Munich’s latest limo finally meets our timing gear, in full-size PHEV form
While it isn’t like the maker of a Teutonic limousine to leave much to chance, there is evidence that the creators of the latest BMW 7 Series – which now finally undergoes a full Autocar road test with a combustion engine under its bonnet – courted old-fashioned good fortune in just about every way they could.The number seven is considered lucky the world over – and in China, one of BMW’s biggest global markets for the 7 Series, particularly so. It just so happens, then, that this, the seventh model generation of the car, is codenamed G70. It has been in development since 2017. BMW makes seven versions of it (leaving out the BMW i7, but counting the armoured 7 Series Protection). And it entered production on the first day of the seventh calendar month of 2022 – seven years to the day after the sixth-generation car had done so.With diesel and (even mild-hybrid) petrol options studiously omitted from the UK range, however, the choice for those of us who don’t want an electric i7 is between two plug-in hybrids: a 483bhp 750e xDrive (which qualifies for benefit-in-kind tax at less than 10% of its showroom price) and a 564bhp M760e xDrive (which, since it emits more than 50g/km of CO2, isn’t so tax-efficient). We elected to test the former.
