First real-life pics of the refreshed BMW 7-series! Part 1

Next Verse
Same as the First
A Little bit Louder
and a Little bit Worse!

BMW's new catch phrase: "BMW: We suck a little less the second time around."

Lipstick on a pig. Idiot iDrive. Dame Edna up front. New Wave interior.

Thank goodness Mercedes still makes beautiful cars. Now if I could wave a magic wand and combine MB styling with Lexus quality, we'd have an uncontested winner!

BMW's new catch phrase: "BMW: We suck a little less the second time around."

Lipstick on a pig. Idiot iDrive. Dame Edna up front. New Wave interior.

Thank goodness Mercedes still makes beautiful cars. Now if I could wave a magic wand and combine MB styling with Lexus quality, we'd have an uncontested winner!

The front headlights are a bit softer. The rear tail lights, the original ones had more character. I always liked the trunk lid scoop. The dashboard and steering wheel are still disfunctional and ugly. iDrive needs to be plugged directly to the driver's brain in order to become easy to use. It simply requires too many steps to be used. I preffer individual buttons, some hardwired, some soft, as it was with the old system, where most things were only two buttons away.

In my humble opinion the best aspect of this car is performance. Even with the 4.4l V8 this vehicle handles amazingly well, very stiff and agile, the driver tends to forget how large and heavy it actually is. If I was 50 and had to spend 1 hr+ to commute to werk, this would be the vehicle of choice :)

i hate to ruin ure review 001, but the bmw 750 deserves some serious credit...for all the undue criticism it receives, ill admit one thing - the looks may not be for everyone - but, if you do like the look it is a perfect car - the audi A8L is also exquisite, but overall, nothing compares to the overall character of the bmw - ive driven everything out there from the S500, to the A8, to the LS - nothing makes quite a statement as this car and nothing drives with such aplomb..the "wind noise" you complained about is something i have never experienced - it sounds like you have a real vendetta against bmw - i have a 2004 745Li well loaded and have had no problems as far as "noise"...the handling is immaculate, in my opinion the car is gorgeous - quite a nice diversion from the chrysler styled mercedes and the interior/features are better than any other luxury car out there...
there's a reason people like david beckham and madonna drive around in 7 series....

I saw the Audi A8 at the car show. It looks good, except for the nose (subject to personal taste). But you better check your "uncontested winner" numbers.

When I wrote "If I could wave a magic wand and combine MB styling with Lexus quality, we'd have an uncontested winner", I wrote that keeping in mind that Lexus scored high in "new vehicle initial build quality" as measured by "number of defects per 100 vehicles in the first year of ownership" (JD Powers & Assoc.)

To the best of my knowledge, Audi does not put in a noteworthy performance in this respect. FYI, BMW's numbers are 173% *worse* than the industry average.

PSes:
(1) I have 3 pre-Bangle BMWs in my garage, and I love 'em dearly.
(2) I have considered an Audi convertible as my next car, but the styling just does not warm me like a Mercedes CLK 55 AMG does. I know, taste is a highy subjective matter.

I saw the Audi A8 at the car show. It looks good, except for the nose (subject to personal taste). But you better check your "uncontested winner" numbers.

When I wrote "If I could wave a magic wand and combine MB styling with Lexus quality, we'd have an uncontested winner", I wrote that keeping in mind that Lexus scored high in "new vehicle initial build quality" as measured by "number of defects per 100 vehicles in the first year of ownership" (JD Powers & Assoc.)

To the best of my knowledge, Audi does not put in a noteworthy performance in this respect. FYI, BMW's numbers are 173% *worse* than the industry average.

PSes:
(1) I have 3 pre-Bangle BMWs in my garage, and I love 'em dearly.
(2) I have considered an Audi convertible as my next car, but the styling just does not warm me like a Mercedes CLK 55 AMG does. I know, taste is a highy subjective matter.

Clearly a step in the right direction.

Clearly a step in the right direction; however, still work to do. For my money I would opt for the 5 series.

Thank you for so verbosely explaining why issues in a new car, if they exist in the name of innovation, are a Good Thing, and why people should be "okay" with that ;-)

You argument reminds me of the emotionally charged and impassioned exchanges (and made with absolute conviction) that flew in the "Macintosh versus PC" debates from the late 1980s. Macintosh was innovative, and "superior", and that justified why they cost twice as much at half the performance of PCs. It made sense to some people.

You'd have us believe that BMW consciously trades off reliability and initial build quality in the name of "innovation". You must have missed the criticisms over the years in which BMW was bashed for lacking a "door ajar" light or a remote trunk opener (in a US$45K car) when it was the norm in most of the auto industry, or when BMW was still selling cassette stereos while Asian manufacturers were offering MP3 players and satellite radio. Clearly, your use of "innovation" is more akin to "selective manufacturer's interests".

The facts are much more mundane than your vision for Why The World Is The Way It Is. BMW has their vision of technology being synonymous with superiority. In simpler terms, they are caught up in gadgets, and they get bitten by this. Their "innovative" Launch Control is extremely problematic. Their flagship 7 series has phenomenal "support costs" (talk to 7 series owners who have had $40K in warranty work done over 2 years on their second blown engine and multiple electrical gremlins). Read up about BMW's 7 series buy-back program in which BMW worked to placate oceans of disgruntled 7 series owners since 2002.

In the software industry, they call this state "Creeping Featuritis" -- a situation in which "features" are offered for their "cool factor" rather than for ergonomic or engineering reasons. It's an Engineer's expression of self-gratification. MB has realized and admitted this, saying they are building overly complicated cars, and that's why the number of failures is on the rise.

Ultimately, people vote with their buying dollars. Some folks will sacrifice iDrive and Launch Control for many fewer defects (or arguably better usability). Others will put up with lots of shop time to get their vision of luxury. Other will buy for styling. And yet others will buy just to be different.

Don't get me wrong and label me as a BMW basher. I have 3 pre-Bangle BMWs in my garage, and I love 'em all. But I won't blow smoke up people's butts raving about how great BMW (or Audi) is, and then accuse them of being a badge bigot because their views or values differ from my own.

(PS: It's sad that Autospies.com has become another Usenet for threads like this)

Thank you for so verbosely explaining why issues in a new car, if they exist in the name of innovation, are a Good Thing, and why people should be "okay" with that ;-)

You argument reminds me of the emotionally charged and impassioned exchanges (and made with absolute conviction) that flew in the "Macintosh versus PC" debates from the late 1980s. Macintosh was innovative, and "superior", and that justified why they cost twice as much at half the performance of PCs. It made sense to some people.

You'd have us believe that BMW consciously trades off reliability and initial build quality in the name of "innovation". You must have missed the criticisms over the years in which BMW was bashed for lacking a "door ajar" light or a remote trunk opener (in a US$45K car) when it was the norm in most of the auto industry, or when BMW was still selling cassette stereos while Asian manufacturers were offering MP3 players and satellite radio. Clearly, your use of "innovation" is more akin to "selective manufacturer's interests".

The facts are much more mundane than your vision for Why The World Is The Way It Is. BMW has their vision of technology being synonymous with superiority. In simpler terms, they are caught up in gadgets, and they get bitten by this. Their "innovative" Launch Control is extremely problematic. Their flagship 7 series has phenomenal "support costs" (talk to 7 series owners who have had $40K in warranty work done over 2 years on their second blown engine and multiple electrical gremlins). Read up about BMW's 7 series buy-back program in which BMW worked to placate oceans of disgruntled 7 series owners since 2002.

In the software industry, they call this state "Creeping Featuritis" -- a situation in which "features" are offered for their "cool factor" rather than for ergonomic or engineering reasons. It's an Engineer's expression of self-gratification. MB has realized and admitted this, saying they are building overly complicated cars, and that's why the number of failures is on the rise.

Ultimately, people vote with their buying dollars. Some folks will sacrifice iDrive and Launch Control for many fewer defects (or arguably better usability). Others will put up with lots of shop time to get their vision of luxury. Other will buy for styling. And yet others will buy just to be different.

Don't get me wrong and label me as a BMW basher. I have 3 pre-Bangle BMWs in my garage, and I love 'em all. But I won't blow smoke up people's butts raving about how great BMW (or Audi) is, and then accuse them of being a badge bigot because their views or values differ from my own.

(PS: It's sad that Autospies.com has become another Usenet for threads like this)

That blue paint color used for the new "7" in the photos is georgeous, I hope it is available throughout the 3 series range