Facelifted BMW X7 even bigger, heavier and more luxurious

They say large luxury SUVs are a growth industry and the facelifted 2022 BMW X7 continues to follow suit, with overall length growing beyond 5.1 metres and kerb weight topping 2.5 tonnes.

The Bavarian brand’s flagship SUV is so large now that the upgraded BMW X7, capable of five-, six- or seven-seat configurations, will be the first BMW ever to offer 23-inch wheels and tyres in its options list.

Marking the first step in BMW’s effort to visually separate its luxury and mainstream models, the X7 will debut the brand’s split-headlight designs as well as offering 48-volt electrical systems, a new transmission and a new V8 engine.

But don’t hold your breath for an electric version of the X7 because there isn’t one planned, so BMW will stay with just the far smaller (but not necessarily lighter) iX electric SUV.

The 2022 BMW X7 will come with just three engine options, ranging from the 40i with 280kW of power (a 35kW upgrade) and 500Nm of torque from its twin-turbo inline petrol six.

Now sporting a Miller Cycle engineering philosophy, the torque peak is up 70Nm on the outgoing X7 40i, pushing it to 100km/h in 5.8 seconds (0.5sec quicker than before).

It swallows between 9.2 and 10.5L/100km on the WLTP cycle, depending on the specification, and emits 210-240g/km of CO2.

The middle step up will be the 40d turbo-diesel, which swaps out its aluminium pistons for steel ones so it can use a higher compression ratio to develop 250kW/700Nm from its inline six layout.

Injecting up to 12 times per cycle at 2500 bar of fuel pressure, the X7 40d is the most frugal X7, consuming between 7.6-8.7L/100km and emitting 200-230g/km.

It’s not that much slower than the petrol-powered six, either, and moves to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds.

The new V8 in the range-topping X7 M60i will deliver 390kW/750Nm and based on the S68 4.4-litre V8 developed by BMW M, rather than the current model’s N63 V8.

It’s enough to push the 2.5-tonne monster to 100km/h in 4.7sec and on to a speed limited top speed of 250km/h. It also sucks down fuel at the rate of 12.2-13.3L/100km and emits 278-303g/km.

While the old ZF eight-speed automatic was the pick of the luxury-transmission crop, the new eight-speeder from the same supplier was pre-engineered for electrification in what BMW called an “Electronic Future Transmission Project”.

That means the new transmissions mate with an integrated starter generator (ISG) mild-hybrid system directly on the driveshaft, providing another 9kW and 200Nm from low engine speeds.

Also capable of giving 0.13g of adaptive energy regeneration for the 48-volt system, the mild-hybrid set-up is pre-engineered for full plug-in hybrid work and offers an EV mode at parking speeds (up to 5km/h).

The cars range in weight from 2480kg for the 40i to an eye-watering 2560kg for the PHEV version that will follow – a 110kg rise for the range-topper and 20kg more for the 40d.

The 2022 BMW X7 retains four-corner air suspension as standard, coupled with active roll stabilisation via an electronically adjusted anti-roll bar, plus active rear-wheel steering.

But the X7 has grown to the point where it now uses optional Pirelli PZero HL 275/35 R23 tyres at the front and HL 315/30 R23s at the back. Yes, ‘HL’ stands for Heavy Load, rated at up to 850kg per tyre (the outgoing car had XL tyres rated to 750kg).

The standard wheel and tyre package for the X7 40i and 40d will be a 275/50 R20, while the V8 rides on stock 285/45 R21 rubber, and besides the 23-inch options, there’s also a set of 22s for all three powertrains.

The Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) is smart enough to register the weight in the car at any time, by measuring the air-suspension sensors, and it automatically factors this in under braking and cornering.

The DSC automatically switches into Sport mode and lowers the ride height by 20mm whenever the car exceeds 138km/h, which would obviously never happen in Australia.

The big X7 has 80mm of ride-height range, and is adjustable by either 20mm or 40mm at the push of a button, giving it more of a chance at low-speed, off-road adventure without significant damage.

The body can also drop by 40mm when stationary, to make it easier to load the cargo area, and there’s an xOffroad package available as an option.

The 2022 BMW X7 also steps the luxury up a level. There is a curved multimedia display (that is actually two screens beneath one glass panel), with a 12.3-inch instrument cluster for the driver and a 14.9-inch screen for everybody else.

It uses the latest BMW Operating System 8 and BMW gives people four ways to drive it – touch-screen, iDrive controller, voice control and even gesture control.

There’s a new shape to the dash layout, with new extremely large air-vents and an illuminated light bar that’s adjustable for both brightness and a choice of 15 colours, plus ‘off’.

Heated comfort seats are standard now, along with four-zone climate control (there’s an option for five-zone climate control, too) and a new small gear lever in the centre console.

The X7’s Comfort Package delivers a ‘thermo’ set-up for the drink-holders in the centre console, heating or cooling drinks as required, and also adds a heated steering wheel and seat heating for all three rows.

The 10-speaker sound system can be upgraded to a 16-speaker Harmon Kardon surround-sound system, and there’s a 1500-Watt, 20-speaker Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound system as the flagship set-up.

The 2022 BMW X7 brings no fewer than six USB-C charging points in the middle row of seats and another two in the third row, plus 35-Watt charging sockets in the backrests of the front seats.

The front row offers USB-A ports and an inductive charging area for phones in the centre console. A fixed glass roof with cloth cover covers all that, while the Panorama option has an LED glow in it and can darken chromatically.

The middle row of seats can be specified with either a pair of captain’s chairs or a three-seat standard set-up (which slide forward and backward 145mm), while the third row is two-seats only.

The updated X7 is big enough (now 5162mm long and 2000mm wide, on a 3105mm wheelbase) to deliver plenty of room for tall passengers in all seven (or six) seats.

It has 326 litres of luggage capacity, even with seven seats in place, but the middle and third rows fold down to deliver 2120 litres of interior capacity, though BMW insists it’s not conceived as a load-lugger.

The hands-free tailgate is also split into upper and lower sections.

The 2022 BMW X7 will inherit plenty of the new driver-assistance tech the company has developed for the 7 Series limo, including the ability to get out of garages or tight car parks all by itself via an app.

It also takes on the ability to remember the last 200 metres and duplicate them for you, hands free, either forwards or backwards. It can remember up to 600m of routes for reversing in up to five different locations, in EV mode while emitting a thrumming sound so pedestrians can hear it.

BMW’s biggest SUV will launch with a Level 2+ driver assistance package, which will be upgraded to Level 3 (hands-off) during its production cycle.

BMW Australia is yet to confirm local timing, specs or pricing for the revised X7, which is currently priced from $138,900.

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