A BMW That Privileges the Passenger Over the Driver
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A BMW That Privileges the Passenger Over the Driver
From today's WSJ 11/12/2022
RUMBLE SEAT / DAN NEIL
A BMW That Privileges the Passenger Over the Driver
IN FRIEDRICH HEGEL’S Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), the German philosopher articulates his notion of the master/servant dialectic. In Hegel’s construct, the servant is the lucky one, for it is the servant who finds purpose, reward and fulfillment in labor. The master is rather to be pitied, because that person depends on the servant not only for labor but for validation as master.
I’m guessing Hegel never worked as a waiter.
This required reading from long ago bubbled up last month while I was riding in the back of the all-new, all-electric, upwardly audacious BMW i7 executive sedan, at a first-drive event in Palm Springs. I was sitting in the boss’s seat—the right-rear recliner, with my feet up and head resting on a synthetic- suede cushion (the Executive Lounge option). Magical minions massaged my lower back and waved palm fronds to cool my royal bum.
Tilted down from the ceiling, the car’s impressive 31.3-inch widescreen display also serves as a privacy partition, separating driver from passenger, master from servant, lord from bondsman.
With the window curtains and roof shade drawn, I was about as comfortable as a person can be with their clothes still on. Yet I would have gladly traded places with the driver, who was having all the fun.
As he piloted the vast and powerful machine up winding mountain roads and around blind sweepers, my envy grew, as did my motion sickness. This nausea could have been Sartre-related— my existential unease? More likely it was the same backseat barfiness that has afflicted me since childhood.
We’ll come back to that.
This brute—the seventh design generation of 7 Series since 1977—will be initially available in the U.S. powered by either a 4.4-liter gasoline V8; a mild-hybrid inline-six; or, as in the case with our test car, a dual-motor battery electric array. Unlike past iterations, the 7 Series will be available in one length of wheelbase, and it’s long. And big: roughly 3% larger than the previous long-wheelbase model.
The new 7 Series is set up emphatically as an executive sedan—a formal and square-cornered limousine, privileging the rear cabin over the front in space, comfort and authority. With some of the car’s hotel functions (windows, shades, climate, audio) the touch screen controls in the rear doors have priority over those at the driver’s position. There was no immediately obvious way to override. But I’m sure your children would never abuse that power.
The i7’s drive system relies on a 101.7 kWh, 281 amp-hour battery pack to drive the front and rear-axle mounted motors (255 hp/308 hp, respectively).
With combined electric power consumption of 2.9-3.1 miles per kWh, the range pencils out to 296-318 miles on the EPA’s test cycle. This elektrisches klavier is fitted with a big 22 kW onboard inverter for quick home charging. At a DC fast charger, the batts can recharge at up to 195 kW, pumping in 80 miles of range in 10 minutes.
Regardless of propulsion, BMW says, the 7 Series sets new benchmarks for cabin isolation, chassis refinement and over-the-road stability.
I’m sure they’ve got those numbers. But, dude, the i7— sheesh. It’s crazy quiet, like a bathysphere with a panoramic roof. You can’t buy quieter unless you trade in for the brass-handled Executive Slumberline casket.
In the interests of decoupling non-luxurious inertial effects like body roll and weight transfer from the i7’s paying customers, it uses the latest version of BMW’s electronically controlled active suspension with self-leveling air springs, combined with the option of electrically powered anti-roll linkages front and rear, all on 48V power. The gas-powered 7 Series cars have the same suspensions and available upgrades. What they haven’t got is a heavy battery pack under the floor, acting like one big mass damper.
As a consequence, the i7’s meatball doesn’t
2023 BMW i7 XDRIVE60
Base price $119,300 Price, as tested $151,995 (including $995 destination)
Propulsion Battery electric, with floor-mounted battery pack (102 kWh) and front-and rear-axle mounted motors, coordinated for all-wheel drive.
Power/torque 400 kW (536 hp)/ 745 Nm (549 lb ft)
Range 296–318 miles Length/wheelbase/width/ height 212.2/126.6/ 76.8/60.8 inches
0-60 mph 4.5 seconds Top speed 149 mph Recharging up to 195 kW, 80 miles of range added in 10 minutes
Luggage capacity 17.7 cubic feet
PASS THE GREY POUPON
dance around much, corner to corner, fast or sudden, rough road or smooth. It’s like the car is laying track ahead of itself. But here we run up against one of the obvious limits facing the self-driving cars of our future: the frailty of human cargo. Call it simulator sickness, or somatogravic vestibular response.
The i7’s chassis feels like it’s on rails, but my inner ear feels like it’s on an hour-long roller-coaster ride.
I was relieved to switch positions with my chauffeur/ driving partner. I always feel better in the driver’s seat.
See? says Hegel.
The market for chauffeur-driven sedans in the U.S., EV or otherwise, is actually quite limited. The 7 Series’ primary audience is in China. These facts are entangled with the cars’ aesthetics, which many might find jarring precisely because BMW designers have moved on from emotionally frigid, Eurocentrist traditions of materials and décor. The front of the i7 is nobody’s idea of stealth wealth. The extra-big twin-kidney grille (with glowing bezels, no less) suggests rather a kind of jubilance, a reveling in status. Make way for an up and comer.
In both exterior and interior design, the i7’s signature look is, um, flashy.
Please observe the glittering accent lighting at the leading edge of the hood with Swarovski crystals that sparkle in sunlight. At night these crystals are backlit by 22 LED units to create an “unmistakable light graphic,” says BMW.
Inside, the many gem-faceted and backlit landmarks— like the cut-glass rotary iD-rive selector in the center console; the glowing, threadlike pattern embedded in the panoramic roof; the band of acrylic bisecting the dash, with dynamic lighting effects responding to driver’s selections; the crystalline seat controls, like pendants from a chandelier gone walkabout— might have been too glitzy for a previous generation of sober Bavarian tastemakers.
Of course, car designers live to serve.
I was as comfortable as you can be with your clothes still on.
The new BMW 7 Series aspires to the comforts of an executive lounge.
RUMBLE SEAT / DAN NEIL
A BMW That Privileges the Passenger Over the Driver
IN FRIEDRICH HEGEL’S Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), the German philosopher articulates his notion of the master/servant dialectic. In Hegel’s construct, the servant is the lucky one, for it is the servant who finds purpose, reward and fulfillment in labor. The master is rather to be pitied, because that person depends on the servant not only for labor but for validation as master.
I’m guessing Hegel never worked as a waiter.
This required reading from long ago bubbled up last month while I was riding in the back of the all-new, all-electric, upwardly audacious BMW i7 executive sedan, at a first-drive event in Palm Springs. I was sitting in the boss’s seat—the right-rear recliner, with my feet up and head resting on a synthetic- suede cushion (the Executive Lounge option). Magical minions massaged my lower back and waved palm fronds to cool my royal bum.
Tilted down from the ceiling, the car’s impressive 31.3-inch widescreen display also serves as a privacy partition, separating driver from passenger, master from servant, lord from bondsman.
With the window curtains and roof shade drawn, I was about as comfortable as a person can be with their clothes still on. Yet I would have gladly traded places with the driver, who was having all the fun.
As he piloted the vast and powerful machine up winding mountain roads and around blind sweepers, my envy grew, as did my motion sickness. This nausea could have been Sartre-related— my existential unease? More likely it was the same backseat barfiness that has afflicted me since childhood.
We’ll come back to that.
This brute—the seventh design generation of 7 Series since 1977—will be initially available in the U.S. powered by either a 4.4-liter gasoline V8; a mild-hybrid inline-six; or, as in the case with our test car, a dual-motor battery electric array. Unlike past iterations, the 7 Series will be available in one length of wheelbase, and it’s long. And big: roughly 3% larger than the previous long-wheelbase model.
The new 7 Series is set up emphatically as an executive sedan—a formal and square-cornered limousine, privileging the rear cabin over the front in space, comfort and authority. With some of the car’s hotel functions (windows, shades, climate, audio) the touch screen controls in the rear doors have priority over those at the driver’s position. There was no immediately obvious way to override. But I’m sure your children would never abuse that power.
The i7’s drive system relies on a 101.7 kWh, 281 amp-hour battery pack to drive the front and rear-axle mounted motors (255 hp/308 hp, respectively).
With combined electric power consumption of 2.9-3.1 miles per kWh, the range pencils out to 296-318 miles on the EPA’s test cycle. This elektrisches klavier is fitted with a big 22 kW onboard inverter for quick home charging. At a DC fast charger, the batts can recharge at up to 195 kW, pumping in 80 miles of range in 10 minutes.
Regardless of propulsion, BMW says, the 7 Series sets new benchmarks for cabin isolation, chassis refinement and over-the-road stability.
I’m sure they’ve got those numbers. But, dude, the i7— sheesh. It’s crazy quiet, like a bathysphere with a panoramic roof. You can’t buy quieter unless you trade in for the brass-handled Executive Slumberline casket.
In the interests of decoupling non-luxurious inertial effects like body roll and weight transfer from the i7’s paying customers, it uses the latest version of BMW’s electronically controlled active suspension with self-leveling air springs, combined with the option of electrically powered anti-roll linkages front and rear, all on 48V power. The gas-powered 7 Series cars have the same suspensions and available upgrades. What they haven’t got is a heavy battery pack under the floor, acting like one big mass damper.
As a consequence, the i7’s meatball doesn’t
2023 BMW i7 XDRIVE60
Base price $119,300 Price, as tested $151,995 (including $995 destination)
Propulsion Battery electric, with floor-mounted battery pack (102 kWh) and front-and rear-axle mounted motors, coordinated for all-wheel drive.
Power/torque 400 kW (536 hp)/ 745 Nm (549 lb ft)
Range 296–318 miles Length/wheelbase/width/ height 212.2/126.6/ 76.8/60.8 inches
0-60 mph 4.5 seconds Top speed 149 mph Recharging up to 195 kW, 80 miles of range added in 10 minutes
Luggage capacity 17.7 cubic feet
PASS THE GREY POUPONdance around much, corner to corner, fast or sudden, rough road or smooth. It’s like the car is laying track ahead of itself. But here we run up against one of the obvious limits facing the self-driving cars of our future: the frailty of human cargo. Call it simulator sickness, or somatogravic vestibular response.
The i7’s chassis feels like it’s on rails, but my inner ear feels like it’s on an hour-long roller-coaster ride.
I was relieved to switch positions with my chauffeur/ driving partner. I always feel better in the driver’s seat.
See? says Hegel.
The market for chauffeur-driven sedans in the U.S., EV or otherwise, is actually quite limited. The 7 Series’ primary audience is in China. These facts are entangled with the cars’ aesthetics, which many might find jarring precisely because BMW designers have moved on from emotionally frigid, Eurocentrist traditions of materials and décor. The front of the i7 is nobody’s idea of stealth wealth. The extra-big twin-kidney grille (with glowing bezels, no less) suggests rather a kind of jubilance, a reveling in status. Make way for an up and comer.
In both exterior and interior design, the i7’s signature look is, um, flashy.
Please observe the glittering accent lighting at the leading edge of the hood with Swarovski crystals that sparkle in sunlight. At night these crystals are backlit by 22 LED units to create an “unmistakable light graphic,” says BMW.
Inside, the many gem-faceted and backlit landmarks— like the cut-glass rotary iD-rive selector in the center console; the glowing, threadlike pattern embedded in the panoramic roof; the band of acrylic bisecting the dash, with dynamic lighting effects responding to driver’s selections; the crystalline seat controls, like pendants from a chandelier gone walkabout— might have been too glitzy for a previous generation of sober Bavarian tastemakers.
Of course, car designers live to serve.
I was as comfortable as you can be with your clothes still on.
The new BMW 7 Series aspires to the comforts of an executive lounge.
