2009 BMW 750i: Hits 5000 Miles in Holbrook, Arizona

Typical BMW. Boring, straight forward gauges are their thing.

I, for one, like simple gauges. Gauge cluster is no place for showmanship. Simple & direct info is what is expected at that place.

I should hope that 400+ miles on 21 gals. is attainable. I can go almost 550 miles on 20 gals. in my car.

Well congratulations! You don't own a 400hp luxury sedan!

Does your Altima have a 400 hp twin turbo V8?

yeah 400 miles is nothing!! I've got a diesel and i can go 600 miles with 4 passengers and a midget in the trunk!!!

kidding aside, I think the gauges look cool. It's hard to tell what's really going on in the picture, but I imagine the lighter shaded box along the bottom as being some sort of HUD style display, projected onto the plastic front panel of the gauge cluster so that it has a 3d look to it. If that is the case, all you'd see on the gauge cluster itself would be the 4 gauges, all bordered by white circles, very minimalist and cool if you ask me. I could see it doing a very cool start up show where the 4 white circles light up first, then the needles light up and do their startup sweep, then finally the markings and the HUD display light up. That's a pretty fancy gauge cluster if you ask me, even if it only exists in my imagination.

I hate orange gauges, have them in my Infiniti too.

that LCD screem looks tacky.

I'm jealous, Erin. I-40 between Williams AZ and Albuquerque NM is my favorite stretch of highway anywhere.

But I'm stuck at home with a newborn, so I won't be taking that road trip for a while, at least!

spaceywilly: That's not a HUD, it's just a LCD screen. What I find strange is that the bottom part of the physical gauge is simulated on screen. That's just a bit strange.

I could be wrong, as i haven't spent any time in the new F01, only in the E66, but i believe the white rings at the bottom of the gauges don't exist. The bottom of white rings, mpg gauge etc. are just graphics on the LCD screen, which occupies the lower end of the gauge pod.

ttummy

looks like you beat me to it... sorry to repost.

I like those gauges.

Hey Erin, how tall is the gearing in this thing?

Erin, curising range without fuel mileage?! Blasphemy!

Does the 7 have a true HUD? I know it's offered on the 5 and 6... That would be way cooler than the LCD in the instrument cluster.

Gauge cluster is a let down on an otherwise nice looking interior. Why can't BMW create stylish gauges?

The gauges look great.

FYI, the gauges are white during the daytime and automatically turn amber at night.

1000 miles in a week since the big Bimmer was added to the "Long-Term" fleet?

That comes out to 142 miles per day or 52,000 miles per year.

Normal fleet use... for Yellow Taxi Cab Co., perhaps.

Still BMW has to get rid of the toggle action transmission shift controls. While moving the stalk to the center console (ala the E60 5-series) from the steering column is an improvement, a frustrated car porter will never be kind to a car that frustrates.

This is a car that will see its share of car porters.

Operations as basic as engaging DRIVE in auto equipped car should be common to all vehicles.

Another big improvement over the E65 is the relocation of the seat adjustment controls from the huge center console to the outward side of the seat cushion.

Unless you get your driver's ed in an E65 or a Benz, intuition tells you that if you want to better adjust your derriere in a car seat you should be fiddling with controls placed close to the derriere.

It is a shame, though, that the 7 series has become such a massive car. I mean one-half ton heavier than a 528i? This is why a 5 series feels more naturally connected to the road, even without the optional sport package. The sheer mass of the F01 mandates the heavier sport package equipped model is required to obtain a modicum of road feel.

ttummy:
The fake bottom part of the gauges is indeed funnier. Even funnier to me is that the fuel and temp gauges have real versions of the fake bottom meant to simulate the bottom of a real gauge.

"At no time did I ever feel like I was hanging out with a full-size sedan. The 750i hides its inches and pounds quite well."

This is one of the things I love and admire about large German sedans/coupes. My best friend and I drove his fathers 1998 Mercedes CL500 (1 of his 4 Mercedes mind you) from Ky to Atlanta and back a few years ago (Oct. 2006 I believe). Before driving, I remember saying to myself, "damn this thing is big" but once I got in and got aquainted with it, it didnt feel large at all. It felt similar to a smaller E or C Class.

On the way back I had a little spat with a guy in a early 2001-2003ish Mustang GT, which turned out to be no problem for the big daddy CL500 as its 5.0L V8 moved the big coupe with no issues whatsoever. Even at high speeds (this was conducted on a ....ahem....closed track) it felt ROCK SOLID and stable. The car was not phased and didnt have ANY squeaks or rattles.

The only things I didnt like about this CL was its lazy throttle response (typical in some Euro cars) at low speeds and the fact that the doors are actually powered shut.

"No comments on how the gauges are 'non-luxury'?"

Im not sure about others here but Ive never percieved BMW as a luxury car manufacturer and I really dont think BMW looks at itself that way. BMW is more of a high end "premium sport" manufacturer with luxury gadgets and features. If you want pure luxury look at Lexus or Mercedes.

"This is one of the things I love and admire about large German sedans/coupes."

My B7 Alpina loaner drove much smaller than it was- and it even did a credible job of keeping up with the 911s and M3s on Motorsport Ranch's short track.

That lower screen really does look odd. My thought is that part of that is down to the camera, and to the human eye, the LCD screen would not be as noticeable.

Check out the new energy conserving feature BMW will offer next year:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com:80/_ShssuEE1cx0/SdMjLqovXTI/AAAAAAAAC-o/St-HWYGgfHE/s1600-h/BMW+Magnetic+Tow+Technology+April+Fool.jpg

I hate the mixed gauges MB and now BMW are doing. My dad has a CL & I hate how the speedometer is a screen & the rest are actual gauges, I think it looks so tacky...Either one or the other.

However, I think Fords LCD/gauge mix they have on the Fusion hybrid is pretty sharp.

Oh yea I meant to say I saw an 09 7-Series on the road yesterday, it's really really gorgeous in person. It's snout isn't as nearly pronounce as it is in pictures.

Not as elegant as the pre-Bangle Bimmers but an improvement nonetheless.

Great now BMW switches to orange illumination for their IP. Why get rid of the the traditional always worked great red illumination. IL's old M3 has great gauges but it is also one of the last real BMWs built by engineers not software designers. I have loved BMWs for years but the affair is over. She has changed so much over the years, I feel like I don't even know her anymore.

The interior reminds me vaguely of 70s modernist architecture in terms of palette choice and form. Maybe it's because of the disco light show perspective lines on that LCD screen...