Category: Large Executive 
Price Range: £53,695 to £68,800
Immense performance; offers superb comfort and refinement as well as driving pleasure
Very few: iDrive control system still fiddly, hard ride with the sports suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels - though that goes with the territory
The controversial styling has been toned down for 2005, but otherwise the Seven remains an uncompromising technological showcase
The new engines are all more powerful than those they replace, but fuel economy is improved in most and unchanged in the V8 petrol engines, thanks to refinements of BMW's Valvetronic petrol engine technology and third-generation precise piezo-injection in the diesels (which meet the Euro IV emissions standards, even without the now-standard particulate filter). Of course, all this is relative, with the 730i managing 27.9mpg, the 730d 34.5mpg and the 760i just 21.1mpg, but not bad for cars this size and weight. Carbon dioxide emissions range correspondingly from 216 g/km (730d) to 330 g/km (760Li), so company car tax will be hefty. Watch out for the £25-a-day London congestion charge for Band G cars. The highest running cost, however, will be depreciation (loss in value).
Latest Readers' Drives About the BMW 7-Series
wrote on 20 03 2007