2023 BMW i7 walkaround review: It has crystals for headlights!

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The all-new BMW 7 Series literally has crystals for daytime running lights that shimmer when they're running. It also has a home-sized TV screen in the second row, it's out of this world! Paul Maric checks out the 2023 BMW i7 to see what $300k plus on-road costs will get you these days.  BMW M3 Touring walkaround review: https://youtu.be/MqhJuTyC1R8  More BMW content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/bmw More BMW 3 Series content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/bmw/7-series  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 00:45 Interior: 04:54 Outro: 09:10  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 #7series #i7 #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So today we're checking out the new BMW 7 Series. Tell you what, this thing is

00:06 absolutely enormous. So I'm going to run you through some of the cool features because this

00:09 just has some of the most mind-blowing stuff I've ever seen on a car. This is the new 7 Series,

00:14 but it's also the new i7, which is an all-electric version of the 7 Series as well.

00:19 Our pricing for Australia has been released, so this one here is the i7 xDrive60,

00:24 just under $300,000 plus options, which is pretty hearty. So yeah, today's going to be a quick walk

00:29 around and then later on we'll get a chance to drive it. We've also had a look at the new M3

00:32 Touring today as well, so you can see a link to that video in the description below. But let's get

00:36 started with this one. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel, press the bell

00:40 icon, that's going to tell you every single time we do fun stuff like this. Now before I show you

00:46 some of the cool stuff here, this thing has grown. This is now longer than the long wheelbase

00:51 version of the previous generation 7 Series and it will only come in the one spec. So that is why

00:57 when you see this on the road you're going to think to yourself, "Oh my god, that thing is

01:00 enormous." They've kind of gone down the path of making it a hybrid between an SUV and a luxury

01:04 sedan, and I'll run you through why all that makes sense in just a second. But let's start

01:08 at the front here, have a look at this. So up the top you have Swarovski crystals, so when you unlock

01:14 this it actually shimmers. They're using LEDs there to make it look like it's a crystal,

01:19 sort of shimmering in the light, and then during the day when you do actually have sun shining on

01:24 it that'll naturally shimmer on its own as well. Down here is where the headlight is. So this

01:30 design is pretty controversial because they've split the daytime running light and the headlight

01:35 and it gives you this sort of odd-looking front end. They've tried to mask it up as much as they

01:39 can with this black paint job, but I'll be curious to see what this looks like in a white or something

01:43 like that. It is very imposing and very different, so once you see it in person maybe you'll change

01:47 your mind but you never know. They've ditched laser lights as well, so we actually did a headlight

01:52 comparison a while ago where we tested a whole range of headlights including BMW's laser lights

01:57 and they weren't quite as good as some of the better LED options, so it looks like they're

02:00 moving away from that tech and now just sticking with LEDs which have advanced to the point where

02:04 you're getting the same projection anyway, and if you do want to watch that video you can click up

02:08 here to see exactly what that's all about. Have a look at this as well, you have like a halo around

02:13 the kidney there too, so they really just have gone to town with LED here. These louvers open

02:19 and close depending on the cooling requirements for the vehicle, so this is the full electric

02:23 version. I'll make that pop back on. This is the full electric version so you're going to have

02:27 different cooling requirements to the internal combustion, but because they share a platform

02:31 you really have a lot of the hangover effects from internal combustion here which I guess is just

02:36 something you have to deal with. Giant radar sensor there with camera there as well, this pops out to

02:41 wash the camera as required. A little bit more cooling down the bottom there too. Watch this

02:45 feature, so I'm going to get my key over here. They've borrowed some tech from Rolls-Royce because

02:49 BMW of course owns Rolls-Royce. If you push and hold this, it cracks all the doors open, so if you are

02:56 feeling lazy and you don't want to do it yourself it will take care of it. But the other interesting

03:00 thing as well which I hear you asking is, "Paul what happens if you're parked right next to another

03:05 car?" and I'm going to demonstrate now. Watch this, I'm going to push and hold this, see how that stops

03:12 with the rest open? So it's got sensors on the side here that take care of all of that sort of

03:16 stuff so you're not going to be belting your new car doors into any other cars which I think is

03:21 cool. I could probably play with that feature all day long. Before we jump inside the cabin, come

03:25 around to the back and we'll have a look at this design. Have a look at this, so look how tall that

03:29 is. This is, well this is the new 7 Series, it was never this big but the customers said they wanted

03:35 a bigger vehicle and that's why they've gone down the path of supersizing this and I think if you

03:39 sat this next to an old 7 Series you would see just how much bigger this is in every way. So

03:45 around the back here you have a chrome element along the top of the taillight there, full LED

03:49 taillights and as you move your way down the bottom here, a lot of piano black down there but

03:54 obviously hiding those exhausts given this is just the electric version and you'll be able to tell the

03:58 electric version of the 7 Series aside from the internal combustion one with that i-badge just

04:03 there and then xDrive60 over here. You open and close the boot using this button here, when you

04:08 do crack it open you have 500 litres of cargo space available here. Because this is electric you do

04:14 have a bit of a limit there in terms of what you can do, there are a lot of battery components

04:18 there that get in the way of things. If you go down the path of the internal combustion version

04:21 of the 7 Series you do get more boot space but you still get storage beneath the cargo floor here to

04:26 store your cable and other sort of bits and pieces there. Just on charging, it has the ability to

04:31 charge at 195 kilowatts on DC, you also have AC charging available as well. I think it's a little

04:36 bit disappointing that BMW still hasn't caught up with brands like Hyundai, Porsche, Kia who do have

04:42 faster charging available so I think that is to preserve battery life and that kind of thing.

04:47 Now before I get inside you push this to open the door, push and open it comes and then you hop in.

04:53 Continuing with the theme of pulling tech from Rolls-Royce, you don't have to close the door

04:58 manually, you can use a button here on the dash panel and then that will basically pull that door

05:04 shut or what you can also do is push and hold the button and then pull the door towards you.

05:09 Now what that does is you're not actually closing it manually, the electric motor is

05:13 assisting you because it's quite a heavy door so they really have thought of everything here.

05:17 This looks incredible and I know this is a $300,000 car and it should look good but to be

05:23 honest this is probably the most luxurious car I've ever sat in including Rolls-Royce stuff,

05:26 this really does look absolutely top-notch. I guess I'll start with the infotainment system,

05:31 so this is adopted from the iX, it's a curved display, really just stands out and looks

05:37 incredibly nice. It uses OS 8 which is the latest and greatest version of BMW iDrive.

05:41 What they have done though is moved a fascinating control because I always thought it was a bit odd

05:46 with the iX that you had to go into the climate menu to run all your controls for heating and

05:51 cooling. Now what they've done is they've allowed you to control the fans down here using this

05:55 touch sensitive pad. You've got one on the driver's side as well so that'll individually control all

06:00 of these fans but then in addition to that instead of hiding air vent controls like they do in a

06:06 Tesla or a Taycan, they've actually gone down the path of these little rubberized controls down here

06:10 that allow you to move the vents without having to go deep diving into a menu. So it's just really

06:16 clever functionality and the beauty of it all is here in these materials. So wood along the dashboard

06:22 there, you've got this ambient lighting that is configurable and behind a bit of a crystal element

06:27 so it just really looks high-end. The seats themselves, cashmere wool, very fancy. You've

06:34 got some high-end leather up the top there along the dashboard as well. This thing looks absolutely

06:39 sensational. They've tried to then focus on some recycled materials so the roof and the carpets

06:44 use recycled materials so you can feel nice about your eco-consciousness. So yeah if you are driving

06:52 this you're going to feel you know like you're in a luxury vehicle but it all continues in the back

06:56 where I think they've just taken this to an absolute other level. So let's hop into the back

07:00 and have a look. Welcome to the Luxury Express. Let's talk about the sound system first. 35-speaker

07:06 Bowers & Wilkins sound system. It outputs almost two kilowatts of power. It is just ridiculous.

07:12 It's got 4D surround sound, whatever that means, but the centerpiece of all this is this screen up

07:18 here. It is ridiculous. So over 30 inches in size, it's an 8K display. It folds down and basically

07:26 gives you the ability to watch movies in the back seat. So let's click on this. Touch screen as well

07:32 by the way. It comes with Fire TV which is basically an Amazon stick that allows you to stream

07:37 movies, stream TV shows and that sort of thing. So this will have internet connectivity and it

07:42 means that you can basically connect in and do whatever you want to do. But it does get better

07:46 than that. So you're obviously not going to just sit here and watch the TV sitting as you are. So

07:50 what you can do is go over to the seat menu and then I can put my seat into position number three.

07:59 What this does is it moves your passenger seat out of the way and it allows me to stretch out

08:04 so I can actually properly watch television while the driver is going around the place. Now while

08:09 all this is getting set up, it's probably worth calling out what this car is all about in terms

08:13 of its drive. So you have over 100 kilowatt hours worth of battery capacity, 400 kilowatts of power,

08:19 745 newton meters of torque, 0 to 100 kilometers an hour in under five seconds,

08:25 twin electric motors, one on the front axle, one on the rear axle. So it is pretty comprehensive

08:29 in terms of how it's going to drive and I suspect being a BMW it's going to ride nicely as well with

08:35 their suspension. As our seat comes out, I actually feel really bad putting my shoes on this white

08:41 leather but I've got clean shoes as you all know. Oh man this is unreal. So basically in terms of

08:47 safety features what they do is so people behind you don't watch the screen while you're basically

08:53 watching it yourself, this blind comes up at the back so you can't actually see what's going on

08:58 here at all and then in addition to that your driver obviously can't see what's going on at

09:02 the back there. So it is a really fascinating setup and I do wonder whether that means this

09:06 is going to translate to other BMW products in the future because it is a pretty unreal arrangement.

09:12 So there is so much more tech and so many more features to talk about in this car that we just

09:17 don't have time to talk about today but when we do finally get one for a drive I'm going to run

09:21 you through it in as much detail as I can. But if you do have any questions let me know in the

09:26 comments section below and what do you think about all this? Is this a bit too much? Is this going to

09:29 distract people when they're meant to be concentrating on the road? I'm keen for your feedback.

09:35 Now if you did enjoy this video please make sure you like it, you share it with your mates and if

09:38 you haven't done so already subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon but until next time, take it easy.

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