Thought I'd make a new thread so this doesn't get lost in one of the others but have a 740d xDrive SWB just for the evening, dropping it back at the dealers tomorrow. Mainly to see if it would fit into my garage with remote parking which it won't because UK garages are just not wide enough on a modern build.
Anyway I had a short drive down a B road and have some observations I thought I'd share. I've looked up on the VIN checker and it's not heavy on the options, there's no Executive Drive for instance, active cruise and so on.
All the roads I'd mostly tried previously on test roads were reasonable but I decided to try it on one of Cambridgeshire's famous B roads. Famous only because of how bad some of them are, effectively the speed limit might be 60mph but go 60mph in most cars you risk bouncing off the road or throwing up, they are anything but flat. I'm not making this up, some of our roads are quite special
The particular road I tried I'd probably go around 50mph for most of it on the M5 simply because it'll bounce around too much, your confidence to go quicker just isn't there. Get a firmer car than the M5 and you'd likely need to go even slower to feel your safe, not going to be sick. The 740d though I put it in Adaptive and was quite happy at 60mph, could have gone faster still I think if I wanted.
A good example was a driver going pretty slow but a Golf GTI behind it, clear section came and the Golf overtook but the road then gets really bad so he slowed right down. I over took them both and they vanished behind despite only doing the speed limit. Neither of those cars were comfortable going close to the limit on sections of the road.
The suspension soaked the road up so I felt like it was far flatter than I know it is and gave me the confidence to go at speeds you simply wouldn't in other cars, even M models. Very impressed by that and something I'd not got to experience on a previous test drive.
In Sport on those roads it's much firmer. The car handles it fine but it stiffens up enough that you can imagine making yourself ill going at 60mph on those roads for a length of time again. So it's better in adaptive on that road, didn't try either of the Comforts with it as only a short drive but maybe when I get mine I'll give that a shot. If they aren't great then it must be the Adaptive mode doing it's magic.
Another thing I noticed is the body control is pretty good but take a corner pretty quickly even in sport and you can feel the lean. That's not there on the M760Li I'd driven so I'll chalk that one up to the Executive Drive Pro on the M760Li. For the people without it I'm not sure your missing an amazing amount if your not slinging it around corners but if you are then it's noticeable.
Launch Control... That works
It's got a real kick actually on the 740d xDrive from nothing when you use it. A lot of torque and in reality more than enough power from that motor, I'd be more than happy with that engine. Just the deal is good on the M760Li but I'd not feel short changed on a smaller one, it pulls the car very well.
The fuel gauge seemed to be broken. The car had around half a tank of fuel but still had 300 miles of range estimated. Witchcraft
Noticed it before but need to mention it again but the HUD is just so much bigger and better than in the M5, older BMW models. Absolutely love that and a must have option if you ask me.
Driving the car it just doesn't feel that big, it's very nimble for it's size. Knew this already but again need to mention it.
OK so the car does have the self parking feature where you just hold down the P button and it parks for you. I tried this twice and it scared the hell out of me both times. The first time next to a van and near the end it was swinging the back towards the van on the second go back (It had gone forwards once) that I grabbed the wheel which cancelled it. I'd hope it would have madly swung the wheel the other way but I bottled it.
The second time next to a normal car but the spaces were at a services and not hugely wide. The car swung around on first go, then forwards and lined it up reasonably nicely but it was going to be over the white lines. I'd not blame it because it's tight. Anyway it went back but decided I guess it shouldn't be over the lines so went forwards and tried to line itself up closer to the other car. Went back again and then slammed the brakes on telling me a hazard was in the way cancelling the park. There was nothing I was aware of but it was close to the other car. I'm thinking it wanted to be in the white lines but also felt that put it too close to the car next to it so aborted.
So not much luck with the self parking. Maybe it's better during the day when there's more light and no doubt works better with bigger spaces but it's just a bit scary. It doesn't half move at some speed when it's parking at points plus getting extremely close on occasions. Maybe one of you will give it a whirl and see how it works out, no doubt I'll give it another go when I get mine because I'll want to understand it but in reality probably never use it.
Last thing I want to mention is with my drivers seat in my position I can get into the back just fine but only really when the seat is upright. If I recline the seat I'm stuck sitting with my legs having to go either side of the drivers seat, I simply don't fit well when the seat slides forwards to do that. No issues with kids but I think if you want adults behind you and using the recline feature you do probably need the LWB. At least if you've 6 foot+ driver up front.
Gave me a short reminder of how good this car is while I wait for mine
