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CAP Blog > CAP Blog > Martin's Blog
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Apr
29
Written by:
Martin Ward
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
 The all new 7 Series design has corrected everything that the previous model had wrong with it. As good as it was on the inside, the exterior design just wasn’t right as it was too fussy at the rear and didn’t look dynamic enough. The new 7 Series has re-written the book and the designers have created some extraordinary clever lines and have made it just so much better. The boot lid now looks like part of the car and not like an after thought. The strong, bold side shoulder lines make the 7 Series look more muscular; this gives it a wider stance and it looks very elegant and distinctive. The new larger BMW ‘kidney grille’ is the perfect size and it is now in proportion with the rest of the car.
 However, it is the interior that most people buy this car for. The car we tested had the standard wheelbase but it still had plenty of leg and head room in the rear. The rear seats are contoured to make you feel very special and ultra comfortable. It is such a luxurious car but the rear is the place to sit. There is a downside though to the interior and that is the door handles. The car we drove had dark black wood veneer with black leather and the door handles are very cleverly hidden. With it being black on black, it made it impossible for most people to find them. I found myself on numerous occasions having to direct my passengers to the location of the handle so they could shut the door by themselves. However, I suppose in real life, a chauffeur would do it for them.
 Driving it is also a pleasure and the car we tested had plenty of toys on it to play with. Some of these are very valuable and the others are a ‘nice to have’ kind of thing. The options fitted to the test car included head up display. This shows the speed, satellite navigation directions if active and lane change which is a little distracting. The car also had active cruise control and again the control and visual warning can be seen on the head up display. The 730d did have two very useful options. These were a reverse camera, which shows the rear surrounding area through the display in the middle of the dashboard and costs £285. The other one was the side view cameras, which are positioned in the front bumper and point out sideways so you can see approaching traffic through the same display on the dashboard. This is particularly useful at T junctions as the position of the cameras allow you to remain behind the white lines but still be able to see the road at clearly at each side. Caution must still be used and a visual check has to be made to ensure a safe crossing but they are a very useful aid.
The 730d produces 245hp, goes from 0-62mph in 7.2 seconds and has Co2 emissions of 192g/km. The new 7 Series is a heavy car and measures at 5072mm in length but by no means is it a slow car. It sits on the motorway at 70mph without any effort whatsoever and it is quiet with hardly any noise intrusion; the cabin is a really peaceful place to sit.
 The fuel consumption was very interesting as the official combined figure is 39.2mpg but on a return journey to Heathrow (a total of 404 miles and staying within the speed limits) the 730d achieved 43.1mpg, which is remarkable. I reset the trip computer and drove around town at low speeds with plenty of stop starts and it managed the mid 30’s. For this type of use, it was again very good. Overall, covering over 1,000 miles in 10 days, it averaged at 37.1mpg on all types of driving and journeys.
The cost of a basic 730d is £53,730. The car we tested had around £4,000 of options on it so it is not a cheap car but a car that can be made into a business for a relatively small amount of money. The new 7 Series makes for the perfect chauffeur car and anyone being picked up or driven to an event or airport would not feel at all disappointed. The long wheel base would be better for this type of work but this car would be very capable. The new 730d is so smooth, quiet, comfortable and relatively economical.
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