Gone are the controversial lines and Bangle butt as the new BMW flagship seeks to recapture the role of the suave gentleman’s express
Nitish Ramanujam

2002. Don’t we all remember the furore caused when the E65/E66 7 Series debuted, sporting a quirky face and a love-it-or-loathe-it rear end? The design was so polarizing and shocking, not just to BMW purists, that the term “Bangle butt” and “Bangled” stuck in popular usage when referring to offending automotive designs. BMW sort of appeased many when it came out with a facelifted 7 Series in 2006, sporting a cleaner visage and neater backside. Whichever way we see it, credit should go to BMW for daring to be different, a move that eventually saw the car become the best selling 7 to date.

Replacing a product as successful and controversial as the E65 is definitely no simple task, but that is exactly what BMW have done with the new 7 Series, launched earlier this year. Internally dubbed the F01/F02, the new flagship BMW has ditched its techy looks for subtle lines that hardly call attention to itself. Whether that’s good or bad, the proportions are fabulous, even in long wheelbase guise, with short overhangs and chiselled flanks complementing a low, sleek roofline and passenger compartment pushed out to the rear. Typical bi-xenon headlights, accompanied by integrated LED indicators and a light bar on top, define the face of the new Bee Em, along with an oversized kidney grille. A single air intake, topped by a chrome strip, stretches across the width of the car to accentuate its ample dimensions, and is set off by fog lights tucked away in each corner. The rear end reminds me of the Lexus LS 460, which is not a bad thing at all, with its adaptive LED brake lights and dual, integrated exhaust outlets.

Slip inside, and you’re greeted by a vast, leather and wood-lined cabin that serves up contemporary BMW luxury and a driver-oriented ambience. Our test car was the Li version, offering a 140mm longer wheelbase over its standard counterpart as well as 10mm more headroom for rear seat occupants. It should be quite comforting for the iDrive-phobes to know that the new generation of the control system is much easier to use, and even allows for unrestricted use of the internet in the car. Our car came with a whole bunch of standard and optional goodies, including 4-zone climate control, Head-up Display, Night Vision with detection of individual persons, a camera-based Speed Limit Indicator, Lane Change Warning and Adaptive Cruise Control, an active Brake Assistant and a proximity warning function when approaching another vehicle from behind. Interestingly, with cars becoming geekier by the day and instruction manuals getting too thick to fit in the glove box, BMW has endowed the 7 Series with the world’s first integrated owner’s manual that can be accessed via iDrive.

Optioned with two single seats at the rear, which could be adjusted for position as well as backrest angle, our 750Li really pampered back seat drivers with seats that cooled and massaged their bottoms, individually controlled roof vents and moody ambient interior lighting. Our car came equipped with the high-end Rear Seat Entertainment Professional system, boasting two 9.2-inch screens (integrated into the front seat backrests), headphones, a DVD player and an additional Controller on the rear seat console for operating the navigation and telephone systems.

So, how does it behave on the road? A large number of individuals buy a BMW, even a luxo-barge like the 7 Series, for the way it drives. Our 750Li came equipped with the brilliant 4.4-litre V8 twin turbo, making 407 horses and a stonking 600Nm from as low as 1750rpm. You might say that the sporty M3 makes a similar horsepower count from its naturally aspirated V8, but while the coupe is frenetic, the 7 is all about smoothness and superb refinement; it’s no slouch either, hitting the 100kph mark in less than 6 seconds, going all the way to an electronically limited top speed of 250kph. Power is routed to the rear wheels through the familiar 6-speed automatic that lets you choose between relaxed and sporty gearshift characteristics, or you can simply slot it into M for sequentially rowing through the cogs yourself.

It does handle exceptionally well for a car that weighs close to two tons, the 7 Series shrinking around you as the speeds increase. The revised suspension, featuring a double-arm front axle and standard air suspension (on the long wheelbase models), is accompanied by the innovative Dynamic Damper Control and Driving Dynamics Control that let you choose between four different settings for the stiffness of the shocks, gearshift characteristics, throttle response and steering assist. In addition, the big BMW can also be optioned with Integral Active Steering, a four-wheel steering system that allows the rear wheels to turn in the opposite direction as the fronts at low speeds and in the same direction at high speeds.

The new 7 Series is a truly remarkable piece of engineering excellence and, going by all the innovative technology crammed into it, a torch bearer for the future of the automobile, much like its Mercedes-Benz counterpart, the S-Class. Faults are few, with the flagship BMW excelling in most areas where it’s expected to perform; the only mentionable issue we have pertains to the styling. As quirky as the old design was, the E65 had a charm and character all its own, and stood proudly independent from the crowd. The new 7 on the other hand sheds the ‘look-at-me’ factor for a stance that could almost go unnoticed, which should find favour with reclusive billionaire types. With most motoring hacks complaining about the OTT look of the previous generation and the lack of occasion in the new one, it probably just shows that you can never make a man content.