Car_and_Driver_USA_July_2017

Long-Term Test: When the tires get worn and the factory
warranty runs out, that’s where we come in. Car and Driver is
your source for the 40,000-mile evaluation.
2016 BMW 740i
Arrival: Apr/2016
Departure: Apr/2017
—
BMW gets a little too comfortable with its big,
cushy sedan. _by Eric Tingwall
Even as crossovers continue to conquer America, and
seemingly every automaker has a two-door vanity
project to cast a glow over its lineup, big luxury sedans
still project gravitas in the German-car business.
Audi’s, BMW’s, and Mercedes’ largest cars remain
totems of brand values and stylistic themes, as well as
vanguards for the technologies that trickle down to the
rest of the fleet.
A year and 40,000 miles
with Munich’s latest flagship, a
Rants & Raves
2016 BMW 740i, confirms what we’ve been
“I’d like just the
saying for almost a decade: The soil under opposite of what this
7-series offers: more
BMW HQ has truly shifted. The 7 makes body control and less
clear that the drift of the 3- and 5-series impact harshness over
sharp lateral seams.”
from sports sedans to less athletic luxury —Dave VanderWerp
cars isn’t a fluke but a brand-wide movement.
It’s evident in the way this limo rolls Put it in comfort-plus
“This car is a boat.
down the road with enough float in the suspension
to raise the Edmund Fitzgerald.
—Jeff
mode and it feels like
a Kia K900.”
Sabatini
That buoyant ride, in concert with a
placid cockpit, plush seats, and a 500-plusmile
range, definitely had its virtues. The
7-series shined brightest when our staffers
treated it as a more dignified alternative to
commercial air travel. Our drivers piloted
the 740i through 12 states, one Canadian
province, and the District of Columbia during
its 12-month stay, filling the logbook
with high praise from occupants arriving
refreshed and relaxed.
But serene highway cruising is hardly
special in this segment of German big boys,
and BMW’s failure to stake out a more compelling
position leaves the 7-series chasing
the competition. The latest S-class introduced
Mercedes’ progressive and opulent
interiors, Audi’s A8 champions intuitive
tech, and the Cadillac CT6 is the driver’s
choice. BMW could have delivered a knockout
by blending those attributes into the
complete package. Instead, it served up a
conservative evolution of aging design
motifs, dubious infotainment advances,
and the soggiest suspension from a Bimmer
in recent memory.
Our long-term 740i hid its biggest technological
advance beneath a coat of rich
Jatoba Brown Metallic paint. The 7’s structure
is a cocktail of aluminum, steel, and
carbon fiber, the only visible clue being a
pair of “Carbon Core” badges behind the
doors on the B-pillars. The weight savings
helped our 740i undercut a Mercedes-Benz
S550 (which admittedly lugs around two
extra cylinders and one additional turbocharger)
by more than 400 pounds. And
while the dynamics engineers failed to
make full use of this advantage, the sophisticated
material mix delivers a sturdy
structure and a cabin insulated from the
din of traffc and the rush of wind.
It’s even more diffcult to quantify the
benefits of the in-car tech. With only metoo
semi-autonomous features such as a
lane-centering function that falls short of a
true self-steering system, BMW’s hallmark
for the 7-series is literally a bunch of hand
waving. Gesture Control gives front-seat
occupants six hand motions that can raise
or lower the volume or dismiss an incoming
phone call by miming a little routine in
front of the touchscreen. Even after a year
of exposure, this sort of orchestral conducting
proved less precise and more hassle
082 . CAR AND DRIVER . JUL/2017
photography by MARC URBANO