BMW's upper range X-Class, that is, the X5, X6 and X7, constitutes about fifteen percent of total BMW production. An important part of sales, in other words. It is only logical that BMW keeps that line up to date, and therefore now comes up with a far-reaching adaptation package for the X7.
Far-reaching, that is, much more than just a new face. But inevitably, it is mainly the front end that catches the eye. With its split headlight units, the new front end is again entirely in line with the fresh 7 Series. The huge grille, the lines that seemingly all have a starting point from the centrally placed BMW logo: it all tells you that behind that snout dwells a serious power plant. In the case of the test car, the M60i, that involves the worldly, again improved, 4.4 V8, with a duo of turbos that, in this new X7, gets assistance from the mild-hybrid 48 Volt electric system. It makes the car more efficient on paper, in practice, perhaps, but it should be clear that this powertrain makes the X7 a particularly potent SUV above all else. A muddy 530 hp and an equally fat 750 Nm of pulling power give the M logo just the right value. This X7 M60i is convincingly fast and, with M trim, it certainly looks particularly potent. A car that in the Netherlands with its bpm fine punished unkindly by The Hague does not get great sales. All the more so because you will soon be able to buy an innovative new SUV from BMW, with more power, a more modern appearance and more refined handling: right, the BMW XM. Since the XM, with its plug-in hybrid technology, has an ample electric driving range and, consequently, hardly any disadvantageous taxation through a high BPM levy. It makes the XM less expensive than this X7 M60i.
"A mud-flat 530 hp and an equally fat 750 Nm of pulling power give the M logo the right value. This X7 M60i is convincingly fast and, with M trim, definitely looks particularly potent."
Anyway, so this X7 can do bitterly little about that. By the way, BMW has added more new features to the seven-seat X7 than just the nose and powertrain. In America, a car like the X7 is much seen as a family car; after all, it can seat half a soccer team. All of them have a view of the newly shaped dashboard, which features the same huge multi-display as we now know from the iX and the new 7 Series. Nicely readable, clear to operate, by voice, touchscreen or by the central button as we have been used to from BMW for years. You sit in the front on improved furniture, the materials from which the interior is constructed are of nicer quality and while driving, especially if you sit down hard, you experience a more precisely tuned steering. It feels almost unimaginable: how BMW repeatedly manages to provide a car that is anything but lightweight with such a superbly tuned suspension, with beautifully balanced steering. Whether every driver will make frequent use of the potential offered by the X7 M60i to really chase down wildly winding corner roads with giant strides is doubtful. Then again, you don't have to do something often to know it can be done.
This article was taken from the MASTERS MAGAZINE. The winter issue of MASTERS was created in collaboration with Jordi van den Bussche. Many will know him as YouTuber Kwebbelkop, yet he has been working hard as an entrepreneur for some time, as he reveals in the Big Interview. What's new is that his company JVDB Studios is offering to do social media marketing and short-format content marketing for other companies. "They can also go and figure it out themselves, but we cracked the code." Jordi gives a stage to like-minded entrepreneurs such as Jay-Jay Boske, Demy de Zeeuw, Chahid Charrak and Marcella de Bie, and discusses developments around games, crypto and NFT: "Just as bitcoin turned the financial system upside down, the same will happen with gaming." This extra-thick winter issue also features Lengers' first own ship, an interview with Corendon chief Atilay Uslu, specials on the new BMW 7 Series and Samsung foldables, and - exclusively for MASTERS! - an interview with Max Verstappen.
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