BMW X7 xDrive30d 2019 Review

It takes something massive to overshadow an SUV as big as the BMW X7. Yet the X7 has been overshadowed – by its own styling. In the rush to condemn the cow-catcher front end of the new, seven-seat SUV, pundits have focused on styling rather than substance.

Design is always a contentious issue; some buyers will appreciate the X7's striking visual presence. No doubt those consumers will also fall in love with the cabin of the BMW X7 xDrive30d tested. Two-tone soft trim materials ('Merino in Ivory White and Night Blue Bi-Colour leather') are complemented by beige woodgrain panelling ('Ash Grain Silver Grey high-gloss'). Both options add $5300 to the as-tested price of the vehicle.

The light-coloured leather was already looking a bit grubby in the test vehicle. With ambient lighting at night, plus the big infotainment screen and the dynamic instrument cluster, the whole effect is in the vein of Swedish rustic hotel meets the Ginza at night.

As with other examples in the latest 3 Series and Z4, the amalgam of the head-up display, the (iDrive 7.0) infotainment screen in the centre fascia and the trip computer in the (Live Cockpit Professional) instrument binnacle allows the driver to have multiple information modes displayed simultaneously – digital speed, torque, g forces and fuel economy, for instance. The latest version of iDrive is a very capable system that provides the driver (or front-seat passenger) the facility to drill down or scroll through various menus rapidly and efficiently.

Satellite navigation works well also. The voice control function demands suburbs and street addresses be spelled out, which takes a little longer to input than just reciting the address, as other voice control systems will permit. But basically it's effective. The map itself is large and easy to read, with the directions replicated in the head-up display as well.

As a seven-seat family-car package, the X7 works quite well – but comes up one seat short of accommodating all the Bradys.

Adults can actually sit in the X7's third row seats. If you're of average height or taller you wouldn't want to be sitting back there for an interstate drive, but it's acceptable for up to about half an hour... maybe more.

Unfortunately, with those seats occupied, luggage space is compromised. BMW claims the X7 will accommodate 326 litres of goods behind third-row seats. Despite being shorter overall, the Benz GLS is rated at 470 litres for the same dimension. The BMW makes up for that to some extent with its useful split tailgate, which is handy in tight parking spaces – and most of those are pretty tight when it comes to parking the X7.

Climbing in the back is simple enough, thanks to the power seats, and the rearmost occupants are provided with their own climate control zone and overhead vents. The '40 per cent' seat is on the right, behind the driver.

This would normally be a safety shortcoming in Australia, where the cars park on the left, yet the kids would be climbing in from the right – on the off-side (right side) of the car. Luckily, the switches for the electrically-powered seats will tip forward the 60 per cent section of seating on the left just as easily.

All seats are power adjusted and both second and third-row seats will fold flat or rise automatically, either separately or together by pressing the respective switches inside the tailgate on the passenger side.

Accommodation in the second-row seat is naturally better than the third row's and the 60:40 split-folding seats can be adjusted independently of each other for recline and slide. At a pinch, the centre seat position is acceptable for short journeys and the transmission tunnel doesn't encroach on legroom to any great degree.

The X7 is comprehensively equipped with a big bottleholder in each door bin, plus cupholders for six of the seven occupants. We lost count of the climate control zones (Four? Five?), and there are four USB ports in the rear and another two in the front.

A 12V outlet in the rear of the centre console serves the second-row passengers and the driver or front passenger can recharge a smartphone – up to iPhone 8 Plus in size – using the Qi inductive charging facility in the base of the centre fascia.

The front seats are comfortable and feature all the requisite adjustments, but lack some support under the thighs. A head-up display is a useful adjunct to the Live Cockpit Professional instrument cluster, which looks good and is informative and easy to use. Different drive modes (Sport, Comfort, Eco-Pro) will display different readouts, graphics and colours in the instrument binnacle, according to the mode chosen.

The outstanding feature of the BMW X7 xDrive30d is its turbo-diesel six-cylinder engine. With 620Nm on tap it pulls like a freight train – a very quiet, frugal freight train that doesn't rattle or clatter like a diesel normally does.

The X7's engine is a responsive unit too. Between the idle-stop system restarting it and the engine powering away from other vehicles at the lights there's just a brief moment of turbo lag before the X7 slingshots down the road.

Performance is available all the way up to the 5000rpm redline, but the eight-speed ZF automatic transmission won't change up automatically if it's in manual/Sport mode. In any other setup the transmission does shift automatically.

For such a heavy vehicle, the X7 is really parsimonious at the fuel bowser. Over the first couple of days it posted a fuel consumption figure of 10.6L/100km in urban commuting. That dropped back to 9.6L/100km with some freeway travel thrown in over the weekend.

On a 70km test loop the X7 finished with a figure of 9.2L/100km and it was apparent that the X7 can better 9.0L/100km when it spends more time on the open road. Set to Eco-PRO mode, the X7 completed the 70km run having coasted 6.3km and extended its range by 1.6km. The X7's idle-stop system played its part in keeping fuel consumption low.

But the idle-stop system is also an annoyance at times, frequently in conflict with the powertrain and braking system. As the vehicle slows to a halt – and the driver eases the foot off the pedal for a soft stop – the idle-stop system, which has already shut down the engine while the vehicle remains in motion, restarts the engine.

Your choices are to let the idle-stop system restart the engine, which makes the system pointless, or stomp on the brake pedal and bring the softly-suspended X7 to a halt lurching and rocking back and forward on its haunches. You could also disable the idle-stop system, as a third option.

But at least the diesel engine restarts incredibly smoothly, no doubt due in part to the inline configuration of the six-cylinder unit.

The BMW is a very quiet car for touring. At 100km/h the engine is running at about 1300rpm and there's just a very subdued rumble as evidence it's working. BMW has clearly gone to some lengths suppressing tyre noise from the (optional) Pirelli P-Zero 275/40 R22 tyres. The general lack of penetrating noise in such a large cabin deserves an elephant stamp.

At 2.3 tonnes (tare), the X7's weight is fairly porky – albeit in the same ballpark as the Mercedes-Benz GLS 350d – but the BMW feels more agile than expected. In Sport mode the X7 turns in responsively, delivers handling that's close to neutral and produces high levels of grip. Braking is strong and dependable as well.

Despite my initial foreboding, after driving everywhere in Comfort mode, the X7 is dynamically secure and provides enough feedback for the driver to draw the appropriate line.

The vehicle's weight can be felt when accelerating out of a bend, at which point the stability and traction control systems intervene smoothly, but blatantly, to wash off speed. This is accompanied by more understeer on the exit than we're accustomed to experiencing in a BMW – even an SUV like the X5.

The stability control is not responsible for the diminishing front-end grip. In fact, it's the reduced roadholding that's prompting the stability control system to step in – but the overall effect is a safe-handling response that informs the driver he or she needs to back off. Up to that point the X7 will press on with surprising poise.

Ride comfort is very 'American' in comfort or Eco-Pro mode. It's underdamped and the X7 pitches and rolls unpleasantly in a way most unlike other BMWs. In Sport mode the body control settles down, but the X7 then crashes over harsh bumps and potholes of the kind frequently a fixture of Australian country roads.

Optional 'Laserlight' headlights are welcome. They're dynamically adaptive and feature auto high-beam assist to dip the lights at the first sign of a built-up area or oncoming cars.

The X7's driver-assist technology is occasionally hit or miss. Speed limit information continues to be confused by school zones. And the lane-keep assist system gets very flustered on country roads and tried to steer the X7 into a car parked on a suburban street at one point, because it was trying to keep the car left of the centre line.

On the subject of parking, the X7 comes with large exterior mirrors, all-round camera monitoring and acoustic guidance, all of which make it easier to edge into parking spots. At times the all-round view will flash up in the display to reveal how close the vehicle is to an obstacle, but right at that point in time when you don't want it to show.

The reversing camera view is more revealing in some circumstances. It's all very clever, but occasionally outsmarts itself.

Without the reversing camera, the field of vision leaves something to be desired. A car directly behind the X7 in bumper-to-bumper traffic is almost invisible, other than its roof. When the X7's exterior mirrors are set up to eliminate blind spots as well, you will not observe the indicators flashing if the driver of the vehicle behind wants to turn left.

It's not a safety issue as such, but you could be delaying another road user when you could just as easily move forward a metre or so to let them turn into a side street.

There are many aspects of the X7 that are undeniably impressive, but equally, there are elements of the X7's design that don't make the grade. Add up the wins and losses, however – and consider the reasonable asking price too – and the X7 finishes high in the points table.

How much does the 2019 BMW X7 xDrive30d cost?
Price: $119,900 (plus on-road costs); $143,050 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 195kW/620Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: TBA; 9.2L/100km (as tested)
CO2: TBA
Safety Rating: TBA