BMW 7 Series facelift revealed

BMW loves the barbecue culture of its South Carolina home-away-from-home; so much that it is now slapping beef burners on the front of its cars.

In a move to bring the once-handsome BMW 7 Series into line with the upcoming X7 giant SUV, the flagship limousine scores a bunch of new technology, but few people will be able to initially go beyond the double-barbecue grill, err, grille.

BMW has launched the facelift of its sixth-generation flagship at the Detroit motor show and one of the only questions is if the grill is on the grille; and it's 40 percent bigger than it was when the G11 7 Series launched in 2015, where is the hotplate?

After posting record sales in 2017 in its eternally thwarted hunt for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, hopes are high in Munich that the BMW 7 Series will pair up with the X7 to make a class-crossing luxury front line.

There are upgrades inside, as BMW moves to its latest software system, and its driver-assistance tech has also received a boost beyond its already impressive suite, which includes self-parking in garages.

It's arriving just in time, too, with the chief competition in the segment, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, also in line for an upgrade this year.

Headlined by both its 6.6-litre, V12 powerplant in the 760i and the 750i's upgraded 4.4-litre V8, the BMW 7 Series for 2019 has seen its performance boosted and its emissions reduced.

With a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers within its hot-vee angle, the 4395cc V8 now has 60kW more power, at 390kW from 5500 to 6000rpm.

It's torquier, too, with 750Nm available from just 1800rpm through to 4600rpm. Though it's limited to 250km/h, BMW insists it will hit 100km/h in four seconds flat.

Then there's the V12, which doesn't tend to be bought by conventionally sensible people, even though it now has a particulate filter. That monster only comes fitted inside the long-wheelbase version of the 7 Series and it's only hooked up to the all-wheel drive system.

That's because the V12 produces 430kW and 850Nm from its 6.6-litre, twin-turbo capacity, which is good enough for a 3.8-second burst to 100km/h.

But there will be a fleet of other powertrains, including the plug-in hybrid 745e, 745Le and 745Le xDrive variants of the in-line turbo-petrol six-cylinder 3.0-litre engine.

BMW claims total system power of 290kW and 600Nm, with all of the hybrids sharing the combination of 210kW and 450Nm from the petrol-powered six and 83kW and an instantaneous outpouring of 265Nm from the electric motor.

The disc-shaped electric motor is mounted inside the eight-speed automatic transmission, so it functions just as well in rear- or all-wheel drive versions.

The lightest of the plug-ins, the standard 745e, tips in at a dry weight of 1995kg, though that rises 90kg to the long-wheelbase, all-wheel drive xDrive version.

The hybrids will run to a claimed maximum of 54km of pure electric running, with a 140km/h top speed, though that jumps to 250km/h with both motors running.

It sprints to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds (or 5.1 for the heavier xDrive long wheelbase), yet registers a WLTP consumption figure of only 2.2L/100km, for 52g/km of CO2 emissions.

That easily shades the enormous fleet of nine diesel variants, with rear-and all-wheel drive versions of the 730d, the 730Ld, the 740d, the 740Ld and the 750Ld.

All of the diesels share the same 3.0-litre, in-line, six-cylinder core, rising from the 730d's 195kW to the 740d's 235kW and the 750d's thumping 294kW of power.

To make it easier, the "30" models all use a single-turbo version of the engine, the "40" motors all have two turbochargers (high pressure and low pressure) and the "50" is scary tech-rich, with four turbochargers in all (two high boost units and two low-boost ones).

They're all torque-laden motors, with the base hitting the mark at 620Nm, rising to 680Nm for the 740 versions and topping out at 760Nm in the 750d.

If the 730d's 6.1-second sprint to 100km/h isn't impressive enough, the 740d slashes that to 5.3 seconds and the 750d obliterates it, sprinting through in 4.6 seconds despite weighing 1960kg dry.

It doesn't suffer much in economy for the added performance, either, with a combined consumption figure of 6.0 litres/100km – the same as the 740d and just 0.5 litres worse than the 730d. Emissions are similarly even, with the base car emitting 144 grams/km of CO2, the 740d posting 158 grams and the 750d a surprisingly effective 157 grams.

The unusual news for a facelift is that the body has been stretched and pulled in more ways than to just accommodate the latest technology from Weber [Ed: boom-tish!].

Both the standard and long-wheelbase versions have been pushed out by 22mm overall, with both models scoring an extra 14cm in the wheelbase, while the nose has been lifted by 50mm, presumably to fit in the grille's gas burners.

The stock 750i is now 5120mm long, while the 750Li pushes that out to 5260mm. The width of the cars remains the same, at 1902mm, and the stock limousine and the longer version retain their 1467mm and 1479mm respective heights.

Even the base version now rides on a 3070mm wheelbase, though the 750Li bumps that out to an incredibly long 3210mm, and it is big enough to accommodate the 515-litre luggage capacity and the five-link rear suspension within the same rear end.

The S-Class is the dominator in the segment so it's no coincidence that the wheelbase and length data almost overlaps with the Sindelfingen special.

While the longer 7s are 14mm longer than the stretched S-Class, the stock 7 now pips the S-Class by just four millimetres.

The difference is very slightly more pronounced in the wheelbases (which usually translate to rear-seat legroom), with the 7 Series claiming a 35mm advantage in standard form and a 45mm win in long-wheelbase form.

Meanwhile, Audi's A8 is longer than the new 7 Series in both forms by about half a centimetre, but its wheelbases are 72mm and 102mm shorter for the short and long versions.

The latest LS 500h from Lexus has a 3125mm wheelbase and a 5235mm overall length, making it more of a long-wheelbase competitor to the Germans than their standard sizes.

Jaguar's aging XJ (it's been up since 2010), meanwhile, is close to the 7 Series, with the stock version having a 3033mm wheelbase and a 5123mm length and the stretchy one sitting on a 3157mm wheelbase and a 5248mm length.

If you think the George Foreman grille looked odd before, perhaps you should have seen it before BMW's designers grew the badge from an 82mm diameter to a 95mm diameter. Even now it seems lost in the BBQ.

Is there a physical reason for the enormous kidney grilles? No. Instead, flaps control the amount of air for the radiators and the engine.

Like its predecessor, the body structure combines high-strength steels, aluminium and a spattering of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP), which BMW claims raises the body stiffness and safety while lowering the weight.

Given that the lightest version, the 730d, is 1825kg (dry) or 1900kg on the EC measuring system and the V8 version is 1965kg dry, it might be more about stiffness than weight.

The stock headlights have been thinned, so the grille looks even bigger, and they're adaptive LED units that combine variable light distribution, cornering lights and anti-dazzle, while remaining on high beam in the face of oncoming cars. There's nothing, however, preventing other drivers being dazzled by their own headlights reflecting off the 7 Series' enormous chrome grille.

There's a Laserlight option, too, with up to 560 metres of visibility on high beam.

It can get better still, although that depends on how many boxes your wallet lets you tick.

The optional head-up display (HUD) now ties in to the equally optional thermal-imaging system. Besides feeding the driver things like the speed, speed limits and other messages, the Night Vision (thermal imaging) system integrates pedestrian and animal detection and feeds the display into the HUD, along with spotlighting the object.

At the rear, there are full-width lights (it's the latest design trend out of Germany, with Volkswagen and Audi committing to it, too). At 35mm, they are thinner than they were on the G11, with three-dimensional designs for the LED lighting.

Like Audi's A8, one of the key areas BMW worked on to match the class-leading S-Class was interior noise levels.

BMW has even taken the laminated acoustic glass from the front windscreen and added it to the side windows at the front and the rear of the 750i, the 750Li and the 760Li, and it's 5.1mm thick! It's optional on other models.

The manufacturer has hunted down sources of tyre noise and tried to calm them, from shielding the rear wheel arches to deadening the area where the seat belts come out of the B- and C-pillars.

The long-wheelbase cars are not only fitted with reclining rear seats, but each front-seat headrest contains a 10-inch HD screen, complete with a Blu-ray player.

Rear-seat passengers can also dive into the car's navigation, entertainment and online functions, and the screens can be adjusted for their angle.

The Touch Command unit (fancy BMW talk for a remote control) is a seven-inch tablet that can be used from any seat and even from outside the car. It controls far more than infotainment, though, and includes seat, lighting, and climate controls.

BMW's new 7.0 Operating System runs it all, with new software and functionality to manage the all-digital display screens throughout the car.

The chassis hardware remains familiar, with a double-wishbone front suspension system at the front and a five-link independent rear end.

The all-wheel drive system is fully variable and the cars run between 18- and 20-inch wheels and tyres as standard, though there is a 21-inch option.

It uses rear-axle steering to deliver all-wheel drive, which allows even the longest 7 Series to turn around in 12.9 metres, while the standard units manage it in 12.5 metres.

Its air suspension feeds air to each wheel individually, so it doesn't much matter what's going on at any corner of the car.

The dampers are electronically controlled and automatically variable or manually adjustable through the car's Driving Experience Control functionality, and the suspension can even be raised 20mm to climb up steep driveways.

It also carries the option of active roll stabilisation (in typical BMW speak, it's called Executive Drive Pro), with electric swivel motors to mete out the right strength of anti-roll to control lateral forces.