There are times when you just want to indulge yourself and you need to have the best SUV in a certain price bracket. Enter BMW’s X7, one of the largest you can buy in India. With a length that stretches well over 5 metres, and a width that touches 2.2, you can be sure there is plenty of space for all that you want to do. It is loaded with every feature you can think of, but that is unsurprising because what you pay for this baby exceeds the cost of many apartments in India! That said, we took the revised X7 on a spin to tiger land Ranthambore, and here are our few observations. In the looks department, she is really a stunner. DRLs and headlights are now separated, and this gives a mean look that was evident from the stares of passers-by. Those twenty-one inch alloys look menacing and since the X7 comes with a M-Sport package, the blue painted brake callipers with the ‘M’ logo on them look the part. The brake discs themselves would outsize most dinner plates and the massive 285 rubbers actually give a good ride, though the 45 side profile might claim otherwise.
However, it is on the inside that the changes are far more. Gone are most of the button functions, all replaced by this massive 14.3-inch screen that controls all functions of the vehicle. The display is gorgeous and the colours are sharp, but it also comes with the simple fact that you need a degree in applied sciences to operate it. For example, if you need to turn down the fan speed of the AC, and you are enjoying wireless CarPlay, you have to call up a sub-menu from the main screen to then touch the appropriate space. You do get ventilated seats up front though and you can have up to 5 different temperature zones with even the last row passengers getting their own aircon vents. The last row of seats is electrically operated, a very good idea in a car of this side and you can lower the rear air suspension to load things more easily into the booth. There is an amazing 464 watt Harmon Karon sound system playing through 16 speakers that offers superb acoustics. Although not as good as some of its rivals, the sound quality would please most audiophiles. There is also a heads-up display (HUD) that shows useful information, and we are partial to it.
We had the petrol motor and this one had BMW’s creamy 3.0-litre straight-six famed for its smoothness and here it offers 381 horses with 520Nm of torque, to give it a 0-100kmph time of 5.8 seconds for a car that weighs nearly two and a half tonnes! Assisting the main powertrain is a mild hybrid 48-volt setup that also plays a role in the vehicle’s performance. Like all modern vehicles, you get the most irritating start-stop system, which means the vehicle switches off when you are stationery for sometime. Wish there was a way to permanently disable this stuff in all cars. Oh yes, lets not forget the nagging 120kmph limiter - we understand this is a requirement by law in India, but it is superbly irritating nonetheless for a vehicle of this performance. Power delivery of course is silky smooth, with the 8-speed steptronic sport transmission never missing a cog. Now of course, you get some ADAS features on the car so all your lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control etc. are new things you can play with. Overall this vehicle is for a large family that loves driving. With the ever expanding highway network in India, it has become a pleasure to drive vehicles like this with effortless performance and a bevy of latest technologies for your motoring pleasure. That start-stop system though…
Priced at INR 1.27 to 1.30 crore, ex-showroom.
