BMW and Mercedes-Benz have fought each other in group tests for the title of "world's best car" for many years. The battle has been between the 7 Series and the S-Class. Both Jaguar and Cadillac trail behind.
BMW's newest generation 7 Series goes on sale today and is a serious contender.
I got hooked on cars-as- technology during the early '90s, and what a way the cars have come since, as powertrains have pushed new limits and energy sources, and interiors have become more cosseting and protective of their occupant.
The 7 Series will be available with an internal combustion engine, a plug-in hybrid, and a fully battery-electric version. BMW brought gasoline and BEVs to Palm Springs for the international first drive, and you can read about it on these pages.
If you want to make a better car, give the i7 electric motor.
A new advanced driver assistance system that lets you cruise hands-free on premapped divided-lane highways and a huge curved theater display are included in the electric version. The car makes driving fun.
The tech used in the i7 is familiar. The i4 sedan and iX SUV were the first to get BMW's 5th- generation EV powertrain. The same family of electrically excited synchronous motors is used for both the front and back of the vehicle. BMW is going to use cylindrical cells for its sixth-gen EV platform.
AdvertisementThe i7 is on sale for $119,300. The vehicle has a total output of 536hp ( 400 kW) and 499lb-ft (186 Nm) of Torque. Out of the total capacity of 108.7 kWh, the battery pack has a usable 101.7 kWh.
Our test car had an EPA range estimate of over 300 miles on the smaller 19-inch wheels and over 200 miles on the 21-inch wheels. The 2.6 miles/kWh (23.9 kWh/100 km) EPA rating is slightly better than the 2.7 miles/kWh (22 kWh/100 km) I averaged over the 2.5 hour drive.
DC fast-charging takes 34 minutes to return the battery to 80 percent state of charge, or 80 miles, for every 10 minutes, and i7 owners will get three years of unlimited charging sessions. I tried to fast-charging my test but it didn't work out. The session was terminated due to a fault or error after just a few minutes and 9.5 kWh, which took the battery to 67 percent of its original capacity.
If I had needed to top the battery up to 80 percent, I would have unplugged the car and plugged it back in to see if I could fix it, but I didn't need 80 percent and didn't feel like I was wasting half an hour on the phone to be told
I let the BMW engineers know that I was using an EVgo charge and that they had been having issues with the bank all month. Ars and the other US and Canadian outlets were the last to receive waves of international media to drive the i. They didn't know what the problem was, which reinforces my argument about fast-charging reliability.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
