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Your kickoff thought upon viewing the BMW X7: The massive front grille turns this amazing full-size SUV in the direction of self-parody. But step into the cockpit, where yous don't see the schnozz, and you'll find a wealth of performance, handling, and commuter-assist features that make this the best big SUV you can buy, at least until the next-generation (2020) Mercedes-Benz GLS arrives in quantity. What makes the X7 worth the improve part of $100,000 is the seamless Level 2 self-driving with automatic lane changes, the large cockpit displays, the camera systems, the fabled seats, the ride and handling, and reasonable third-row room.

The biggest (non-grille) downside is cockpit switchgear that has get at once prettier, harder to use, and harder to read. Also, a car this large would be more socially conscious if a plug-in hybrid version was offered in the offset moving ridge of X7 shipments rather than waiting for 2020 or 2021. And: Before you lot commit to charter payments upward to $1,600, make sure you really need the marginally bigger interior the X7 provides. The BMW X5 is almost as big in most ways unless yous must have that tertiary seat. On cost, the X7 is clearly bigger, as much as $122,000, and even something of a public service: BMW is doing more to hook back money from the rich than Bernie and AOC combined.

Fabulous on Highways and Dorsum Roads

I test-drove the 2019 X7. The 2020 model is nearly the aforementioned, calculation a college-ability Grand design version. The BMW X7 is in its chemical element gliding along the highway on 400-mile treks, whether you drive it yourself or engage the Active Driving Banana Pro cocky-driving feature and allow radars, cameras, and microprocessors practise the work. Perhaps surprisingly — if you lot don't know BMW-Audi-Mercedes-Porsche SUV engineering science — it's also quite at home on country roads every bit long as you factor in the 5,500 pounds of weight.

There are a lot of cars that have Level 2 self-driving, meaning your car paces the car in forepart upwardly to the speed yous set using adaptive cruise control and keeps the car in the middle of the lane (lane centering aid), while you lightly keep easily on the steering bike. BMW does it equally well as anyone. I was impressed by the machine-lane-alter feature. Tap the turn point, the car checks to the rear and side, and if the coast is clear, shifts lanes left or right. Not once was there an issue with the machine trying to shift lanes at the same time a car behind was coming upwardly rapidly. Although information technology doesn't hurt to wait in the side mirror just to exist sure, equally some Tesla drivers take learned.

An X7 slides through the primordial soup. Really, an off-route course at the BMW Performance Center outside Palm Springs, California. The X7 fords up twenty inches of water.

Long-haul driving is helped by the quality of BMW'due south seats, the optional seat massagers, the side window shades in row two, heated and vented seats, and even the pillows attached to the headrests. At dark, the mood lighting makes the car feel like a private jet. The panel cupholders warm or absurd drinks. USB jacks are abundant. Onboard Wi-Fi is bachelor. Many of these features are optional (and desirable, and non inexpensive), and BMW's close competitors offer many of the aforementioned features and options.

The mondo forepart grille is by and large trompe l'oeil (play a trick on of the eye) that makes you suspect the X7 is bigger in every way than BMW'southward other SUVs. It took me a mean solar day of driving to realize that the X7 is fine on twisty dorsum roads because it's no wider, just a bit longer, and about 500 pounds heavier than the X5, a happy back-road-warrior.

Among European automakers, there's an artillery race to have the family SUV exist an off-roader and river-crosser. BMW has a package that lets you lot climb rocks and so cross a stream 20 inches deep. It'south an selection. If you desire to tow a trailer, you can, and with the trailer package, yous tin tow 7,700 pounds.

BMW'due south cocky-driving suite, the Driving Assistance Professional Packet, is slick; it even changes lanes by tapping the turn betoken. (Note that mail truck is beingness towed and non wrong-style driving.) And simply Wikipedia presents more information than BMW's head-up display.

BMW in the Lead on Tech

BMW in the US has been the ultimate driving machine for half a half-century. At present it dazzles you with technical brilliance besides. Example: If yous become the environs photographic camera package, when you park, you run across the view alee (if you lot're pulling in going forward) on the large centre stack display side-past-side with a stitched 360-degree overhead view; equally yous go closer to the car in front or to the garage wall, the view-ahead camera bending rises up to assistance approximate the final couple feet, all automagically. Or if you become the parking assistant option, you lot can let the motorcar ease itself into parallel or perpendicular spaces. If you do information technology yourself, nearby vehicles, walls, raised curbs, or lite stanchions shown onscreen radiate green-yellow-or-red force fields outward to point how shut you lot are. When you lot're abroad from the car, the cameras let yous monitor its well-beingness from your phone. At a time when even some mainstream cars — Ford Explorer, say — have automobile-parking, BMW marshals overwhelming-show-of-force technology to brand the instance for premium cars.

The dual 12-inch displays (instrument panel and center stack) allow multiple panes of information. If you want, the heart display tin exist dialed dorsum to, say, simply the moving map. The iDrive controller works well and you have multiple ways to collaborate: the command wheel, a finger-writing pad on summit of the wheel, adjacent buttons to summon mutual features, voice input, and gesture controls including a Tinder-like swipe to answer the phone. Okay, gesture control may seem like a stupid pet trick, but BMW's signal is: Nosotros give you lot every way possible to interact with the car. The modes you lot don't like? Don't use them.

The head-upward display is big with lots of information that you can cull to show or hide. When the HUD maps out the lanes you demand to be in for the leave, it'due south pretty hard to mess up. BMW monitors the driver for inattention via an instrument panel camera, which is faster and more accurate in determining if your attention has drifted. Yous won't similar beingness ratted out, only you'll live longer. Most of BMW's USB jacks are Blazon C, which is the way the industry is heading. You may need to buy a $5 adapter now, merely your next telephone will probably be Type C at both ends, and you're ready.

And this is tech of a sort: the Panoramic Sky Lounge LED Roof creates six LED light patterns in the roof — white, blue, orangish, bronze, lilac, and greenish — for more enjoyable nighttime driving.

BMW X7 center panel: The part selectors forwards of the iDrive controller are blocked past the optional crystal shifter, and the push cluster lost its find-by-shape pronounced vee-design.

Cockpit Controls Won't Please Everyone

When a car costs this much, the owner has loftier expectations. Repeat buyers may exist disappointed with the direction taken by the interface to the iDrive controls and control surfaces. Office buttons to control entertainment, telephone, map, and navigation were arrayed in side-by-side vee shapes with the domicile button in between. Yous could tell without looking if you were touching the front or rear button by the manner it sloped, and the left or right button set by where the flat home push was in relation. The buttons now are difficult to access because the driver'due south mitt has to reach effectually the gearshift selector.

On the steering cycle, buttons are at present finished in brushed satin chrome with blackness lettering that glows a weakish carmine at dark. Drivers over xl with imperfect eyesight may find them a claiming, peculiarly those who don't apply their reading one-half-glasses while driving.

The X7 includes no adaptive cruise control in the base version, reserving it for the $1,700 self-bulldoze package chosen the Driving Assistance Professional Parcel. BMW should include adaptive cruise control in the base of operations price equally Honda and Toyota exercise and so the basics are all in that location: ACC as well as the provided lane departure warning, blind-spot detection, forward collision warning, and car-emergency braking.

BMW does requite you 10 gratis years of telematics service (non 10 years of complimentary information) then emergency calling and crash notification are e'er there, BMW tin can download software updates, and you can reach out to the dealer to set upwards service. But at that place is no Android Auto, and access to Apple CarPlay costs $lxxx a year (after a free first year).

Cockpit fit and finish are fabulous on the X7.

BMW X7 Trim Walk

A basic X7 is $75K. Only move up the ladder to the V8 and the 1000 version, and/or add in as much as $20K in options, and you can easily surpass $110,000. The X7 SAV, or sports activity vehicle, equally BMW calls it, comes in 3 variants with an eight-speed automatic transmission and air intermission. Plus lots of options packages and standalone options. All models are all-cycle drive with three rows of seating along with with Active Driving Assistant (daytime pedestrian protection, frontal collision alert with city collision mitigation, lane departure warning, active blind-spot detection, and rear cross-traffic alarm), adaptive LED headlamps with auto high beams, panoramic moonroof, ambient cockpit lighting with 12 lighting themes, telematics with a Wi-Fi hotspot, and 21-inch blend wheels.

BMW X7 xDrive 40i ($74,895 including $995 freight). The 3.0-liter 335 hp turbo inline-six-cylinder engine is rated at 5.8 seconds 0-60 mph with an EPA rating of twenty mpg city / 25 mpg highway / 22 mpg combined on premium fuel. The base of operations audio organization has ten speakers, a 205-watt amplifier, satellite, and Hard disk radio.

BMW X7 xDrive 50i ($93,95). The 4.4-liter turbo V8 reaches 60 mph in v.2 seconds and is EPA-rated at 15 / 21 / 17 mpg. Sound is branded Harman Kardon with 16 speakers (464 watts).

BMW X7 M50i ($100,595). The V8 hits 523 hp and goes 0-60 in 4.five seconds (EPA rating awaiting). Standard blend wheels are 22 inches. There even-nicer upholstery and trim choices. Annotation to enthusiasts: While in that location's an M in the name, this is not the aforementioned as an M in front of the serial number (M3 versus X7 M50i). But it volition still outperform every most other big SUV currently on the route.

There are a six options packages for the X7 from $800 to $4,100. The Premium Bundle ($2,800) has the HUD, rear side shades, soft close doors, 12-speaker Harman audio, soft-close doors, and gesture control. The Executive Package ($four,100 on the six-cylinder) incorporates the Premium Packet plus the Panoramic Sky Lounge LED Roof, heated and cooled cupholders, and "hand-made, diamond-cut glass trim elements" for the shifter, audio volume control, start button, and iDrive wheel.

The Driver Help Bundle ($ane,700) is a must-have twice over: once because BMW omits adaptive cruise command from the base price and secondly because BMW rolls in a raft of other truly useful assists including Level 2 cocky-driving. The Cold Atmospheric condition Parcel ($1,200) has heated front seat armrests and steering, and five-zone climate control. A Luxury Seating Package is $one,600.

Yous can social club one or the other of these two: an Off-Road Bundle ($1,650) has specific modes for sand, rock, gravel, and snow); or the Parking Assist Bundle ($800) with automatic parallel parking, surround-view of the car while driving or while parked and mode from the car, plus a video drive recorder.

Standalone options included Night Vision ($2,300), a trailer hitch that boosts towing capacity to seven,500 pounds ($550), a leather dashboard ($850), scented cockpit aromas (350), second-row captain'southward chairs ($850), Alcantara (synthetic suede headliner, $1,000), "Shadowline" trim ($350), rear entertainment ($2,200), Thou Sport brakes ($650), and integral active steering ($ane,150). All these have some degree of utility and can besides drive the six-cylinder version to $87,000. More than if you add premium pigment (up to $i,950), pothole-finder 22-inch wheels ($ane,300), specialty seat leathers ($3,700), or an M Sport design parcel ($4,350) that is about show more than get (it does include an aero kit to gum the auto to the road at near-Autobahn speeds). The most costly X7 I managed to price reached $121,845, well-nigh $ane,600 a month on a lease.

BMW X7 is 203 inches to the X5's 194 inches. Width and height are substantially the aforementioned.

The Big SUV: What Took BMW So Long?

The Berlin Wall had barely come down when BMW first pondered an SUV, the X5. It arrived in 1999 and was a more firsthand hit than the beginning Mercedes-Benz ML (now GLE) that rode like a truck (because it was built on a truck frame), or the first Lexus RX, 1998. BMW added the meaty X3 as a 2004 model, the subcompact X1 in 2008, and fastback SUVs (X6, X4) forth the way. The X7 was nigh a decade in gestation if you count the years of internal deliberations and the five years from public annunciation to beginning shipments this year. In the meantime, Mercedes-Benz ruled with the full-size GL (now GLS) that dates to the 2007 model year. The first X7 barely beat the third-generation GLS to market place.

Why did BMW wait? For certain, BMW wanted to exist sure the big honker would handle decently. Peradventure information technology had doubts about the propriety of building such a big vehicle at a time when many parts of the world have concerns about the car'due south impact on the planet. You might approach 30 mpg in very cautious highway driving with the half-dozen-cylinder if you stick to the speed limit), and with a 21.ix-gallon tank, cruise 550 miles or more than betwixt refills. Actually, if you guess your speed by the amount of route and wind noise, you'll remember you're doing 55, look at the speedometer, and realize yous're rolling at 85.

When you parallel park the X7, you'll know it's bigger: 203 versus 194 inches long. The 122-inch wheelbase, v inches more than the X5, smooths out the highway ride. Interior head, leg and shoulder room are no more than than an inch better for the X7. Rear legroom, often the measurement that most determines rear-seat comfort, rounds to 38 inches for both, fair-to-good for a full-size SUV, simply virtually 7 inches less than the decade-only Ford Flex. Put all but the front end seats downwards and the X7 trumps the X5 on cargo space, 90 to 72 cubic feet. Only with all the seats up, there is a puny 13 feet behind the X7's 3rd-row versus 33.9 for the X5.

Exist sure to try the 3rd row for comfort. I'd describe it this way: good headroom, decent legroom, seat also depression to the floor (but that allows for decent headroom). If you want a comfortable third row, either get to something like a Ford Expedition that is two feet longer, or go a — gasp — minivan. In other words, the third row is okay but you might have expected a little more than room. The third row does get its ain sunroof.

BMW offers two V8 engines with 523 or 465 hp (X7 M50i, X7 xDrive50i) or or an inline half dozen 335 hp (X7 xDrive 40i). Choose your 0-60 time: 4.five, 5.2, or v.8 seconds 0-60 mph.

BMW X7 vs. Mercedes GLS and the Field

Lincoln Navigator.

Amongst total-size luxury/sport SUVs, they all practise a adept task wrapping yous in leather seating surfaces and making the direct-line driving feel blithesome. Take a look at the direct and wannabe competitors:

The U.s.a.-flagged brands, for the nearly role, do not pretend to be SUV versions of the brands' sport sedans. Most come in big and bigger editions, including the Cadillac Escalade (204 and 224 inches long) and Lincoln Navigator (210 and 222 inches long), with the ability to tow at least 7,900 pounds. They counterbalance 5,500-6,200 pounds and use body-on-frame rather than a weight-saving unibody construction. The Navigator is new for 2019 and gets high marks for luxury appointments (fifty-fifty in this course), straight-line dispatch, 2d- and third-row room, and highway ride cheers to wheelbases of 123 and 132 inches. (The new Lincoln Aviator is more X5-sized.)

The Chevrolet Suburban, Ford Expedition, and GMC Yukon (especially Denali trim line) tin can exist considered luxury vehicles: You can easily get the cost over $70K, twice the average of a new car. The unibody Buick Enclave (204 inches long) and new Cadillac XT6 (199 inches) are less bulky than the Escalade-Yukon. Some reviewers plant the XT6 didn't match the luxe feel of the equally new, and larger, Navigator.

The Audi Q7 at 199.six inches is borderline full-size with a tasteful cockpit and excellent technology; it is more of an X5 competitor. The Audi Q8 is a fastback Q7 that is shorter despite the college numbering, and more of a BMW X6 competitor. The Porsche Cayenne is a midsize model with simply two rows, merely it is a Porsche, which means handling and cachet (besides a pricey options canvass).

There are also off-road-centric big SUVs such as the aging Toyota State Cruiser living off the same design since the 2008 model year and the sibling Lexus LX, with V8 engines and snug third rows. The Land Cruiser has reliability and exclusivity on its side: US sales average just 3,000 a twelvemonth (although global sales dating to 1951 simply passed x one thousand thousand). These vehicles are not remotely BMW X7 / Mercedes GLS competitors except that if you buy ane, it will probably be the only such vehicle in the prep schoolhouse pickup lane, and exclusivity has value. Just remember: fifteen mpg on a cheerio.

Acura's biggest SUV, the MDX, is more of a midsize 3-row SUV at 196 inches, it's aging (the third generation dates to MY 2014) and the next-gen MDX arrives inside the year, only information technology'south a solid value. The well-regarded Lexus RX 350 L is an even smaller, still midsize, three-row. From Korea, the new Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride are besides midsize iii-row SUVs and uncommonly well outfitted for the toll, offer Level 2 cocky-driving, for less than $50K; they define "class higher up" SUVs. That reduces to one the significant Asian competitors: Infiniti, with the 210-inch QX80 featuring a roomy interior, good cargo capacity, and outstanding fit and finish; handling will non be as inspired as the X7'south.

The State Rover Range Rover has evolved to a beautiful machine within with plenty of room (peculiarly the $110K long-wheelbase model), and superb off-route and wading capabilities.

The 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS is the closest competitor to the X7.

That leaves the 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS, at present arriving at dealers. It offers six- or eight-cylinder engines and dual 12-inch dashboard displays (aforementioned as BMW), first-class treatment and safety, and a starting cost, similar BMW, in the low- to mid-$70s, in part because then many desirable features are extra, such as the E-Active Body Control that scans the road ahead for bumps and continuously adjusts the adaptive break. A loaded V8 GLS 550 reaches $120,000 and the AMG version starts at $125K. Specs suggest the GLS will exist more comfy for passengers aft of the starting time row compared with the X7, and a wait at the front end end shows one of the few large SUVs that haven't succumbed to the big-grille fetish.

What to choose? Right now, the 2019/2020 BMW X7 is the best premium large SUV you can buy. Most likely the X7 and GLS will split themselves from the field for those whose criteria include great treatment, a tasteful interior, expert rider room in all 3 rows, land-of-the-art commuter-assist features including Level 2 autonomy, and comprehensive safe features to avert, bargain with, and reach out after accidents. Look at the Lincoln Navigator long-wheelbase if y'all need to carry three rows of people most of the time and you're less concerned well-nigh spirited driving on country roads. Or about getting it in the garage at nighttime.

Before you commit, have one last look at the X5. Unless you lot must have iii seating rows or need vii,500 non six,600 pounds of towing capacity, the X5 is a friction match for the X7 in interior spaciousness (starting time two rows), technology features, and engines. Either 1, X7 or X5, is fine with the six-cylinder engine. Where the BMW X5 and X3 are the top SUVs in their categories, the X7 may wind upward sharing the crown.

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