BMW hits new heights with highly impressive 740Ld
I could see him mentally scouring the Golden Pages for Limo Services while simultaneously cursing me as every sort of useless bastard that ever walked God’s earth.
When, however, I revealed I was only teasing and had, in fact, chosen a BMW 740Ld xDrive for the gig, his relief was more than palpable. I’m not so sure he had any idea — or even cared — what the ‘Ld xDrive’ end of the model nomenclature stood for, but the words ‘7 Series’ were enough to reassure him that his beautiful darling would have a suitable carriage for her day-of-days.
In normal circumstances when you have charge of a car which costs about as much as a top civil servant’s annual remuneration, there is understandable pressure not to put so much as a squashed bug on its beautiful coachwork.
Imagine my terror then, when I encountered a tour bus full of Japanese lighthouse enthusiasts (I jest not) on the Mizen peninsula — a bus which was taking up a large chunk of my side of the road.
Now the 7 Series is a big car, but a tour bus is considerably bigger and arguing with it was a non-runner, so a swerve to the inside ditch to avoid contact was an unwelcome choice, but a necessary one.
The result was zero contact with the bus, but instead with a sharp stone which immediately punctured the front passenger-side tyre and took a good chunk out of the sidewall of the rear one. Two — very expensive — tyres ruined and the carefully orchestrated wedding plans in tatters.
The 7 Series, which is now in its fourth incarnation, has gestated into being one of the most technically advanced and technologically incredible machines I have ever driven. Traditionally it has — along with the Audi A8 — played a poor second fiddle to the class-dominating S-Class Mercedes which, understandably, has not gone down too well with the BMW board members responsible for signing off on it.
They have invested zillions trying to make their car every bit as good as the Merc and, while they have occasionally come close, on previous occasions they never hit the bulls-eye.
But they have done so now and this car is as credible a contender for the S-Class crown as there has ever been.
Seriously, the amount of technology on offer here would keep any self-respecting electronics boffin as happy as a sand boy for months.
To claim I got to grips with many of the functions and features would be a damned lie, for it would take an oaf like myself a lifetime to understand.
Gizmology aside (“Jeez, it’s got two tellies and a tablet computer in the back,” as one observer sagely noted), what I can tell you is that this thing drives and behaves on the road like the limo it is. Indeed, ‘driving’ is the wrong term here; ‘wafting’ would be far more appropriate.
I was not, I must confess too impressed with the car’s demeanour when in ‘normal’ suspension setting, finding it a little to floaty for my liking, but in ‘sport’ mode, you could feel everything tightening up and becoming a lot more focused and it seemed to be far more suitable for some of our less smooth road surfaces.
Certainly, the four-corner air suspension is designed to act predictively, but that may just be a near impossibility on Irish roads.
Nonetheless the isolation provided to passengers from the outside world by the suspension set-up, the chassis design and the materials utilised, provides a driving experience — and indeed a being-driven experience — like few I have encountered.
On the engine front, the 740 utilises the same three litre engine as in the 730 version, but output has been pumped up to 320 bhp at 4,000 rpm, and a massive 680 Nm of torque between 1,750 and 2,250 rpm, which in turn translates into a limited top speed of 250 kph and a 0-100 kph time of just 5.3 seconds. It will even return some 5.4 l/100km (over 50 mpg), which seems astonishing.
The 740Ld xDrive will not of course be everyone’s cup of tea, but as an example of what BMW is capable of mechanically and technologically, it really is as good a poster-boy as the company could have wished for.
And then there is the xDrive 4x4 system which, presumably, is to allow you cope with any occasional Alp you might encounter.
The system is not terribly obviously present when you drive the car, particularly as it is rear-biased anyway, but it is a reassuring thing to have if you do run into inclement conditions of any nature.
This truly is a special car and as coherent and pleasing as it is possible for a limo to be.
THE VERDICT
From €119,729 — as tested €155,278.
Exquisite three litre turbodiesel.
Lavish — materially and technologically.
Simply stunning.
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