BMW 7 Series 740Ld long-term review

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The 7 Series is proving to be a worthy ambassador for both BMW and diesel fuel - 25th July 2018

Part of the reason the idea of running the 740Ld appealed was because I absolutely believe there remains a place for diesel-powered cars in the marketplace and I thought the flagship BMW would make the point rather nicely. But I could scarcely have imagined how right, for once, I would turn out to be.

But let’s first examine exactly what we have here, which is a car that, in basic form, weighs 10kg less than two tonnes. With all the equipment that’s been shovelled into this one, I’d expect its actual mass would be closer to 2.2 tonnes. It’s powered by a 3.0-litre engine pushing out over 100bhp per litre – 316bhp to be precise – and just a fraction more than 500lb ft.

All this is enough to accelerate this colossus to 62mph in 5.4sec; if you wanted to accelerate that fast when I first got into the business, you’d need not just a Ferrari but the flagship model at that. So how much fuel would it use? To help me guess, I looked back at some of the old long-termers to pass this way, not least because some also had 3.0-litre diesel motors and all were driven in approximately the same way on the same roads.

First came the Audi A6 Allroad I ran five years ago. It had a little less power and torque than the 740Ld and was around 90kg lighter, and it did 38.8mpg in my hands, which I considered “impressively economical”.

Then came the Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 CDI Shooting Brake I had in 2014. It weighed the same as the Audi but had a lot less power and torque. Yet it did just 38.9mpg.

And then, of course, there was the old 730Ld, the previous model that I’d run on the Autocar fleet back in 2010. It was nowhere compared with this 740Ld in terms of either power or torque, but it was a substantial 125kg lighter. Its fuel consumption during my time with it was 35.8mpg.

So what would you think the new 740Ld would do with all that extra power, torque and weight? I bet you’d not think it would be over 10mpg better than the old 730Ld and neither did I. But it is: 46.3mpg over the first 2500 miles of its time with me. And no, that’s not taken from the trip computer, but calculated from miles covered and litres added and averaged out over every tankful. Not that there have been many of those.

Another thing I absolutely love about this car is its range. I consider a family car that can’t cover 400 miles between fills as not fit for purpose in this regard. I think 500 is pretty good and 600 exceptional. But the 740Ld managed to put more than 800 miles under its wheels between its first and second fills in my hands, which I regard as little less than staggering.

Indeed, the only thing that annoys me is that despite the car’s phenomenal frugality, the computer still elects to lie to me how much diesel it’s consumed – which, if you allowed yourself to be taken in by it, you’d think was better than 50mpg. It’s good, but it’s not that good. I don’t believe BMW is unable to measure more accurately, so this irritating optimism seems to me to be engineered in.

True, there are many other manufacturers that are no better, but to me that’s no excuse. Otherwise, life with the big BMW is proving as easy and relaxing as any real customer would hope and expect. It is such a capable luxury car that you’d think BMW had been building them like this for years when, in fact, this is the very first 7 Series that deserves to be considered a proper and serious rival for the Mercedes S-Class.

And I’m not alone in thinking that, as a letter from a reader who’s just bought a 740Ld after a series of big Benzs makes clear. More from him next time.

Love it:

FUEL CONSUMPTION Show me a big hybrid that’ll do over 45mpg on a long run and I’ll start to think that diesel has run its course. Until then, it should have a future.

Loathe it:

GESTURE CONTROL I use it all the time but you can’t be very accurate with the volume control and it doesn’t always give you the next track when asked.

Mileage: 2556

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Life with a BMW 740LD: Month 1

Using a limousine for luggage - 4th July 2018

Drove the 740Ld to Durham to collect my daughter from uni and briefly thought the only way I’d get her clobber in was to load the boot, back and front passenger seats and put her on the train. It had to be re-packed twice but, in the end, it all went in, including the daughter. Had it been the standard-wheelbase model, I doubt we’d have done it.

Mileage: 2201

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Welcoming the 740D to our fleet – 27th June 2018

This is not the first time I’ve run a BMW 7 Series on this magazine’s longterm fleet. Nine years ago, I had an early example of the previous generation and, after 12 months at its helm, concluded thus:

“It failed substantially to endear itself to me. It is a car to admire and respect as a machine tool for doing a specific job very well. What it lacks is that sense of occasion that has kept the S-Class Merc on top of successive generations of Sevens for a period measurable in decades.” ’Twas ever thus for BMW’s biggest saloon.

So why repeat the process, especially given the fact that when the test team recently compared the new 7 Series with the latest S-Class and the new Audi A8, the BMW came last?

Nine years ago and flawed as it was, I’d have backed the old Seven at least to be able to put one over an A8. But there were several reasons for this extended test.

First, because it was the narrowest of decisions; second, because testing cars for a day or two is not the same as living with them for a month or six; and, third, because when I first drove this new 7 Series, I liked it more than any of the previous five generations I’d tried.

Most obviously, the single greatest failing of all 7 Series BMWs to date – ride quality – has been eradicated. Make it default to its Comfort Plus setting and the Seven rides ridiculously, almost Rolls-Royce, well.

But there’s something else too: one of the reasons the S-Class has always been the greatest mass-produced luxury car is that as megabytes of data became gigabytes and terabytes, Benz always found a way to ensure it never subjected you to information overload, while BMW took the contrary view, far too happy to blind you with the science. While the resulting complex information interface might have looked impressive, it got in the way. Yet this Seven is far simpler to operate and understand than the last despite the fact that, in data processing terms, the previous Seven is an abacus by comparison.

There’s another purpose to be served here too: I deliberately opted for a high-powered diesel because, in among all the grandstanding from politicians and newspaper editors alike, there lurks within me a more than sneaking suspicion. That for certain people who live their lives a certain way, diesel is so spectacularly preferable to any other source of power provision that even to contemplate its demise is to contemplate a move that seems stupid at best, at worst closer to insane.

Beyond the engine, I had no say in the specification of a car that belongs to BMW and which it will have to sell to someone else once I’m done with it. The people responsible said they wanted a car that had a decent number of useful extras without giving it ‘the full Christmas tree’ but, where I come from, a car whose every seat provides an extensive massage menu, which has rear seat televisions, one of the best sound systems I’ve ever heard in a car (despite it not being BMW’s top-of-the-range system) and which will park itself while you stand outside seems pretty lavishly specified to me.

Combined with many other items detailed below, this is enough to push the price of a car costing £85,255 well into six digits, which is a scary amount to spend on a large saloon, particularly given the well-documented initial depreciation suffered by all such cars.

But all that’s for another time. For now I just need to get used to it, a process helped by it being handed over to me by Sukh Bhamra, BMW GB’s product manager for large cars. It was he who told me, for instance, the difference between the £2420 Driving Assistance Plus package and the £2450 Executive Drive Pro system, which sound to me like they could be one and the same.

Not so: Driving Assistance Plus provides an additional suite of safety systems including active cruise control and traffic jam assistant, which allows the car to drive all but autonomously at low speeds. By contrast, Executive Drive Pro comprises active anti-roll bars that are all but disengaged in a straight line but stiffen not just as the car corners but in anticipation, using data from the satnav and windscreen-mounted road-reading cameras. Yes, really.

The Seven also has Integral Active Steering, which not only varies the steering ratio according to speed but also turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction to those at the front at low speed to effectively shorten the wheelbase, and in the same direction at high speed to help promote stability.

So it’s clear from the out that this is an immensely clever car, and early impressions are of an implausible blend of towering performance and unfeasible economy all wrapped up in the most comfortable, best riding BMW ever created.

Over the months to come, we’ll see whether these are novelties that will wear off over time, or if BMW has finally provided an utterly credible and genuinely enticing alternative to what has always been the greatest luxury car in the world.

Second Opinion

The group test referred to above was lost by the BMW because, in M Sport spec, it doesn’t quite offer the ride isolation and pillowy absorption of either of its German rivals. It’d be interesting to find out whether this car, or a Jaguar XJ, had more driver appeal, though. I suspect these days it might.

Matt Saunders

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BMW 740LD Xdrive M Sport specification

Specs: Price New £83,255 Price as tested: £105,875 Options: Advanced Parking package £1100, Premium pack £2100, Rear Seat Comfort package £4815, 20in M double-spoke alloy wheels £1200, M Sport braking system £355, Integral Active Steering £1195, Executive Drive Pro £2450, Sky Lounge panoramic glass sunroof £1695, ceramic controls finish £450, Driving Assistant Plus £2420, front seat ventilation £985, through-load facility £125, adaptive LED headlights £1360, head-up display £1150, Apple CarPlay preparation £235, online entertainment £160, Anthracite Alcantara headlining £825