-level luxury, do we really want to thread this longer sausage through traffic?
To assist with the point-A-to-point-B deportment, 2013 also brought the availability of xDrive all-wheel drive to “entry-level” 7-series models, the standard-wheelbase 740i and extended-wheelbase 740Li. Previously reserved for use in the V-8–powered 750 and V-12–motivated 760, lineup-wide availability of xDrive is a big deal, especially in the upper Midwest and Northeast where problems getting around in snow and ice could be a deal-breaker.
The Joy of Six
At the heart of the 740i and 740Li is a descendant of the same sweet inline-six that’s powered millions of BMWs, in this case the dual-scroll single-turbocharged N55 engine (last year’s 740 used the twin-turbo N54). Output holds at the same 315 horsepower and 330 lb-ft of torque, but max twist is developed now at 1300 rather than 1600 rpm. This aids response at tip-in coming off idle and promotes effortless around-town cruising, even at part throttle.
Previously restricted to 12-cylinder 760s, all 7-series Bimmers now have an eight-speed transmission. It has a lower first gear, a taller top gear, and a wider ratio spread than did the previous six-speed, aiding engine flexibility with varying road load. Also new is a stop-start system that shuts off the engine at stoplights to save fuel. EPA estimates reflect the powertrain updates, improving from 17/25 in 2012 to 19/28 for 2013. We achieved 19 mpg, two fewer than we coaxed from an Audi A8 3.0T Quattro—one of this car’s most natural competitors—but five more than we saw from a rear-drive 750Li in a comparison test.
