SPIED: BMW 7-series Hybrid, Is This The Right Path For BMW?

well i think its lexus who followed first

Mitchell, to answer your question, "No". 'Never Follow" is Audi's tag line. Maybe you have heard of BMW's: "The Ultimate Driving Machine". Even I know that. What's yours? Maybe it should be: "The nonexistent pursuit of perfection".

Ever notice how once we finally get rid of the idiots, another one rears its ugly head. I honestly think it is Agent001 doing it to increase the volume of post. Or, its the same people with different screen names. Also notice they typically will create a name that is similar. Has to be the same person. Star, Michael Taylor, etc... I think their 001! lol. Why even entertain the craziness.

0to60

I highly doubt it's Agent001 because this stuff is way too time consuming! But yeah.. there ALYWAYS has to be a couple of annoying posters who repeat the same stuff a billion times.

It begs the question why first Lexus, then Mercedes, and now BMW all decided to equip their large flagship vehicles with hybrids first, and not some of their smaller offerings first? Why not a C-Class hybrid before an S-Class hybrid?

I believe it's a trickle down effect at work. By investing in a more expensive hybrid system in the s-class and 7-series it becomes cheaper to scale that down into the cheaper classes, rather then to make something up from scratch for a cheaper car.

BMW and Benz are going the opposite route when it comes to hybrids -- the S400 is a naturally aspirated V6, which they don't even offer in the S-class here in non-hybrid form, so it's more about fuel economy. The 755h is the same twin turbo V8 from the regular 7-Series, so it's more like Lexus hybrids in that it's a higher performing version of the normal car that also gets a nominal fuel economy boost (based on what BMW is saying, the combined EPA rating would go from 17mpg to probably 20mpg). Unless the performance boost is pretty substantial, I don't know how much that extra 3mpg is worth to people considering the price difference and the fact that the regular 750 already performs pretty damn well. My guess is people would be buying it "just because it's a hybrid" (aka the "green feels good" factor), just like they do the GS450h and LS600h, neither of which do anything better than the standard (much less expensive) versions.

Alot of MPG numbers depend upon driving style. BBC auto show Top Gear compared a Prius vs. M3 for MPG. Both cars were driven at same speed. The MPG for the M3 was actually better, by a small margin, than the Prius. The way I see most Toyota/Lexus hybrids being driven on the 405/10 freeways in LA, I wonder about actual MPG.

Putting the hybrid label on a 4.4L twin-turbocharged V8 sure reminds me of putting lipstick on a pig.

well let's be fair here -- it's not like BMW was going to stick a Prius powertrain in a 7-Series.