You learn a lot about a car between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Most of your time is spent on Interstate 15 banging through the set of the Road Warrior. It's a wonderful drive to clear the head and education yourself about a vehicle's rights and wrongs. Basically, it's a 600 mile (300 miles each way) run with nothing to do except nit pick your ride.
Here's what I learned about our long-term 2009 BMW 750i, there are ten.
1) It can travel more than 400 miles on a tank of Premium.
2) Its driver's seat is comfortable for atleast 300 miles.
3) Its steering wheel mounted cruise control controls are very intuitive. I especially like the thumb wheel used to dial your speed up or down.
4) The BMW's navigation system is easy to program and never seems to think you're someplace you're not.
5) It likes to go fast. So I'm told.
6) There's still a little too much surface vibration in the big sedan's ride (probably due to our combination of a Sport Package and run-flat rubber), but not enough to keep me from driving it for the next week.
7) Its engine and transmission are from the engine and transmission Gods. This car's twin-turbo V8 is its absolute best feature.
8) Its headlamps are some of the best in the world. It's dark out there in the dessert.
9) You can use the seat heaters and air conditioned seat function at the same time. Not sure why.
10) All the numbers on its dashboard add up to 4,407. (Don't check.)
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
drhorrible says:
05:57 AM, 11/ 6/09
1) On the highway I can get close to 600 miles with my 06 750i.
2) The driver's seat is one of the reasons I purchased and keep my car. Most comfortable seat I have ever had in my 40 years of driving.
4) Glad to see they improved the navigation setting method.
9) I don't know about the F01 but my car doesn't chill the seat as it circulates air through the seat. So if you using the air conditioner it circulates cool air but if the heater is on then it's heated air which when used with the seat heater makes for a very toasty seat.
hybris says:
07:53 AM, 11/ 6/09
10) All the numbers on its dashboard add up to 4,407. (Don't check.)
You really don't expect that to stop us from checking do you?
bimmerjay says:
08:53 AM, 11/ 6/09
4) The BMW's navigation system is easy to program and never seems to think you're someplace you're not.
New iDrive rocks.
8) Its headlamps are some of the best in the world. It's dark out there in the dessert.
Personally I prefer light desserts, but that's just me. As for the headlights, you haven't lived until you've driven in the pitch black with a set of adaptive bi-xenon headlights lighting your way. Add the adaptive automatic high beams and you're all set.
lazyhater says:
09:18 AM, 11/ 6/09
1) On the highway I can get close to 600 miles with my 06 750i.
drhorrible, 140 mph uses a lot more gas :)
drhorrible says:
09:38 AM, 11/ 6/09
lazyhater "140 mph uses a lot more gas"
This is true but wish I could find out for sure. It really hurts having a car that can cruise at those speeds and only be able to do half that speed by law.
vt8919 says:
10:08 AM, 11/ 6/09
I don't know where you got 4407 for an answer, but I added up the numbers on the high-speed post (http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/7-at-120-mph.jpg) and, not including the trip odometer, clock and the "229" (I think miles to empty in the pic) I got 3579.5.
greenpony says:
10:24 AM, 11/ 6/09
Huh. Never heard of Carl's Jr, but I guess they're owned by the same company as Hardee's. Hence the signs look similar.
mercedesfan says:
10:27 AM, 11/ 6/09
You do learn a lot about a car on highway jaunts. In fact, it was an extended highway drive that eventually led me to eliminate the new 7 from my list of potential new "rides". It's louder, rides rougher, and gets worse gas mileage than an Audi A8L or Mercedes-Benz S-Class. For someone who does as much highway driving as I do that wasn't a tradeoff I was willing to make. The BMW will distance itself from the other two on a back road, but for a luxury sedan that didn't seem to me like a worthy tradeoff. I feel like the 2002-2008 7-Series was a slightly better highway-cruiser.
haydenfive says:
01:11 PM, 11/ 6/09
9) You can use the seat heaters and air conditioned seat function at the same time. Not sure why.
This has been discussed before. It's not air conditioning. It's ventilation. You can have them heated and ventilated at the same time to move the heat around for more warmth.
asdf9036 says:
03:34 PM, 11/ 6/09
I know that on Mercedes, the seat heater/ventilation function can be used together to work to dry you (i.e. it was just raining and you didn't have an umbrella). My guess is that it's probably the same for the 7-Series
asdf9036 says:
03:35 PM, 11/ 6/09
I know that on Mercedes, the seat heater/ventilation function can be used together to work to dry you (i.e. it was just raining and you didn't have an umbrella). My guess is that it's probably the same for the 7-Series.