BMW 750Li, Track Test

We seem to find ourselves at the racetrack with this luxury sedan more often than not. Not only did we first test it at a racetrack in the US over a year ago, but we brought it to the Buddh International Circuit a couple of months ago in order to see if it could outpace BMW’s very own sports car – the Z4. Considering that the 750Li produces 450 horses and accelerates to 100km/h in under 5 seconds, we expected it to be competitive. What we didn’t expect was that the mammoth 7 Series would eclipse its more lithe sister by over 1 second. But that’s not all, because, when it comes time to the drive home from the track, it insulates you in a cocoon of luxury and technology.

Not only does the 7 Series drive like a bat out of hell when you want it to, but it also performs like the finest luxury limousine you can imagine. And it’s this breadth of sheer ability that makes it one of our best picks of 2016. Being a BMW flagship, you expect it to be packed to the gills with the latest technology – so, really, it’s not surprising that it has a tablet in the back seat to control the incredible number of features that you can play with back there, nor is it all that novel that you can control certain functions with hand gestures (that’s more of a party trick than anything else), or even the fact that it parks itself (a feature that’s not allowed in our market as yet because it uses radar) – it’s the fact that when you put all of this together, the 7 Series can do virtually everything. Because of what BMW calls a carbon core – which is, in fact, an intricate interplay of steel, aluminium and carbon fibre throughout the chassis and body, all of which yields a substantial weight reduction – the new 7 Series wafts like a land yacht on the road in Comfort mode and attacks corners like a sports car on the track in Sport Plus. And there aren’t many cars in the world that can put those two together, but this luxury sedan can – without batting an eyelid!

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