WOW It's been a long time since I saw this forum about the S Class! Lovin - that is ONE HELL OF A BEAUTY! It reminds me of the E38 in terms of how the sleekness returned - less rounded - more angular. I love it! You got the two tone too! You went top of the line here! DRIVE IT IN THE BEST OF HEALTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to your full review!

 

I don't believe this is true in the US. According to the BMWUSA configurator the M Sport package is standard on everything but the i7.

 

The package is standard, but the blackout is an option.

 

Bought my first Turbo Sedan 20-years ago. Everyone at work hated the looks of my manual bug eyed WRX. What really mattered was how it made ME feel behind the wheel! its Recaro seats were so supportive and comfortable I drove it 19-hours straight to Birmingham, AL from NM! Later used my Employee discount on 4 successive GM/Holdens with LS V8 motors that had uninspired looks but a chassis designed and tuned by Albert Biermann, the father of the E39 BMW M5. Not a fan of the 7's front face but IMO @LovinMercedes chose an excellent color combo over the phone to add lipstick to the Beast! All are not able to secure the timeless styling provided by RR and Bentley. After 2026 if the Son doesn't bleed my dry from tuition payments, might have one car left in me: that iconic 911.

I'm curious to see what will replace your awesome W222 @SW20S...

 

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SOME THOUGHTS about my experience with my new 7 series. For starters, I don’t really buy a lot of BMW cars, I have always been a Mercedes Benz guy.

I do remember in past years, a few BMW 7 generations ago, having both the S-class and the 7 series. Those were the days when both were luxury cars, but the BMW had a very dynamic sports drive and the S-class was always pure luxury. You could drive both cars, enjoy the luxury, and get two completely different rides. Both had their place, and you just had to decide which ride you wanted to experience.

That changed when BMW decided to change their ride dynamics, and to mimic the S-class. The problem for me was that I thought they never got there. During those two previous generations, I tried to buy more 7 series, but they didn’t drive like the old sporty model, and they were clearly not on par with the S-class. I fully expected the new 7 series I just bought not to be on par with the S-class ride dynamics. That was going to be OK, because that is not why I bought the car.

As I have mentioned before, my wife drives a Taycan, but we decided to change to an EQS 580 because the Taycan was just too hard to get in and out of, for us old people. We went to the Mercedes dealer several month ago to buy a new S-class for me and the EQS for my wife. We ordered the EQS, but I just didn’t feel the new S-class. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful, stylish, with the finest build quality, but I just didn’t feel good about it. I didn’t really like those center A/C vents, and how the instrument cluster just stuck up in the air with nothing on top of it. For years the industry was going this way, and for years the S-class resisted that, but it finally made that change and I didn’t love it. I don’t really know the measurements, but it also just felt a little more cramped in the front, thank in previous models.

I knew I was probably going to but the S-class anyway, but since I hadn’t seen the 7 series for a while, I thought I would take a look. I didn’t even know that this was the year of a new generation. When I went to the BMW dealership, I realized it was a waste of time since everything was changing and nothing was in stock yet. I went home to my computer and started watching the videos. My first impressions watching the video was WOW. This car is different, amazing, gorgeous, fancy, and on and on. 30 minutes later I had bought the car over the phone.

Then I started to think about things as my adrenaline resided. I was worried about the front end. Frankly, I don’t like how any of the manufactures are changing their front ends, and I don’t know any that I really love, but this one was certainly not going to be at the top of the list. I didn’t help those fears by ordering the blackout option. I loved the screen in the back, thought it was terribly cool, but really, in the past I had bought the rear entertainment system, and never turned them on, even once, other than the day I got the car. I knew this would be a total waste of money, but I did think it was cool. I was worried about all the crystal and whether or not it would be too over the top and ostentatious. I loved the idea of the two-toned paint and I thought the rest of body style was as good as it gets with any luxury car. Yes, I knew it was not as sporty as the S-class, but that was OK. I liked that it was different, I liked that it looked more like a Bentley or Rolls Royce. I thought that was a plus. Bottom line, I had so many S classes in the past, the new one I didn’t love, so I thought this car would be a nice chance, and since I was only keeping it for a couple of years, I could stand whatever I didn’t like. I haven’t mentioned the drive or the tech, because I had no expectation that it would come close to being as good as the S-class.

Fast forward a couple of months, and here we are. Bottom line, I am amazed by this car and I really like it. All my concerns are not as bad as I thought they might be, and the things I thought would not be as good as the S-class, clearly are either equal to or better.

Here we go:

Front end – No, it’s not my favorite, and yes, anything could always be better, but it’s really fine. The total read of the car is great and it all goes together. This is beauty interpretation and really, everyone has a different idea of what beauty is supposed to look like. To me, the upper part and lights look great. I love the sculptured hood and top of the front face where the emblem is.

Rear end – I really like the rear end and I love the brake lights. They have designs in them, and they don’t just turn on and off. The move as they go on and off and it is pretty cool to me. I think the rear end looks as good as any car. Yes, you can get sportier, but that is not this look.

Paint – the paint quality on this car is amazing, and the two-tone paid is done extremely well. I love the colors I picked, but you can design almost any color combo you want with two choices for the top color. It’s not a cheap option at $12,000, but well worth the money.

Moonroof – the moonroof looks like any other one, but it’s not. It has colored LED lights going through it and at night time, they are very cool to watch.

BMW has really upped their game on tech for this car. It has as much and more than any other car I have ever seen. Yes, iDrive 8 seemed very intimidating at first, but having used it for a while now, it’s not that difficult and you create short cuts to get to things important to you more easily. I also noticed that on many of the tech options, there are choice to have it or not, or change its behavior. For instance, something as simple as the navigation directions muting the other sounds in the car, you have choices as to what extent you would like that to happen.

Here are some great tech advances that I have found so far:

- The car has its own telephone number so you can make and receive calls even if you don’t have a phone or forgot a phone. You can pair your phone to the car’s phone so when you make calls, it comes through as your phone number and not the phone number of the car. This option is called eSim and it is also necessary for the TV in the back, and for use with a hotspot. This obviously does not have to activated. Cost I $20 per month like all the connected services, but it a huge step above with its own phone number.

- Your telephone can become your car key. You don’t need a key anymore. If you have your phone and your car is at home and you need to let someone use your car and they don’t have the key, you can send them a one-time key over the phone and they will be able to unlock and start to use your car. You can do it for one time, or you can give it any number of times you want. It also has a digital card which acts as a key you can keep in your wallet. It will start the car and open and close the doors.

- You can activate a setting so that when you walk away from the car it will lock, and when you walk toward the car, it will open. It’s a choice for either.

- You can set the car to turn itself off as soon as you open the door and save yourself the step of shutting it off. Again, you can choose to do this or not.

- You can set the windows to automatically open and close at specific navigation points. Seems very cool but not really sure how I would use this. Maybe at toll booths or maybe if you are driving into a place where you have to open the window and push a code.

- The automatic door open and closing is very cool and very useful. I don’t use it as much to open the doors, but you can turn on an option so that as soon as you touch the brake, the door closes. This I use all the time. I open manually by hand, and then get in the car, touch the brake, and the door closes. I love this and it is so convenient.

- If you are away from your car at night, or any other time, and you are concerned about what may have happened, or what might be awaiting you, you can use the App which will open all the cameras, and take a complete 360 view of what is around the car and send you a 3D picture of your car that you can move around to see any point around your car and next to your car on all 4 sides.

- Augmented reality on navigation. For areas where it is hard to tell where the actual turn is on Navigation, there is a setting that will create a live stream of what is in front of you and superimpose several markings including arrows on that live picture and direct you exactly where to turn and where the destination is. There are different places to choose where on the dashboard to show this.

- iDrive 8 is lighting fast. I know that with other car new technology, other manufacturers have experienced some slower user speeds which have been worked out over time. iDrive 8 starts out faster than any other drive in any other car I have experienced. Zero lag.

These are just a few of the tech items that have caught my eye that I use and love. They are probably others that I just have not gotten to yet. I doubt that is another car on the road that has more, but of course, I don’t know for sure.

With respect to the interior appointments, I love the fact that you can’t see any A/C vents in this car. That was one major drawback for me on the new S-class. The A/C comes through these tiny linear slot openings below the crystal lights that you can’t even see. Love this look. The quality of the leather is great and on par with the S class. The fit and finish of the leather and the trim work is also great and on par with the S-class. The floor mats are better and very plush with leather inserts. I have never sat in a more comfortable seat than the S-class. The new BMW seats are equally as comfortable. I really like the fact that the dashboard screen still has some real estate over it and the fact that it is curved is very cool. They have this new carbon fiber that has silver and piano black threads going through it that look really nice. Overall, I think the quality of the interior is certainly on par with the S-class, but I think it looks way better than the S-class. It is more elegant and more refined, and looks more planned out and put together.

Now, the ride quality which I knew would not be on par with the S-class. Not true and my biggest surprise. Finally, BMW got there. The ride quality, control, suspension are all on par with the S-class and probably better comfort and smoothness just by the mere fact that BMW refuses to use run flats on this car. I got the 20 inch which are arguably also more comfortable. When I drove this car, I was shocked at how great it felt. It is now a pure luxury ride like the S-class. It is tight, and responsive and with all of that, has no resemblance to any type of “boaty” feeling. The steering is really responsive and not sloppy, and you feel you are in control at all times.

Well, that is it. Sorry if I didn’t cover items that may be of interest to you. If I have missed something, please let me know and I will try to respond as best I can.

I don’t think anyone can make a mistake by buying this car. It’s a nice change. Time will tell at the end of the year when we see the numbers. They are not even close now, the S-class wins by a long shot.

 

I think the two-tone paint as you configured really enhances the look of the car, including the front end. As someone who loves tech, those interior pics have me drooling, congrats Lovin!

 

Someone in my building picked up an i7 last week; dravit grey with a chrome grill (and a front mounted plate) and amarone for the interior.

I'll try to grab better pics next time but I think he has a private garage instead of an open stall and he charges in the visitors charging stations.

I was scheduled to test the new 7 at this particular dealership next week but was told all their i7's are sold (probably this). I think they still have a gas 760 available to test but there's one leftover LCI 750 with individual with the standard suspension and I believe there's another one with the dynamic handling package (autobahn package in the states/executive drive pro) just to see the difference.

 

My first impression, looking at the first rear three quarters view, was modern Rolls Royce.

 

What Streamliner and I are talking about is the M Sport package itself. Yes you can get the grill in chrome, but you can't get the luxury package that doesnt have the blacked out areas below the headlights. This is the luxury package car:

 

Me too! It'll be late next year at the earliest...

 

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I understand and don't disagree. I can't imagine that isn't coming at some point. The difference between the two is very noticeable all around. One thing I don't like about the Luxury model is the chrome around the windows. I think almost all cars look better when they are blacked out. I also couldn't quickly tell how you make up for the features that are included in the M model. A quick glance did not see them as options, but I didn't play with it to really see.

I bet some will still take the more aggressive look, but time will tell

I never opted for the AMG's cars because I thought they were more aggressive looking, and I liked the luxury look, and style of the 600 and V12 models.

 

I think it looks much better with the chrome. I always prefer the AMG styling package on Mercedes, but I seem to never care for the M Sport versions of BMWs.

I don't know that you'll be able to get the car in the US with the gas engine and the luxury appearance package. They won't sell very many of these in the US to begin with, and it feels to me like they are mostly focused on the i7 (another example of this is the lack of AWD on the 740).

If I were to get a new 7, I almost certainly would get the i7...that front end is growing on me, the M Sport unfortunately isn't...

 

Count me in that camp. I definitely prefer the M Sport line over the luxury line.

 

I saw the i7 with the “luxury” front end the other day and sadly was not impressed like I hoped I would be. It is definitely improved, but still not good. The main detractor for me is the double headlights, I find that to be more polarizing than the grills. I much prefer double headlights in a horizontal design like the old W211 E-Class, 90’s Lexus’, Jags, etc. Stacked vertical headlights are just not my favorite design trend as of late.

 

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Rule: You can't say how much you hate all of them and not pick any. You must pick either A, B, or C. Don't worry about hurting anyone's feelings. It's all subjective anyway, otherwise we'd all want the same partner.

I did them in a dark color and light color, as some may have a preference as to how they look. You only have a choice of A, B, C. The only other thing I will note is the only option that has black around the windows is C. Both A and B will have chrome around the windows.


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C. In dark color.

 

A only in a dark color.

 

A, any color.

 

My choice above would obviously be A.

I don't think anything will make me like the front end of this car, its just what makes it look the least offensive.

Thats one of the reasons I left Lexus, when paying $120,000+ for a car I have to love how it looks, or at least not hate some aspect of how it looks. I'll just never love the way that car looks. W223 S Class doesn't call to me like the W222 did but I still like it, new Range Rover I love...I don't love the Genesis G90, but its so cheap I can maybe not love that...and I don't hate anything about the design. EQS I hate the shape inside and out, new 7 I hate both the front and rear ends. Side I like. Inside is over the top but I'd be fine with it.

Oddly the double headlights don't bother me on the X7 like they do on the 7...

 

I hate the X7's lights purely because it really reminds me of a Hyundai Santa Fe every time I see it. That being said, the X7 has never been a beauty queen either, although they somehow made ugly even uglier.

 

C dark colour

 

I'd go A but also select the shadowline option to further attempt to hide the butt ugly. But then I wouldn't go there at all: I hate the front end and I don't like the interior; that may very well be (old) age related as to the latter. I don't think I can recall one day in my life when elegance was out of style; the S class manages to retain some elegance, despite their attempts to ruin it. The 7 series does not. That's a bottom line I can't get around.

It looks stupid today and it will be worse viewed in hindsight; history will not be kind to the new 7 or any of these cars with outsized design elements.

 

C all day.

 

It would be A for me, probably in a two-tone, similar to Lovin’s color choice. If looking like a Rolls is part of the goal, the less performance oriented the look, the better. These are huge, heavy, ultra comfortable SALOONS! They shouldn’t look like they are about to devour the car in front of it.

 

Would you pay $12,000 for the two tone paint?