the ever rising popularity of SUVs meant that it was a matter of when not if BMW
would release its own 3-row crossover and the good news is it's finally here
the 2019 BMW x7 arrives and dealerships this month and we had a chance to test
it out to see if it has big-time luxury and big-time performance to match this
big-time price BMW offers two different versions of the x7 the xdrive 40i which
I'm in now and the xdrive50i which I had a chance to test yesterday now the
big difference between the two comes under the hood the xDrive 40 i has a
turbocharged three litre straight-six that makes 335 horsepower and 330
pound-feet of torque compare that to the xdrive 50 i comes with a larger twin
turbocharged 4.4 liter v8 and that makes 456 horsepower at 479 pounds of torque
so a big difference in power between the two engines in addition the extra xdrive 50i
that I tested yesterday also came with the dynamic handling package and that
includes m-sport brakes and m sport rear differential and an active steering
system and then none of those things are present here on the xDrive 40i that I'm
testing today so I've actually brought the xdrive40i to the same roads that we
tested the 50 yesterday to see how it drives without those systems and with a
smaller engine starting with the xdrive 50 i the dynamic handling package also
adds something called active comfort road preview and what that does is it
uses forward-facing camera sensors as BMW calls them to actually scan the road
ahead of the vehicle so it can detect relative perfections bumps and it can
also tell when the road is about the curve and it preloads the suspension so
it basically has the x7 gliding over all these different imperfections in the
road it helps the suspension to feel more stable in turns and that's kind of
the big difference you get with that with and without that package and with
the xdrive 40i without that package it still rides pretty well but it doesn't
quite have that same kind of luxurious comfort that you get gliding down the
road that I did in the xDrive 50 i the xDrive 50 guys engine I was also a great
fit for that vehicle the x7 isn't small the xdrive 50i checks in at just over
5600 pounds but there's enough power to get it moving easily I think that what's
important when you're driving a luxury vehicle is that it feels like the
powertrain is never really working too hard and that's definitely true in the
xdrive 50i have plenty of power for any situation whether it be getting on an
on-ramp for passing or even for having fun the engines were
the transmission is very responsive and you get to the power very easily now
though the extra 50 I does outpace the extra 40 I it doesn't mean that the
xdrive40i drives badly in fact I think that it's also pretty good the good news
is the xdrive40 is also available with the dynamic handling package so you
could get a base model with that same sort of active ride comfort feature that
helps it feel about luxurious but even in base form and I by no means does the
xDrive 40 I Drive badly I think is actually right it rides pretty well for
a vehicle especially one that comes with these large wheels that this one is
riding on and though it does have less powers music you get a little bit less
like you know head snapping acceleration it still has plenty of enough power for
it to feel luxurious and I think that's the most important thing when you're
evaluating a vehicle like this does it still feel like a luxury vehicle even in
base form and at least from a driving perspective the x7 it definitely does
whether you choose the X Drive40i the X Drive 50i
well the x7 does a good job with its driving experience well I think that
vehicle really excels is on the inside now both vehicles that I tested sticker
it at over $100,000 and thankfully they have interiors to match looking around
the inside of this X Drive40i comes with one of their two-tone color
schemes which looks especially handsome with this kind of cream leather and navy
blue motif that it has going on it looks the part of a true luxury vehicle one
thing that I also appreciate about the x7 materials quality it doesn't dip as
you move back a lot of larger vehicles they're kind of like planes and that the
front is really nice it's got leather then as you kind of move back you know
things get a little bit more cramped the materials aren't quite as good and the
next thing you know you're sitting in the middle seat next to the bathroom
knots on the x7 all three rows of accommodations very good fit and finish
very good materials no drop off from the front to the back and this throne
particular has a few features that I really like as someone who used to be
relegated at the road duty as a kid now I think about a third row the first
thing that I think about is access so the X 7 has really long rear doors and
what that does is it makes a wide opening it actually allows you to climb
to the back seat fairly easily there are handles on each of these captains chairs
which allow you to take the seats and push them forward it makes it easy for
you to climb in the back now once you do get back there there's actually plenty
of legroom and Headroom even for longer trips this is truly a third row that you
can fit adults in and they won't be uncomfortable but BMW has also paid
attention - where to place the vents in the third
row so a lot of times those events are actually kind of low in the vehicle and
they end up aimed at your stomach but the ones in the BMW are kind of like
what you find in a minivan they're up high and what that does is it helps to
circulate air better and it makes a cabin feel lighter also helping the
cabin feel lighter there's an extra pane of glass all the way in the back here so
there's not just a panoramic sunroof that covers the first two rows the third
row also gives its own moon roof and it has a powered shade so you just hit a
button it opens up the cabin even more and then the third row doesn't feel
stifling like it does in many other vehicles BMW also put a lot of work into
making the seating area the x7 very flexible there are no less than three
points at which you can actually move all the seats around and in the cargo
area in particular there's a panel on the side and allows you to do max
passenger room or max cargo room with a touch of one button and each of these
seats here also have individual controls so let's say you want to move this seat
up from the back or this seat up you can do that all from one panel back there
there's also when you climb in switches on the doors right here and they allow
you to also move seats forward and back as you see fit the driver also has the
capability to do so it's a little bit complicated to figure out but once you
do you're able to even move the passengers front seat up if you want to
make more room for a second row passengers now the second row also has
5.7 inches of forward and back travel which means it should be easy for
passengers to negotiate a legroom there's one of those comfortable
vehicles I've been in that if you have to carry more than five adults around no
one's really gonna complain with what seat they get on the interior the x7
only a couple things to watch out for the first is that even though all three
rows are powered they do take a bit of time to move see my find yourself in
that back panel in the cargo area depressing the mass cargo button and
then waiting twenty or thirty seconds while the seats kind of move around and
getting into the right position but then again it does beat the alternative of
climbing all over the car and pulling different levers and latches to get the
cargo area set up the way you want the other thing to watch out for is if you
do choose captains chairs in the second row they don't fold down it with a bench
it actually folds all the way flat makes a nice large cargo area but these
captains chairs these kind of tilt and slide forward a little bit so you're
gonna lose out on some cargo carrying capability now the x7 also comes with a
long list of both standard and optional safety features in this model in
particular that I'm sitting in comes with all of them including BMWs extended
traffic-jam assist system now this system we first saw in the 2019 x5
to work at lower speeds on highways so it works up to 37 miles an hour and what
it does is it basically will drive the car for you at lower speeds and it uses
a camera buried here in the gauge cluster to watch your face so it watches
your eyes and your nose to make sure that you're not looking elsewhere
looking at your phone or doing things like that and as long as you're paying
attention to the road you don't actually really need to grab onto the string we
like you do with many other safety systems so it'll work up to speeds of 37
miles an hour actually got on 405 traffic here in LA on purpose to test
this out and I noted that the system does work pretty well as advertised at
lower speeds where the BMW kind of has some issues I think is that higher
season this is something that we noticed in the x5 as well and that is a belaying
centering system kind of does ping you from side to side fairly often so it
doesn't actually just start kind of sending you in the lane you can feel the
car kind of wiggling back and forth a little bit it's not too bad it still
does work well to keep you in the lane but you know the front of the car does
feel a little busy while that system is turned on the BMW x7 is pretty much
everything that you'd want out of a large luxury SUV it has a luxury great
interior to match its luxury price tag a spacious cabin with room for adult
passengers across all three rows and on top of that one of my favorite third
rows in any vehicle anywhere it's also got two engines that provide plenty of
power and a comfortable quiet ride that I really appreciate it over longer trips
I think the x7 is not only the biggest SUV that BMW makes it's also its best
the 2019 x7 is on sale now