The Car Connection Expert Review
Likes
- Fantastic engines
- Superb ride quality
- Plush digs inside
- Loaded with tech
- A luxury car with a luxury-grade warranty
Dislikes
- A case of the front-end blues
- 745e doesn’t do enough to plug us in
- The M760i we want is of course, massively expensive
Buying tip
features & specs
The 2022 BMW 7-Series brims with brash front-end style, but we like it better for its elegant interior and its vivacious V-8s.
What kind of car is the 2022 BMW 7-Series? What does it compare to?
The 7-Series puts five people at total ease in its full-size body, with its full complement of luxury touches and massive doses of horsepower. It’s a rival for the Audi A8, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and the Porsche Panamera.
Is the 2022 BMW 7-Series a good car?
And how. It’s a stellar performer, and a beautifully crafted machine. We give it a TCC Rating of 7.8 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
What's new for the 2022 BMW 7-Series?
Not much, but BMW says this will be the final run for its V-12 engine.
The 7-Series will be fine without that heroic engine, thanks. For now, that 600-hp monster rules over the second-quickest version of the 7-Series range, the M760i—but the twin-turbo V-8-powered Alpina B7 bests it to 60 mph with a quoted time of 3.5 seconds versus the M’s 3.6 seconds. They’re still sideshows in the ranks, as is the rare 745e plug-in hybrid.
The best 7-Series sedans are the 335-hp 740i and the 523-hp 750i, powered by a turbo-6 and twin-turbo V-8, respectively. Each can gun to 60 mph in less than 5.3 seconds, and each can cosset its passengers with a soothing ride delivered by an air suspension with adaptive dampers. The 7-Series won’t be confused for a true sport sedan, but it’s an inspiring car to drive deeply into corners, just as it is to cruise effortlessly at a triple-digit clip.
A plush cabin dresses to the nines in every 7-Series with wood and leather trim, and with big digital displays for the gauges and for infotainment. The signature pieces may be the seats: BMW’s multi-adjustable, leather-clad, heated and cooled front buckets are some of the best fitted into any car, and can be rivaled with an “executive” back seat with its own power adjustment, heating, cooling, even massaging.
No crash-test data is available, but the 7-Series has automatic emergency braking, a surround-view camera system, and offers enhanced adaptive cruise control with excellent, smoothly controlled lane-keeping ability.
Where it falls down is at first look. Last year’s redesign put a too-large grille on this otherwise soberly styled sedan. It’s almost garish enough to detract from its otherwise handsome exterior. Almost.
How much does the 2022 BMW 7-Series cost?
It’s $87,795 for the rear-drive 740i with leather, 16-speaker Harman Kardon audio, and a 10.3-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The $158,795 M760i xDrive will be the final BMW V-12 ever built, the company tells us. Now’s your chance, right?
Where is the 2022 BMW 7-Series made?
In Germany.
2022 BMW 7-Series Styling
We liked it better with less front end, but the 7-Series remains an attractive car with a sumptuous interior.
Is the BMW 7-Series a good-looking car?
It remains a quintessentially handsome and altogether respectable-looking car, but BMW insists on growing the grilles on most of its vehicles. The 7-Series hasn’t suffered like the poor M3, but its front-end design has gotten a little out of hand. We still give it a 7 here, with two points for its marvelous interior.
The big grille offers no visual escape, taking up as much real estate on the front end as it does. It’s blunt and blocky; flanked by too-narrow headlights and perched upon an air intake with an oddly tiered look, the front end does nothing to augment the generally conservative shape of the rest of the body.
The cabin’s an altogether different story. Though it’s nowhere near as bold as its chief S-Class rival, it brims with stunning details and a sweeping design that looks gorgeous in the woods and leathers BMW empanels over its dash and doors. It’s wrought like a tech-forward Rolls, down to the joystick-like gearshift and the touch-sensitive infotainment puck mounted on the console. Dressed in deep brown leather, with reddish burled wood, it’s a convincing mix of old-school materials and new design themes.
2022 BMW 7-Series Performance
BMW knows its big-car hustle.
The 740i is the gateway to the model, and it’s plenty strong for just about any driver’s needs. We rate the lineup at 8 out of 10 thanks to what’s under the hood, plus extra points for handling and ride comfort.
Is the BMW 7-Series 4WD?
All versions have all-wheel drive save for the base 740i, which has rear-wheel drive.
How fast is the BMW 7-Series?
How fast do you want it to be? With its range of turbo-6 and V-8 and V-12 engines, the 7er’s all about choice.
Even the slowest 740i with rear-wheel drive can reach 60 mph in a BMW-promised 5.3 seconds, thanks to a 3.0-liter inline-6 benchmarked at 335 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque, teamed to an 8-speed automatic that does a great job thinking for itself (and for you).
The rare 745e plug-in hybrid teams a turbo-6 with a motor and a lithium-ion battery pack for slightly improved fuel economy and up to 17 miles of electric-only driving. It’s difficult to justify the cost versus the fuel savings, and the unusual feel of the big hybrid Bimmer’s brakes.
BMW drops the party manners with the 750i. With all-wheel drive force-fed by a 523-hp twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8, it zips to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, with a damped but still raucous engine note. It’s good enough that the much more expensive, V-12-powered M760i makes little sense; most buyers want its 600-hp twin-turbo V-12 for the badges on the body, we think. It’s spectacularly fast and puts out NASA-grade launches, but it’s another $50,000 or more beyond the velvety V-8 version.
The rare Alpina B7 uses a 600-hp version of the twin-turbo V-8 to deliver the most thrilling 7-Series driving experience. Its special suspension settings deliver impressive poise befitting the long-standing tuning house’s tradition.
In all these versions, the standard air suspension and adaptive damping render the 7-Series one of the most undemanding, but most rewarding, big luxury sedans to drive. Supple is its default mode; it takes the huge wheels and super-sticky Alpina tires to render it anything like stiff—and yet, its top-notch handling belies its massive size and wheelbase. Steering feedback’s a letdown, but the 7-Series never was meant to be an M5. There’s a car for that already; it’s called the M5.
2022 BMW 7-Series Comfort & Quality
The top-flight 7-Series boasts a spectacular interior.
If you can’t get comfortable inside the BMW 7-Series, maybe you just don’t want to?
We give it a perfect 10, with kudos for its excellent seats front and back, the ability to seat five large passengers, to bring along their stuff, and a final point for its beautifully put-together cockpit.
In front, passengers get plushly bolstered and heated thrones with myriad adjustments and nappa leather. Cooling and massaging control are options we’d buy on base versions; they’re standard on the top models, of course.
In back, three passengers can stretch out and sit upright, and still not exhaust the 7er’s space. It’s a soothing ride, but executive and luxury seating packages cut the rear-seat count to two, extend a leg rest for weary passengers, and have their own tablet interfaces and massaging functions for their power-adjustable seats.
Trunk space is generous at around 18 cubic feet; it’s a few cubes smaller in the 745e, thanks to the battery pack.
It’s as decadent as an X7 in the 7-Series, thanks to lots of sound deadening, soft leathers, an LED-framed dual-pane sunroof, and foodie-inspired finishes from mocha leather to chestnut wood.
2022 BMW 7-Series Safety
The 7-Series offers all the right safety gear, but some of it comes with an upcharge.
How safe is the BMW 7-Series?
The IIHS and the NHTSA haven’t crash-tested the 7er, and we don’t expect them to given its sales volume and price. We’ll abstain from a rating here.
The 7-Series does have standard automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitors, active lane control, and adaptive LED headlights. For an extra $1,700 the 7-Series adds advanced adaptive cruise control system that can change lanes with a turn-signal tap, or stop and move the car ahead in traffic with minimal driver input.
2022 BMW 7-Series Features
The 7-Series lacks for nothing, exactly as it should be.
We give the 2022 7-Series a point for standard features, one for options, another for infotainment, and a final point for its warranty. It only misses out on a value point on its way to a score of 9.
Which BMW 7-Series should I buy?
BMW wants $87,795 for the least-expensive 740i, and another $3,000 for all-wheel drive. It’s plenty of full-size luxury sedan for the price, which includes 18-inch wheels shod with run-flat tires, leather upholstery, 16-speaker Harman Kardon audio, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, a 10.3-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated power front seats, soft-close doors, and a surround-view camera system. Every BMW gets a 4-year/50,000-mile warranty with free scheduled service.
If you must, skip the $96,895 745e and step up to the $103,395 750i xDrive, because we can understand the allure of a big V-8. We’d pass on the pricey M Sport package, but pick up the driver-assist package for its enhanced adaptive cruise control.
How much is a fully loaded BMW 7-Series?
The Alpina B7 seems almost a bargain at $144,195, but it’s not the most expensive version. The $158,795 M760i xDrive can be loaded up with around $20,000 in options, everything from an executive rear-seat package to an Alcantara headliner. Be ready for a $180,000 bill should you choose to go this route.
2022 BMW 7-Series Fuel Economy
The thirst is real—for fuel, that is.
Is the BMW 7-Series good on gas?
It’s not. Even the plug-in 745e hybrid gets just 22 mpg combined or a 56-MPGe rating; it delivers a paltry 17 miles of electric-only driving.
Most 7-Series drivers will take up with the 740i, which earns EPA ratings of 22 mpg city, 29 highway, 25 combined with rear-wheel drive, or 20/27/23 mpg with all-wheel drive. We derive our rating of 4 from those scores.
The 750i drinks, for sure, at 17/24/19 mpg. The Alpina B7 checks in with the same gas mileage ratings. But neither is as godawful at fuel economy as the M760i xDrive, most recently rated by the agency at a full-size SUV-like 13/20/16 mpg.
