BMW 750i M Sport

Truly voodoo suspension....I was driving very slowly toward a speed bump earlier in our car park and not only does the suspension soften up, the ride height increases.   I thought it was my imagination so at the next one, I stopped and switched from adaptive to comfort mode and could see the car lowering!

I’ve learnt a lot in the last couple of weeks / 1,700 miles, will bore you anyone who visits this thread with that at some point.....

One thing I will say now is that it’s bloomin quick, much faster than the 535d and the hot hatches I’ve driven recently.  40mph to bong speed takes no time at all, the only downside is that the opportunities to get past 4,000 and full V8 noise aren’t frequent enough.

Completely agree. I confess to always pressing the start button before I close the door each morning to hear it fire up! Burbling around at low speed is lovely.

Time flies when you're having fun, I'm just over 7 weeks into 750 ownership.   Only 2 weeks after picking it up, I got a new job (same company) which has a load of positives but total mileage / travelling isn't one of them.   I'm doing a lot less private mileage as a result so I think it will work out OK overall.  

So in 7 weeks I've covered 5,200 miles!   The plan is still to keep the 750 to about 25k miles a year if possible, so the Golf will have to do more than I expected to maintain that, quite a bit more.....

I've poured in just under £1,000 worth of fuel so far (730 litres) at an average of 31.9mpg or 19.1p per mile.  That's better than expected and I get 22p per mile for business mileage, so I've spent about £150 less on fuel in that period than I would have done in the 535d/old job, whereas I expected to be spending more at 25mpg planned vs 39mpg.  Range is another upside vs expectation, I was hoping for 400 miles from a tank, but 500 is the average so far without pushing it too much and with a higher % of motorway miles I've had a couple of 550 miles.  Thanks in part to all the roadworks on the M6, it will easily crack 40mpg on my now regular runs up to Chester/Warrington.

Enough of the dull financial stuff.....onto some (potentially dull!) other stuff... 

In summary, I love it.  It does all of the things I wanted/hoped for really well, specifically comfort/refinement and plenty of performance when you need it, all of which is even more important when you're regularly spending 6-7 hours in the car in a day.  The voodoo suspension continues to impress, but you do get used to it and it's quite a shock when you get into something else.  I had a passenger ride in a colleagues new 5 series last week (530e M Sport, no adaptive suspension) and the ride felt awful in comparison plus the general refinement was well below.  It makes it quick from A-B as well, because it flows so nicely on poor roads allowing you to maintain speed and when you catch someone it's rather good at getting past.

Initially and at low speeds the performance felt similar to the 535d, but it's much faster.    The really low rev torque is the same, but it continues for longer and then the extra power comes in and it keeps pulling really strongly all the way to 7,000rpm.   I like the way the back end squats a little when you use full throttle and it really pushes you back in the seat, not what you expect from a 7 series.  It's been mainly dry which helps, but based on posts from BB, ALF etc, I was expecting issues with traction but it just grips and goes.   Surprises a few people when I'm in the mood, most recent being a newish Civic Type R (previous one, 2 exhausts each side) who hassled me as I rolled up to the lights and went into the soon to end RH lane...bye bye.   I left the M6 toll booth at the same time as a previous model C63 coupe, we both had the same idea, but I could hear some tyre squeal and then he either backed off or the TC took over (or both) and I was comfrotably ahead.  Got a thumbs up and a grin as he went past.

Picking out a few (OK, a lot!) of the other highlights, in no particular order, a couple of which are unexpectedly on the list

- Styling - Definately helped by the paintwork which really acentuates some of the curves and shapes, but I've gone from thinking it looks great to more than that and it's the best looking current BMW imho.  I expected it to be fairly low key and be mistaken for a 5 series (which has happened), so I've been surprised by the amount of attention it gets.   Heads turn around town, maybe because it doesn't sound like the expected diesel BMW, but also on the motorway, maybe because of the paintwork (especially in the recent sun)?

- Interior quality - General build quality, the materials used, the modern feel to everything and you've got to love full leather. 

- Sports exhaust - I don't know for sure what it would sound like without it, but assuming that it would be how it is below 3,000rpm with the exhaust switched off (the valves open above that anyway), then it's well worth the extra.  It gives you a nice, but neighbour friendly growl at startup, has a lovely expensive sounding burble at low revs and is louder than I expected as the revs increase.  No artificial pops and bangs either, just a great sound.  If you go into full sport (sport mode, gearshift in sport, manual gears) then you get a noise when you change up near the redline but it's a short 'Grrr' which actually sounds really good.

- Laserlights - Had a couple of late night journeys back from London and the range is amazing plus they work much better (more variation in light patterns) and more quickly than the adaptive LEDs in the 535d

- B&W Speakers - Seem to be getting even better with more use, stunning range and clarity plus they can go up to uncomfortable levels of volume without distortion.  A lot of money, not sure I could justify £5k on speakers, but I get a lot of use/pleasure from them

- Head up Display - I knew I would like it, but it's now on my essential option list for the future.  Really clear, especially the junction guidance and enhanced by the camera based speed limit display

- Comfort Seats - Took a while to get them just right because there is so much adjustment, but they are much more comfortable than the sports seats while still being very supportive when pushing on and having passenger memory is very handy.  The side bolsters tighten when you go into sport mode which is much more useful than you'd think and they slacken off completely when you turn the engine off

- Massage seats - Would never have paid extra for them based on my experiences (Peugeot hire car, couple of airline seats) and thought of them as an expensive gimmick but they're not at all, they really work (front and rear).  I suffer from lower back pain and stiffness fairly regularly (especially after a day of car cleaning or gardening) and 30mins of back (or lumbar) massage on the way to work really sorts me out. 

- Rear Seats - Unsurprisingly the boys love them.  The seats are as comfortable as the ones in the front (much better than the S Class) and almost as adjustable, you can get almost as much information on the rear screens as you can the front one (my youngest likes to remind me of how fast I'm going.....) plus digital TV and a bluray player.  The tablet is another thing that you'd think is a gimmick, but it makes controlling everything so easy.

- Surround cameras - Essential on a car this size, it's stressful enough in multi-story carparks with them!  The overhead view is good, but I particularly like the 3d view from outside the car

- Remote parking - The cars party trick, never fails to blow peoples mind, but the only use I've found for it so far is moving the car when cleaning the wheels.  I wouldn't park anywhere that was tight enough to need it


There isn't much on the disappointed or negative list.  

- The Pure Metal Silver paintwork looks amazing, but it is a bit stressful and I've got a couple of stone chips, not sure how well they can be dealt with

- Gear Selector - OK then selecting drive/reverse etc and moving across into sport mode, but feels really cheap when you use it to change gears manually.  The one in the 535d has a nicely damped feeling

- Paddles - Not as nice to touch as the ones in the 535d (which weren't brilliant), feel OK to use, but not in line with the rest of the interior

- Remote control parking - Fiddly to use and takes too long, much better to use the cameras and park yourself

- The display key is in the gimmick category, the only thing it does that the phone app doesn't is remote park the car. 


So, overall as you can tell by the length of this post (you don't have to read it all!), I'm really happy with my purchase, it's such an impressive car in so many ways and perfect for the sort of driving I do.

It's a shame you can't buy one anymore, but I suspect that will change next year when they launch the facelift car and sort out the WLTP issues.

Really? Surely it malkes you car more exclusive

It is fun, if slightly sobering, looking at used 750i and 760i’s. There is a lovely Ruby Black 760i on Sytner’s site (which has a great active search system) which has lost £63000 off list and done 150 miles.

Preferable to yellow I suppose.

How much longer is an “L” version? Was admiring a parked smart Singapore Grey 740Ld with a dark tan interior whilst waiting somewhere earlier and it struck me that it was a very large car indeed.

The L is 5” longer.  My next door neighbour has a Singapore Grey 740Ld.

I love the flared rear arches on BMWs at the moment.
From some angles on the 3 series they're very noticeable, rear 3/4 is best probably, and they give a sense of power which is countered somewhat on my car by the puny 2 litre diesel......

Helps with boredom and frustration in traffic as well!  (Needs to be in park to see the picture)

Yes, Jaguars and Land Rovers can have dual screen which lets the driver see the one thing and the passenger another (TV/DVD). The 750 picks up HD TV front and rear and has a Blueray player in the back, so picture quality is excellent.  It also has HDMI and USB inputs plus screen mirroring.

The B&W speakers have a movie mode and a rear seat mode (you can also use wired or wireless headphones), so it’s well set up for entertainment.

I do like that picture across the rear three quarters you've posted. Some of the surface work BMW has managed recently is impressive but sadly let down by hideous details. Their direction with comedy large grills is getting beyond the joke. A step in the right direction has been the reintroduction of bodywork between the headlamps and grill but so far that's only seen on the X models and they're all pretty horrid these days.

So to sum it up:

It’s bigger than my Lexus RX300.
It’s faster than it.
It’s about 3 times as economical as it.
It’s over twice as powerful as it.
It’s 18 years younger than it.
It’s more comfortable than it.
It’s more fg than it.
It’s way more expensive than it.
It’s got half as many driven wheels as it.
It’s got waaay less dents and scratches as it.
It’s rapidly accumulating as many miles as it. (256,000)


I’ll stop the comparisons now. It sounds like an excellent car that you’re getting to enjoy a lot.
However it’s no Japanese Mercedes... ;-)

All done. The 'Quality Enhancement' was an update of the control system, I don't know any more than that other than it's lost quite a few things in my profile (phones, shortcuts, some settings) and contents of the 2 x computers plus trip meter. Thankfully the memory seat and B&W settings are uneffected, as they took a while to get exactly to my liking.