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      07-30-2009, 08:11 AM   #1
Jason
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2009 BMW 750i - Test Drive

BMWBLOG recently conducted a test drive of the 750i and shares with us their experience and thoughts. Here's part of the review.

The new BMW 7 Series is one of those cars that you either fall in love at first sight or you never will, but we did and this happened the first time we laid our eyes on the car at the L.A Auto Show last November. Our second encounter with the 7 Series reinforced this warm feeling and after driving the car for the first time, we were ready to commit.

But here comes the third date where we finally got to spend some time together and got to know each other down to the very last detail. You know what they say? Live together before you commit and we did, for an entire week and hundreds of miles, we have been bonding.

Ready to hear more about this wonderful relationship? Or….was it really wonderful?

It takes time to get to know a car and most important to learn how it drives and handles, so our goal was to use the new 750i in different scenarios, from a daily driver commuting in the infernal Chicago traffic to a family car and of course, to a sporty ride let loose on an uncluttered highway.

But most important, riding in the car as a passenger also, it really shows that the new BMW 7 Series can be indeed used by a variety of people, reaching out to a far larger demographic that one would expect.

It’s got the “Look”

While the previous fourth-generation model lived under the umbrella of the controversial ex-Chief Design at BMW, Chris Bangle, the new generation marks the debut of a new design language led by Adriaan Von Hoydonk. The new longer, but sleeker and muscular design of this new 7 Series comes to correct some of the minuses of the previous generation 7er, which still holds today the record of the best selling 7 Series ever.
If I were to describe the exterior design in one word, then “handsome” would be the choice.

If I were to describe the exterior design in one word, then “handsome” would be the choice. Starting at the front, the first thing that stands out is the massive and vertical grille which received its fair share of criticism in the beginning, but seeing the car in person can really change the overall perception of it. Take a few seconds and imagine this massive and fairly long car sporting a smaller kidney grille….now look back again at the front-end and tell me if BMW could have really pulled it off by going with a more conventional approach; most likely not, the grille absolutely matches the front fascia.

The headlights are more harmonious than the ones in the previous generation and the more obvious eyebrow seems to port across other new models as well.

The side view can be categorized as clean but at the same time very modern. The shoulder line goes across the side, from the upper area of the taillight and all the way to the front, slowly blending into the front skirt. The BMW trademark, Hoffmeister Kink is still there, so tradition is carried along the way.

“Bangle-but” - that expression that we all loved to hate( or is it hate to love?) can finally be forgotten. The trunklid is far less bulbous and it adds an ounce of aggressiveness. The L-Shaped taillights have been redesigned, maintaining an elegant and modern look, which unfortunately can’t always be seen in all the photos.

The bumper-mounted exhaust tips, in our opinion, do seem to resemble the ones found on the Lexus LS, a comparison that we would love to be able to ignore.

Read the rest of review:
http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/30/20...0i-test-drive/
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