2023 BMW X7 (inc. 0-100, performance & autonomy test) review

CarExpert

The BMW X7 has undergone a facelift for 2023. It's a formula they nailed with the pre-facelift, so is the new one just as good? Paul Maric takes the 2023 BMW X7 xDrive40d for a drive to see what it's like.  Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More BMW content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/bmw More BMW X7 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/bmw/x7  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 01:02 Interior: 03:29 Infotainment: 05:23 Safety Tech: 07:29 Practicality: 09:01 On the Road: 15:55 Driver Aids: 22:21 Performance: 23:50 Verdict: 26:07  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #bmw #x7 #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. A lot of you have been asking us to review this.

00:03 Well, maybe it's just the one person asking many times, but here it is anyway.

00:07 It is the facelifted BMW X7. This one here is the entry-level. It's now called the X7 xDrive40d,

00:16 and it has crept up in price very quickly. It's priced at just under $170,000.

00:19 You can even spend more money on it as well, but I'll explain later on why it's become so

00:26 expensive. They have done a fair bit of tinkering here under the bonnet.

00:29 This competes with things like the Mercedes-Benz GLS. It doesn't really have any other big-size

00:34 competitors. The only other thing I could think of is stuff like the Grand Cherokee L or the Grand

00:38 Wagoneer, if that ever comes to Australia, but it's that size of big vehicle. Seven-seat,

00:43 luxury SUV. Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car, so if you do want to skip

00:47 ahead to other parts of this review, you can use the timecodes on the screen, or if you're on

00:51 YouTube, you can scroll down and use the chapters below. If you haven't done so already, subscribe

00:54 to our channel and press the bell icon so you can find out every single time we drive a facelifted

01:00 BMW. So, let's talk colours. You've got 13 colours to pick from. Most of them are free,

01:06 but you do pay for some of the more special colours. So, the design. I thought the last

01:12 X7 actually looked really nice, and this whole thing they've done down here, I don't know how

01:17 well it works. You've got like a split-tier design with the headlights. You've got the

01:20 headlight module down the bottom, and then an LED running light up the top there. They haven't gone

01:25 too crazy with the grille, though. It is a big grille, but it needs a lot of cooling because

01:28 you can get this with a turbocharged V8, and you can see here it's got those active vanes as well

01:33 that open and close depending on cooling requirements. Camera down here for the 360

01:37 camera. Radar down there as well. It's worth keeping in mind with this car, you can get it

01:41 with two no-cost sort of design packages. You've got the M Sport package and also a slightly more

01:46 elegant package. This one here is the M Sport pack, so it does look a little more aggressive,

01:50 and I quite like they've been very restrained here with the chrome. It's like a brushed chrome

01:54 there and a piano black down the bottom. Have a look at that air vent over there. This one's

01:58 closed over, but that is a whopper of a thing. You can like lose a hand in there. That is huge.

02:02 Very impressive. And then a little vent over here as well. We'll jump around to the side.

02:07 Now, have a look at these wheels. 23-inch alloy wheels. That is actually ridiculous,

02:14 and that's on a 35 profile tyre. That is tiny. So, this does use adaptive air suspension,

02:21 so I am hoping the ride is good. The last X7 I drove, the ride was great, so let's hope they've

02:25 retained that. You've got blue calipers there as well. There is actually an optional further M Sport

02:31 package you can add that also ties in a sports exhaust as well. A little M badge there. Up the

02:36 top here, you've got a body-coloured wing mirror with an indicator built into there. Camera off to

02:41 the side as well. Roof rails, big panoramic roof. No privacy glass, which I thought was pretty odd.

02:47 That's part of an optional package as well. Come around to the back. It is a fair old walk. Pack

02:51 your lunch. So, around the back, X-Drive 40D, full LED taillights. I love that elegant look. That is

02:59 so nice. A little reflector there as well. Dual exhaust pipes. Well, dual exhaust pipe outlets

03:04 plus dual exhaust pipes. And have a look at this. The standard towing capacity isn't that impressive,

03:09 but you can option it with the tow pack, which bumps it up to three and a half tonnes. So,

03:13 you've got a family cruiser, meaty old diesel engine, plus an ability to tow three and a half

03:18 tonnes with a brake trailer. So, pretty decent package. So, let me know what you reckon about

03:22 the design down there. Also, let me know what you reckon about the price now that it has crept up by

03:26 like $20,000, $30,000. Let me know down there. So, we're inside the X7. We'll start off with the key.

03:33 So, on the front there, you've got the BMW logo to lock with some piano black and then brushed

03:37 aluminium. On the side, you've got unlock, boot and the diamond on the back. More piano black.

03:43 It's a proximity sensing key, so you can leave that in your pocket. Once you're inside, you have

03:47 a push button start just down here. So, X7 update. What has changed here? So, you can see the design

03:53 is a little bit different. I'll close that off as well. Big curved display here, which they've

03:57 started rolling out as part of their LCIs, and I think this thing is really, really cool. So,

04:03 we'll run through that in just a second. But, I also like this sort of quirky stuff here. Look

04:07 at these air vent controls. You open and close them by turning them, but that's sort of like a

04:11 cold to the touch surface. Even the LED lights behind this dashboard segment here look pretty

04:16 cool. Don't know if I love this sort of high gloss wood grain. I'd like a sort of open pore

04:21 setup here, but I'm pretty sure you can change a lot of this stuff depending on what option you

04:24 want to go for. And you can see here, this one has the BMW individual seat design, and this is,

04:29 yeah, it's pretty hardcore stuff. So, yeah, in terms of design, I really like it. And then it

04:33 even flows down to the material. As you can see here, it's like a sort of leather finish dashboard.

04:38 Even as you go down a little bit further, everything is still quite soft to the touch,

04:42 and it just feels befitting of this price tag. You don't want to be spending $160,000,

04:46 $170,000 on something like this to have it feeling cheap and nasty inside. This definitely feels

04:51 nice. Now, what about your touch points? So, all that stuff is soft. That is soft as well,

04:56 and so is your padding on the door. How soft is it? Well, we've got our durometer. We've tested

05:01 the main surfaces in this cabin. If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've

05:05 tested before, have a look at the link in the description below. What about our build quality?

05:10 Yeah, it all feels really nice and solid. And our door slam test?

05:16 Yeah, very good. And also, soft close on the doors as well. Very impressive.

05:23 Now, let's talk infotainment. So, this is the thing that has me excited. We've seen this system

05:27 now on a few other BMWs that we've tested, but I'll run you through it anyway in case you haven't

05:32 seen those reviews. Head of the driver, you have a 12.3-inch display, and then you also have a giant

05:37 head-up display as well. The main infotainment screen is just under 15 inches in size. It uses

05:42 OS 8, which is BMW's latest infotainment system. You can see here it's nice and snappy. You can

05:49 also adjust those pillars as well and move them around if you have to. The big advantage with OS

05:55 8 is that it's a fully connected infotainment system. Yes, you have had connections with

06:00 previous versions of iDrive, but this really takes it to the next level. So, you've got stuff like

06:04 your temperature integrated into here. You then have connectivity through the app that allows you

06:09 to remote start the car. You can set up a digital key as well, which means you don't need to have

06:14 the physical key with you. Really is just quite an impressive setup with a really good voice

06:18 recognition system. In terms of the sound system, you have AM/FM/DAB digital radio, and that's all

06:24 plumbed through a 16-speaker Harman Kardon branded sound system. It's an excellent sound system, so

06:30 big tick on that front if you do like your music. I think you can also get like an optional Bowers

06:34 and Wilkins sound system if you do really, really like your music and want it just sounding a little

06:39 bit better. On the smartphone mirroring front, you have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. They're

06:44 both wireless. I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like first. It's a full screen integration,

06:49 nice and fast and snappy there, and this is what Android Auto looks like. So again,

06:53 really nice full screen integration, nice and snappy as well. So very impressive on both of

06:58 those fronts. Now, the one thing I will point out here as well, they've condensed all of your

07:04 climate control functions into the screens. You'll notice down the bottom there, that's actually

07:07 where you set your temperatures and then also activate things like heated seats and stuff. So,

07:12 to know that I love that, it is a bit sort of fiddly to use while you're driving. You can use

07:16 voice recognition to activate a lot of those functions, but I would have probably just

07:19 preferred a couple of buttons there. Ahead of the driver here, it's a slightly configurable display

07:25 and it changes when you move between drive modes. We'll have a closer look at that when we go for a

07:29 bit of a spin. Now, what about your safety tech? So, you have autonomous emergency braking with

07:33 pedestrian and cyclist detection. You have blind spot monitoring built into the wing mirror over

07:38 there. You've got an auto dimming rear vision mirror. It is interesting as well, if there are

07:42 any sort of critical situations, it actually flashes these little lights here on the steering

07:47 wheel as well. So, it's a great visibility point because it's, we can get your attention really

07:52 quickly if you don't notice it. You have radar cruise control with a semi-autonomous steering

07:56 function. We'll actually test that out later on to see how well that technology works. You also

08:02 have front and rear cross traffic alert. You have front and rear parking sensors and a 360 camera.

08:07 I'm going to flick the car on just to show you what that all looks like. Slot that into reverse.

08:12 So, you can see our suitcase down there. This sort of guideline is in the way, but you can clearly

08:16 read what's going on in the suitcase. You can then pick different views as well, depending on what

08:20 you're doing. You can see all of that stuff there as well. There are a couple of interesting

08:25 features here as well. So, you have the ability to record your path. So, if you have driven a set

08:31 distance, it'll then reverse the exact same path that you drove in on. And if you want to see how

08:35 that stuff works, click up here to watch a video that we shot on that before. You then have a stack

08:39 of other views here that you could play with as well. I really have thought of everything,

08:44 so you can play around with a lot there. In addition to all of that, you can actually park

08:48 the car using the app as well. So, if you do have all of that set up, you can actually move the car

08:53 using the app. So, a pretty sort of impressive array of features. And what about our horn? This

08:57 is what it sounds like. Now, let's check practicality and we'll start off with our

09:03 connectivity. So, you have a USB-A port down the front here, 12-volt outlet. You've also got a USB-C

09:09 port hidden in here as well. Wireless phone charger down the bottom here. And in terms of

09:13 storing your phone, you can stick it anywhere. You can put it on the wireless charger, there's a slot

09:16 next to it, cup holder, wherever you want it to go, it'll sit nicely. What about our coffee cup?

09:22 So, here it is here, our little man cup. So, that goes in there without any dramas,

09:26 no issues with deleting, and there's teeth in there to hold your cup in place as well.

09:31 And our water bottle, so that fits in there without any dramas. It fits inside the door too,

09:36 and I reckon this big whopper is going to fit inside the door as well. Yeah, awesome. There's

09:41 actually heaps of storage down there, which is very good. Other storage, you have a little slot

09:45 here next to the driver's knee. You've got a center console here that's reasonably sized.

09:49 You have a glove box down here as well, it's pretty reasonably sized too.

09:54 Now, what about your comfort items? So, I did mention before, climate control is all run through

10:00 this screen here. So, this is where you change all of the settings. There is a lot of configurability

10:05 here as well, which kind of makes it a little more confusing, but this is where you're doing

10:09 everything. It's also where you're going to find your heated seats for the front row.

10:13 You've also got electric seat adjustment for both driver and front passenger, with memory for both.

10:19 And in terms of the adjustments themselves, you can go forwards, backwards, your backrest can

10:23 go forwards and backwards, you lift the headrest electrically, you have lumbar adjustment,

10:28 hugging adjustment, really just does have everything down there. But there is a cool

10:31 feature here as well. So, I can control the passenger seat from my seat if I need to.

10:37 In addition to that, you also have a button here that allows you to make access to the third row

10:42 easy from the driver's seat. So, all you do is push this, and then what it's going to do

10:46 is pull your two second row seats forward, then the driver and front passenger seat forward,

10:50 and then tilt the second row up so you get easy access to the third row. So, I do like that.

10:55 In terms of steering adjustment, it's electrically adjustable for both tilt and reach as well.

11:01 And on our reach test, all this stuff is easy to reach, but when you do get to this outer edge of

11:05 the screen, you do have to tilt forward a little bit to grab all that stuff.

11:08 OK, second row. So, let's close that. Actually, let's close it gently just because I don't want

11:14 to break anything. It has the soft close. So, room. There is stacks of knee room here,

11:19 toe room's great, headroom is excellent too. You'll notice as well that this has the optional

11:24 six seat configuration, and these are super lux seats. I even have my own like pillows for my

11:30 head here, so that is great. These seats are also fully electrically adjustable, so I can go

11:35 forwards and backwards. I can also recline as well if I want to kick back and relax here while I'm in

11:41 the second row, which is cool. These armrests go up and down as well if you want to pick another

11:46 position, which is great. Other features you've got here. So, mat pockets here in the back of

11:50 the seats. You also have these little hidey holes here for device connectors and also USB-C

11:55 charging ports, little LEDs under there as well. You have your third and fourth zone of climate

12:01 control down here, 12-volt outlet, another two USB-C ports. Your cup holders are down here. They

12:06 fit the bottle in sort of okay, but they're not very deep, so the bottle moves around a little

12:11 bit. You can fit that inside the door as well. I don't love this though. So, you know, it says

12:16 X7 there, and you've got all this expensive nice stuff around you, and then that's all just hard

12:22 plastic. So, I don't know why they didn't make that look a little bit nicer. You also have some

12:27 pretty cool controls here as well. So, you can press that button to open and close your second

12:32 sunroof up the back there. You can press this button to open and close this shade. You then

12:37 have this button to open and close your own privacy screens there. That's all pretty flash.

12:44 Now, in terms of our window, it doesn't go all the way down, so it's auto up and down.

12:48 Let's have a look. It is a big door, so we'll see if it can accommodate it.

12:53 Very impressive there. Nice. You also have ISOFIX points on all four seats here. So,

12:59 these two seats and also the two seats you have in the third row with top tether points as well.

13:03 Okay, so third row, is it big enough to fit adults? There is only one way to find out. So,

13:09 you access the third row just by pulling this lever up the top there. Basically,

13:13 pushes that front seat forward, moves this all the way forward, and then once it gets to the

13:18 end of its run, it lifts itself up as well. So, you can kind of just clamber on in. So,

13:21 let's give that a shot. Okay, so getting in is okay. I'm curious to see here whether this actually

13:28 does fit adults, because when you think about it, this is kind of a car that you think should be

13:34 able to transport adults. So, wait for that seat to get into its rest position. So, here it comes.

13:42 There it is there. Not much knee room. Igor, do you want to get a shot of how much space there

13:47 is there? There's not exactly a huge amount of space. It's kind of a little bit sort of restricted

13:52 there. My toe room is pretty restricted. Knee room isn't great either. So, I guess your passenger

13:57 here could push the seat forward a little if they wanted to, and I can kind of rest my foot there if

14:01 I need to as well. In terms of your creature comforts, you have cup holders off to the side

14:05 here. You also have a charging port just here next to my knee, which is a USB-C port. So,

14:10 it is actually a comfortable space. I do have sort of headroom there, and I also have fifth

14:15 zone of climate control up the top here as well with air vents to keep me nice and cool here if

14:20 I need it. But, yeah, I was hoping for maybe a little bit more leg room here in the third row.

14:25 Now, cargo space. What's it like there with the third row in place? I do love this, by the way,

14:30 split tailgate. Just a cool feature. It means you can, I don't know, change a baby on the

14:35 split portion or sit on it if you want to watch sport-related things. You also have a button here

14:40 to drop the rear as well to load luggage a little easier, which is very good. So, in this configuration

14:46 here, you have 300 litres of cargo space, so not a huge amount of room. 12-volt outlet off to the

14:51 side, and then beneath the cargo floor here they have a space saver spare tyre. I'll show you what

14:56 it looks like with our bags in this configuration. Let's see if it actually fits a suitcase.

15:01 Get rid of this once that is out of the way. Does it fit the suitcase? Oh, this is going to be a

15:09 bit of a challenge. Let's give that a shot, see if that actually closes. Bottom bit's okay. Top

15:15 bit's okay as well. Good. So, you can actually fit a reasonably sized suitcase in there with the third

15:20 row in place, which is good. Now, what if you do want a little bit more space? So, the good news is

15:26 you don't need to do a whole lot of manual labour. What you do is drop your third row here just by

15:30 pushing and holding these buttons. That will then disappear out of the way. When that's gone,

15:37 you have 750 litres of cargo space. Unfortunately, though, with your six-seat configuration,

15:43 you can't fold that second row flat. So, the best you can do is press this button here,

15:48 which puts it into its max cargo mode, and it just basically tilts those seats forward,

15:52 so you do have just a little bit more space there.

15:54 Okay, so we have just hit the road in the X7. Now, yes, they have changed one character on

16:05 the back of the vehicle to make it 40D instead of 30D, but there have actually been a number

16:10 of changes beneath the skin as well. So, one of those changes is that it now uses a mild hybrid

16:15 system. So, under the bonnet is a 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder diesel engine,

16:21 and that on its own produces 259 kilowatts of power and 720 newton metres of torque,

16:27 but that's all assisted by a 48-volt system. So, that serves two purposes. First purpose is to

16:32 supplement the 12-volt system, but the second purpose of that 48-volt setup is to actually

16:37 provide a burst of additional power and torque. So, it's around 10 kilowatts of power and 200

16:41 newton metres of torque, and it does that by using an integrated starter generator on the crankshaft.

16:48 So, it is a pretty impressive technology, and that means that when you do come to a complete stop,

16:53 as an example, while it is in stop-start mode, it actually switches off so quietly and so

17:01 seamlessly that you barely even notice that it's happening. Like, it is such a great setup,

17:06 and it is really nice and smooth. Only drama is, though, that when you do come to a stop,

17:10 it is kind of a bit grabby with the brake. When it switches off, it doesn't really allow you to

17:15 stop smoothly, because when you come down to a stop and roll out of the brake to stop smoothly,

17:19 it switches back on again. So, that can be just a little bit frustrating.

17:23 And I have to point out probably the most frustrating feature I've ever come across in

17:28 a new car today. BMW has deleted the stop-start button, so there is no way to disable that

17:34 function. Most of the time, it's perfectly fine, but today it is seriously hot, and every time the

17:38 car switches off, the temperature rises before it actually kicks the air conditioner back on,

17:43 and you can override that by turning stop-start off, but here there is actually no way to do it

17:48 unless you code it into the car. So, that is pretty disappointing, I reckon.

17:54 Let's give this a little nudge here. Yeah, nice. That engine is sensational. We said recently when

18:00 we reviewed the X3 with the 3-litre diesel that it felt really nice and punchy. This is really

18:06 the same. It just really hoops you in the back. 720 Newton-metres of torque is seriously good,

18:11 and that 48-volt setup that it has supplements the torque while the turbocharged system is

18:17 spooling. That means that you are getting that little nudge before it comes into its spool zone,

18:22 and that really sort of helps it move along. It's all mated to an eight-speed automatic

18:25 transmission. Excellent transmission. They've stuck with the torque converter here, which means

18:29 you don't get any of the clumsiness that you find with dual-clutch transmissions, and all that torque

18:33 is sent through xDrive, which is an all-wheel drive system, so it means that it's constantly

18:38 sending different amounts of torque to the front and rear. This feels more rear-biased. It kind of

18:42 sends a bit more torque to the back of the car instead of the front, which kind of gives you

18:45 that sportier feel behind the wheel. Okay, let's talk fuel economy. So, BMW claims eight litres

18:50 per 100 km. We are currently sitting on 9.8 litres since factory, so that was since the car was new.

18:58 It's 2,600 kilometres old. So, yeah, look, it's not a bad fuel economy. This is, like I said,

19:03 this is a big, heavy SUV, and to think that you're able to get that kind of economy with this kind of

19:09 performance, I think is actually pretty damn impressive. Now, let's talk about ride. Look,

19:15 I'm going to be honest, it's really not very good, and it's about what I expected

19:19 what this would be like with 23-inch alloy wheels. They're just enormous. They're a low-profile tyre.

19:25 This is a big vehicle, and even with adaptive air suspension, it still is pretty firm for

19:31 a vehicle like this, and I think they could have done a bit more work just to smooth it out and

19:35 take some of the edge off it. If you are buying one of these for comfort, I definitely would not

19:41 be optioning the 23s on it because they are just far too big to get a comfortable experience out

19:46 of this. But in saying that, it's not the end of the world. It is just firmer than what I thought

19:50 it was going to be, and as a result of that, it just doesn't meet that brief of being a super

19:54 comfortable seven-seater. Okay, let's talk sine waves. So, we're going to get up to 130 k's an

20:01 hour. We attack our sine wave here at 130 because it's the maximum legal speed in Australia,

20:06 and it gives us a good indication of how this feels out on a country road where you're going

20:10 to be experiencing some of these types of conditions. Yeah, look, it is pretty floaty.

20:17 This is a heavy vehicle, well north of two and a half tonnes, so it does feel a little bit floaty

20:22 once it hits those consecutive sine waves, but it isn't the end of the world. Okay, 90 k's an hour

20:27 on our bumpy country road. This is like the worst quality road you'll ever find in Australia.

20:33 Let's see what it feels like on here. I'm pretty feeling that brittleness from the 23s.

20:38 It's sort of not soaking it up as nice as I'd like it. Here come the condensed sine waves.

20:43 Yeah, see, we're skating over these. It doesn't even have time to settle into those divots.

20:50 Now, unfortunately, it's a bit hard to escape the weight of this vehicle and then manage

20:54 suspension around it with those big wheels. It just isn't a combo that works very well.

20:59 Now, what about noise? This is another thing that kind of surprised me. It's not really that

21:03 quiet inside the cabin. There's a fair bit of tyre noise that comes in. In addition to that,

21:06 you're also noticing a bit of wind noise as well coming from around the wing mirrors there. So,

21:11 I don't know, I just get the vibe here that with the X7, it really should have been a quiet car

21:17 and something that was soft and covered, and I think they've tried to go a bit too sporty with

21:22 it, especially here with the M Sport package. So, yeah, like I said, if you are buying one of

21:26 these, I'd avoid the 23s and perhaps avoid the M Sport package as well. Now, unfortunately,

21:31 at this point, I would run you through the drive modes and talk about how this feels at a higher

21:35 speed, but we've just had a tyre pressure warning come up and we've just discovered that someone

21:40 has patched a hole in a tyre here but not done a very good job and it's gradually leaking. I fear

21:44 that if I do pick up the speed, we're going to delaminate a tyre and then we'll be in all sorts

21:49 of trouble. So, yeah, look, as a result of that, we're going to try and get one of these back

21:54 at some point, and if we do get it back in time before this video goes live,

21:58 I'll insert that video clip in here. If we don't, we'll do a separate video just with sportier

22:02 driving of the X7 so you can get a bit of a feel for what it's like. Let's talk visibility. So,

22:07 I can see clearly down the front there it is a big old bus. The wing mirrors could be a little

22:11 bit bigger, but they give you enough visibility down the side of the vehicle. You've got blind

22:14 spot monitors built into there and visibility out the back is excellent. A little less excellent if

22:18 you do have your third row up, but it is still pretty good. Okay, let's do some semi-autonomous

22:23 system testing here. What we do here, I know I've explained this a thousand times in our reviews,

22:28 but if this is the first time you're watching, thank you, please subscribe, all that sort of

22:30 stuff. But we use our circular track here to kind of test the semi-autonomous driving systems to see

22:36 how well they work. And the concept is that as the banking gets steeper, the car has to apply

22:40 more torque to the wheel. And generally, you can relate how well it applies that torque to the

22:44 wheels here on the bank to how it does it out on the road where we get to a tighter curve. So,

22:49 I'm going to get 70 k's an hour. We're going to set this on. We're going to set to the assisted

22:55 driving mode and you know that's active when the little steering icon goes green like it has down

23:00 there. So, in our lowest lane here, it's doing a great job. It's keeping the car nice and centre

23:06 there without too many dramas. We'll switch over to the next lane. I like that little animation

23:11 as well that shows you when you're switching over to other lanes. Okay, so wait for the steering to

23:16 go green. There it is. So again, same story. It's keeping nice and central to that lane.

23:22 Excellent. It's telling me to keep my hands on the wheel. All right, we'll jump over to

23:26 our biggest banking here and see how well it performs. Wait for that steering to go green.

23:33 There it is. Gee, that is doing an incredible job. It is very confidently holding us centre to this

23:39 lane. This is really good. This is probably one of the best cars we've tested in terms of how

23:43 confident it is up here. That is seriously good. Well done, BMW. So, pass in lanes one, two and

23:49 three. Okay, let's do some performance testing. So, BMW claims a 0-100 time of just under six

23:59 seconds. So, I'm going to put this into Sport. Put that into Sport. Turn Stability Control into

24:06 Traction Mode. See if this has Launch Control. See what happens.

24:09 That is a violent launch. I'm going to go all the way through to 120 as well.

24:22 So, we can get our 80 to 120 overtaking speed. There it is. Far out. It absolutely

24:28 shoots off the line there. That is unreal. So, 0-100 in 5.4 seconds. That is bloody quick.

24:35 It's much quicker than the claim. Wow, good for a diesel. And then 80 to 120 in 3.9 seconds as well.

24:41 So, that shows you it has a really good sort of middle zone there for things like overtaking. So,

24:46 that is great. All right, let's go do a break. We're going to stop from 100 k's an hour to zero

24:50 to see how well this big boy stops. Okay, we've dialled up 100. Here is our marker just here.

25:01 Far out. That was brutal. I'm really keen to see what that number was because that felt

25:07 absolutely brutal. All right, let's have a little look here. That is amazing. So, 100 to zero,

25:12 2.6 seconds, 36.49 metres. That is seriously good for something this big and heavy.

25:20 You do have to keep in mind this is sitting on three 15s on the rear and two 5.5s on the front,

25:25 so there is a lot of tread there to pull it up. But to pull up something this large in

25:30 that kind of distance is unreal. Compare that to just as a reference to Ford Ranger,

25:35 Raptor, when we tested that during our off-road mega test, which you can watch by clicking up

25:39 there. That took over 50 metres to stop from 100. So, that is a really impressive number.

25:45 If you want to see how this compares to other vehicles that we've tested before in terms of

25:49 acceleration and braking results, have a look at the link in the description below. We're building

25:52 up that table as we go. Okay, and now how quick will it go in reverse? So, there's reverse. We'll

25:58 just jam down the throttle. 36 kilometres an hour.

26:04 So, the BMW X7, I was pretty excited to drive this because I did enjoy the last one, but

26:12 I've got to say I came away a little bit underwhelmed, and I think a lot of it has to do

26:16 with the way this car's options. Those wheels just don't do anything for the ride, so that's a

26:20 little bit disappointing. It wasn't as quiet as I thought it was going to be inside. It's not as

26:24 smooth as I thought it was going to be at low speed when it's coming in and out of that auto

26:28 stop-start region. I also hate the fact that you can't switch off the auto stop-start. That is

26:33 pretty frustrating. But, look, on the offset of that, when we did actually go for a bit of a punt

26:37 earlier before that slow leak started, it's actually really dynamic and engaging. So, I think

26:42 that if that is what you're after, this is probably going to be the car for you. But, if it's ride

26:47 comfort, quietness, and really that luxury feeling that you get from an expensive people mover,

26:53 I just don't think this meets the brief in this configuration. So, we're going to try and get our

26:57 hands on another one of these without a slow tyre leak that we can have another crack in. Perhaps a

27:01 version without those big wheels to see if it is any better, but it is what it is. So, let me know

27:05 in the comments section below, have you bought one of these? What has it been like? Did you buy it

27:09 with the 23s? And if so, how's that going for you? Let me know in the comments section down below.

27:14 If you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like it and you share it with your mates. And if

27:17 you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon. But, until next

27:21 Until next time, take it easy.

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