2020 BMW 750i xDrive sedan: Too smart for its own good…or yours

What is it: Still in its sixth generation, BMW’s 750i serves as a long-wheelbase flagship, and in typical German fashion that means a technological tour-de-force. In some ways that’s good — for example, Integral Active Steering delivers handling and a turning radius that’s almost magical in a car this size. In some ways, though, it’s maddening — the Drivers Assistance Package should be avoided at all costs.

Key Competitors: Mercedes S-Class, Tesla Model S, Cadillac CT6

Base Price: $103,645 As-Tested Price: $126,145

Highlights: 20 years hence, the 2020 BMW 750i might be viewed kind of like the early iDrive cars — a groundbreaking attempt to do something new, and possibly even noble, executed terribly. In this case, it’s related to driving assistants (steering feedback, lane-change warnings, radar cruise control and the like) that actively work against the driver in unpleasant (and sometimes dangerous) fashion.

Our Opinion: Less, in the case of the BMW 750i, would actually be more.

Not less car, per se — the 7 is a big, imposing luxury sedan and it looks good doing its thing. It has presence, as they say, and comes off low and wide, particularly in the company of the Suburbans and Navigators thronging the upscale suburbs of Detroit. Interior space is outstanding, and the Executive Package coddles rear seat passengers in reclining, massaging, heated-and-cooled comfort with tons of legroom.

Not less engine either. BMW’s twin-turbo V8 is just about perfect in this application, delivering smooth, seamless torque at any speed, legal or otherwise. It also surprised with its fuel economy, averaging right about the EPA average of 25 mpg during a sprint from southeast Michigan to Muskegon on the state’s gorgeous west coast and back. Without divulging too much, average speeds were not conservative, so the fact that a single tank of premium made the 400+ mile trip with range to spare was particularly impressive.

Rather, what this car needs less of is electronic equipment. A lot less. And what remains needs to be explained, thoroughly, by a dealer representative, BMW engineer, and possibly a priest/rabbi. BMW’s driving assistants take a competent, capable German luxury sedan and turn it into an active (sometimes aggressive) driving opponent, fighting the driver’s wishes during any kind of vaguely assertive maneuver. The steering ‘correction’ alone was enough to have me screaming at the 750i as it fought lane-changes (to the point of holding me between two lanes as I wrestled with it on one occasion) and intervening as I attempted to slot into rush-hour traffic. Please note, I’m not talking about driving like an asshole here. I’m talking about the kind of maneuvers anyone who navigates gridlock/rush-hour traffic is both required to perform and is skilled at. To have your car unexpectedly fight you as you’re slipping into the gap left by a texting SUV driver is flat-out dangerous.

It wasn’t just the driver assist electronics, either. An attempt by my daugher to use the rear-seat entertainment system resulted in me spending 30 minutes sitting in the back seat at a rest area, trying to figure out how the Samsung rear tablet was supposed to be paired with the car. It’s the kind of thing you expect would already be done, but no. It simply repeated a request to ‘scan a QR code to pair’ with no indication where such a code might be found. The owners manual (contained in the car’s infotainment system) finally pulled up the required code, after 10 minutes of searching, but the unhelpful instructions never did show us how to get the headphones to pair with the car. After half an hour of tapping icons and scrolling through menus we gave up and just set the fader (another 5 minutes to find that) to rear-only sound. Yes, it meant we had to listen the audio for ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ for 2 hours, but at that point I was so irritated with the 750i the humor was welcome, even if I couldn’t see the actual video.

The whole experience left me with a profound sense of sadness. The 750i is a superbly executed automobile, but a terrible mobile device. Unfortunately, the driving experience mixes those two ingredients in roughly equal proportions; since a car is only as good as its weakest link, all the efforts of the powertrain and chassis teams, plus the interior and exterior designers, is for naught because the overall user experience is so fatally flawed.

Base Price: $103,645

As-Tested Price: $126,145

Drivetrain: 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, eight-speed automatic, AWD

Output: 445 hp @ 5,500-6,000 rpm; 480 lb-ft @ 1,800-4,500 rpm Curb Weight: 4,623 lb

Fuel Economy (EPA city/Highway/Combined): 17/25/20 mpg

Date in AW fleet: 8/1

Date out AW fleet: 8/15

Pros: Unflappable chassis, glorious, smooth, twin-turbo V8 powertrain

Cons: Aggressive driving assistants and absurdly complex infotainment will make you want to set it on fire and collect the insurance money

Options: Autobahn Package with Integral Active Steering, Active Comfort Drive w. Preview ($4,100); Luxury Rear Seating Package with rear ventilated seats, rear comfort seats, heated steering wheel and armrests, rear massaging seats ($3,900); Executive Package with panoramic Sky Lounge LED roof, rear sunshades, front ventilated seats, front massaging seats, ceramic controls ($3,900); premium audio ($3,400); rear seat entertainemnt ($2,700); Drivers Assistance Package with extended traffic jam assist, active driving assistant pro ($1,700); 20-inch wheels ($1,300); Icon Adaptive LED with laserlight ($1,000); cognac leather ($500)

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