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I am one of the lucky west coast customers who was selected to be part of the all new 7 series reveal at a private home on top the cliffs over looking Laguna Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, as many of you may be aware of, I was not able to sneak in my cell phone to snap not even one photo. As soon as we checked in, guards used a metal detector as if we were boarding a flight to Bombay to guarantee no one had a phone hidden on them.
Too bad because the whole thing was very impressive. We were told to park in a reserved parking lot and boarded a shuttle that whisked us away through the winding roads above Laguna Beach. The home where the event was held was beautiful with an outdoor pavilion dedicated to the 7. As well there was a B6 Gran Coupe, i8, and i3 to add more fuel to the fire. Apparently BMW is covering the areas of the U.S. where the 7er sells best such as LA/OC, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, NY-Tri State, etc.
We were able to roam around the home and admire the infinity pool that overlooked the Pacific while sipping on wine and snacking on h'ors deurves. After about 45 minutes there was an announcement for us to convene around the covered 7 series to be prepared for the reveal.
My first impression of the car under the cover is that the new 7er is very large. Like almost Rolls-Royce Ghost large. Peter Miles (Vice President of BMW NA) came up and introduced himself while pressing the fact that we are part of a handful of people in the world who are the first to see the new 7er. After a little more "fluff," two ladies pulled the cover off to reveal a space grey 750i.
My first impression is that the exterior is much less angular and more "organic." The front end resembles the F30 3er with both headlights meeting two very large kidney grills. There is a lot of BMW's Vision Future Concept in this car in the front end and the LED light design mirrors that of the LCI F30. The side chrome trim is one long piece of trim and the traditional hofmeister kink is still there.
The weakest part of the exterior is the rear end. It's very generic and almost Korean like in its appearance. It has soft organic lines that is an evolution of the F01. It's sort of a cross between an F01 and some pseudo luxury Hyundai.
The best part of this car is the interior and all the new tech. A lot of the gadgets are a gimmick but I am truly surprised at how well BMW executed the interior. The S Class, for me, is the standard of this class but BMW has done so well that I may have the nerve to say this is now the new standard. The quality of materials are top notch and there are a lot of S Class like switchgear that is so un BMW-like with the lack of hard black plastic. There is a rear seat package that comes with a Samsung tablet to allow further control of certain functions along with a dual panoramic sunroof that is standard in the US. The cool feature about this is that there are 15,000 laser etched holes in a cover that reflects the ambient color chosen. You now have the option to also have the ambient lighting turned on behind the Bowers & Wilkins metal speaker grills with the LEDs making snail like shapes to reflect the shape of the speaker.
The overall layout is an evolution of a BMW interior with a driver oriented dash with the transmission gear selector remaining on the center console. There are a lot of screens including the A/C control now being touch screen and the new fifth generation iDrive being touch screen as well. The gesture control actually works really well and there are a ton more cameras than what we already have. There is a camera that gives a 3D perspective around the car so now one can see a 3D view of the curb, thus, curb rashes are now a thing of the past. The transmission also reads the roads in the navigation to prepare down shifts when there is an upcoming curve.
There was no mention of the remote parking so I am thinking this feature will not be available for the North American market. If the W222 S Class has a certain feature, the new 7 has it as well. BMW claimed that there are 25 features that are never before seen in any automobile. There is also a cabin fragrance button, similar to the S class. BMW supposedly teamed up with a French perfumery to come up with unique scents.
I would dare say that the new 7er is more technologically advanced than the S class for the most part but now the next step would be to drive the car. The car will be arriving stateside later this fall.
