Review: Beyond the black stump in the big BMW X7

Tuesday, 27 August 2019

**BMW X7

Price range:** $146,200 to $199,900

Powertrains: 3.0-litre turbo diesel inline six, 195kW/620Nm (xDrive30d) or 294kW/760Nm (M50d), 8-speed automatic, AWD, combined fuel consumption 7.3L/100km/192g/km (xDrive30d) or 7.5L/100km/198g/km.

The BMW X7 is big and imposing, even covered in red dust.

Body style: Five-door SUV.

On sale: Now.

The X7 is a full seven-seater. Not a surprise, given its size.

The X7 is the biggest vehicle BMW has even made (well, for now, at least, you know what these car makers are like) and it is blatantly and unashamedly aimed directly at the Range Rover, hoping to muscle in on that sweet, sweet massive luxury SUV action.

Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?

Pretty much what is written in the opening paragraph - the X7 is a massive luxury SUV to take on other massive luxury SUVs - it's big, its comfortable, it's packed with the latest driver assist and infotainment tech and it boldly shouts 'I don't care about you, poor person, or your silly planet'.

* The fastest, most furious SUVs you can buy

The X7's interior is beautifully made and deeply luxurious, but a little too BMW-generic.

* BMW X3 lineup suggests posh SUVs are powered by petrol**

But it is also still a BMW, which means there is a certain expectation that it will carry at keast some of that 'Ultimate Driving Machine' DNA that the German company has leaned hard on over the years.

While it is available in New Zealand in 40i guise with a petrol V8 under the bonnet, the Australian event only featured the 30d and M50d diesels.

Both diesels pack BMW's 2,933cc turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine, but the M50d winds up the turbo count to a slightly ridiculous four (yep, four into six) to produce its 294kW of power and 760Nm of torque. The 30d has to make do with 'just' 195kW and 620Nm.

So the power is certainly there, even in oil-burner guise, but what about that whole driving thing? Well, they certainly seemed to have nailed that too.

Where did you drive it?

A dust-covered BMW SUV family photo: X7, X5 and X3.

A massive SUV requires a suitably massive environment to enjoy it in, so it was appropriate that we blasted through the South Australian outback in the X7s to get to another BMW event I am not allowed to mention yet.

Long, straight tarmac roads followed by a considerable amount of what was pretty much just hard-packed dust saw the biggest BMW traverse a varied array of surfaces, all of which it proved to be pretty damn remarkable over.

Surprisingly sharp and impressively agile for something of its size, the X7 boasts an incredibly impressive ride over even the roughest of surfaces.

The big torque from both diesel engines and the superbly supple ride sees the 30d and M50d waft serenely along in an utterly effortless fashion, while crawling over the ruts, rocks and potholes later in the drive showed of its impressive composure.

Numerous patches of deep, soft sand didn't break its stride and while you probably wouldn't be taking your incredibly pricey and incredibly massive SUV too far off road, the X7's xDrive AWD system still proved equally impressive, despite not having a low range.

As well as sand proving no challenge to the X7, gravel was dismissed with equal arrogance, with its predictable nature showing through on loose surfaces.

All of this praise for the X7's ride comes when it is left in Comfort mode, or course - don't bother going for Sport, it simply takes the edge off the suppleness and doesn't really add much to the handling anyway.

Finally, one thing we rarely get to test properly stood out in the X7 - its dust sealing was staggeringly good. The fine, red dust that gets into literally everything in the outback didn't get anywhere near the inside of the X7. Unless you left a window open. Which someone did…

What's the pick of the range?

While the M50d is the headliner here, the considerably cheaper (it's relative) xDrive30d was the pick, simply because the perceivable gap between the two was relatively small.

Unless you desperately need to have the best badge on the back (and admittedly a lot of buyers in this segment do), the 30d ticks all the boxes. And then some.

That's not to say the M50d isn't deeply impressive, mind you, and its insistent urge is great, just probably not great enough to justify spending an extra $50K on.

Why would I buy it?

Because you want a big, superbly comfortable SUV that handles surprisingly well, is packed to the gills with the latest tech and isn't one of the expected crowd.

Or because you are an X5 owner frustrated by the fact that your neighbours Mercedes GLS is bigger.

Why wouldn't I buy it?

You just can't get past that massive grille (which, to be fair, looks way better and less domineering in the metal) or couldn't stomach the idea of spending $150 to $200K on an SUV.

But the biggest obstacle may just be the fact that it doesn't quite feel special enough inside it for that money.

In terms of on (and slightly off) road ride comfort BMW has certainly taken the fight right up to Range Rover (while effortlessly blowing the elderly Merc GLS into the weeds, although a new one is coming), but it is not quite so easy in other areas.

While the BMW's interior is superbly made and undeniably luxurious, it is still very much just a BMW interior to look at - a modern range Rover 'gentlemen's club' style lounge interior is still a far more special place to be.