So yesterday a group of us did some adulting up in Sonoma and rented an X7 to fit the 6 of us and here are my thoughts after a full day driving about 200 miles in an X7
Pro's:
- Fits 6 adults, 5 of us over 6'2" tall, rather easily and comfortably
- Ambient lighting is far better than my M340i
- Front seats have built-in massaging, heating, and cooling, which was nice for a long day of driving
- EVERYTHING is electric, and I mean EVERYTHING from the upper and lower tailgates to the thigh support
- The driver seat reminded me of my M340i so I was very comfortable driving it and all the controls were extremely familiar
- 275's in the front + 315's in the rear + AWD = fun in a big SUV
- 200 miles driven and not even a half tank of gas consumed- Cost me about $35 to top it back off with Shell gas around $4.30 a gallon
- Couldnt tell it was AWD - there is a clear difference between my M340i (RWD)and the Wife's X3 M40i (AWD)
Con's:
- HUD was pretty laggy - I missed several exits because the HUD was showing as if I needed to go up one more exit as I was passing the actual exit I needed, this happened probably 10 times in the course of the day
- HUD is NOT polarized sunglasses friendly - even on the brightest settings the HUD was barely visible
- Engine had great low end but when going 70mph+ it reminded me of a Ford Fiesta I rented once in that the when you floored it the gears would drop and the engine would roar but the car didnt actually go much faster
- The air suspension was unreliable to use - I would allow me to make adjustment but then revert the adjustments and display a message stating the height adjustment is not available, then, re-implement the changes I originally made before finally temporarily disabling the ride height adjustment altogether for 30 seconds or so
- With 6 adults there was only enough room for about 4 backpacks in the trunk. Under seat storage was okay, maybe 2 more backpacks (on a side note there is a "Maximum storage" setting which automatically lowers the rear 2 rows of seating and you could fit a small boat back there so ultimately storage isnt a huge issue and I'd be shocked if someone is using their $120K SUV to move their belongings
- Too many buttons and gadets and settings - I'm a tech guy in Silicon Valley and for me it was all a bit overwhelming. I would change one setting and all the seats would adjust, start heating up, giving punching massages, closing the sun roof, ambient lighting changes, "relaxing" music started playing like I was in a spa
- I forget what the setting was called but anytime someone would make adjustments to their seats a notification would come up on the iDrive screen. SUPER annoying and its a setting you had to turn off PER seat
- Wireless charging seemed buggy at best. It'd work fine til I got a text/notification and then it would lag and the music would skip. Could be a phone issue too but I dont have these issues in our other 2 BMW's
Overall, IF I could afford one I'd love to have one, however, it feels like the kind of vehicle that's only purpose is for events like taking a group of 6 up to the lake cabin house or skiing. It doesnt have a daily "practicality" to it - In MY opinion, I'm sure there are people that drive their X7 as their DD
I was impressed with the handling as well, with 6 adults the X7 handled like I was the only person in the vehicle. I was passing between cars at 75/80mph confidently, around corners, tight areas, you have a really good "sense" of the size of the vehicle, no real blind spots to speak of that I was aware of.
Wish I got to play with more of the gadgets like the self-parking, but our day was pretty busy
Anyway, just thought I'd share my $0.02 on my first experience with an X7. It was a dream vehicle for the wife and I at one point.
I'd be curious to hear others experiences with the X7 as well.