[Banana Clipper]

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the adjustments and display a message stating the height adjustment is not available, then, re-implement the changes I originally made before finally temporarily disabling the ride height adjustment altogether for 30 seconds or so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.

[Banana Clipper]

Here is the actual vehicle we rented - https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/un.../bmw/x7/823101

Not a huge fan of the color combo but it got a LOT of compliments

[crackerjack15]

Interesting insights. I think a lot of your cons are because of the short time you had with the vehicle. I never liked head's up displays in other vehicles and felt they were redundant, but to me the X7's is spectacular. The 6cyl has plenty of oomph but you had it pretty loaded down. My air suspension works perfectly, but there is really only two height settings. Normal and one level lower. The other settings are for off road and loading. I drive a lot in comfort mode with the suspension down one setting. That way you get less float but not the firmer shock setting of sport. You can turn off all the pop ups. I daily drive the X7 and my 2021 is my second one. I also have a sports car, but I really like the X7. I purchased the X7 over the X5 for the extra space and the interior feels slightly more upscale.

[Auricom]

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

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

Always great to read owner and driver impressions, insights on X7s, and especially reading your 200 mile drive in Sonoma.

I'll address a couple of con's you've outlined:

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

Con's:[*]HUD is NOT polarized sunglasses friendly - even on the brightest settings the HUD was barely visible

That's with all BMW HUDs and if you have HUD in both of your 3 Series, this con would also be evident.

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

[*]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

If you're in driving dynamics COMFORT mode and depending on speed, RPM and gear it's in - there can be a hesitation before kick-down. Press driving dynamics SPORT or SPORT+ eliminates the issue, or temporarily use the steering wheel paddles for manual shifts or move the gear shifter to the left position to engage STEPTRONIC transmission Sport program.

There's also the engine output and torque differences between the X7 xDrive40i's B58B30M1 335hp, your M340i B58B30O1 382hp and your wife's X3 M40i B58B30M0 355hp.

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

[*]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

The are system limits in adjusting the BMW 2-axle Air Suspension that new drivers aren't aware of that requires orientation:

- It may not be possible to change the right height level during dynamic (Fast-n-Furious) driving, while making turns, or taking curves.

- If level adjustment is activated frequently in quick succession, the system switches off to prevent overheating and is temporarily unavailable or operates with a delay. The rapidly flashing LED on the rocker switch indicates that the system is unavailable.

- Depending on vehicle's ride height level, level adjustment is speed limited eg - you can't lower from Normal or Sport levels to Load level unless the vehicle is at stand still. Likewise you can't raise to High 1 or High 2 due to specific speed activation ranges - High 1 (0-27mph) and High 2 (0-18mph)

- If vehicle load is increased, the highest driving level is locked or automatically exited in order to protect the system.

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

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'm over simplifying this comparison but the driver's POV is similar and equivalent to your M340i - Live Cockpit Pro, lighting controls, control stalks, climate controls and center console iDrive/shift combi. There are definitely more controls on the driver's door and touch-sensitive electronic seating controls, otherwise the iDrive/shifter combi control units are identical - though with different finish, materials and extra control for air suspension.

BMW 3 Series




BMW X7

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

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 doesn't have a daily "practicality" to it - In MY opinion, I'm sure there are people that drive their X7 as their DD

Same could be said of G05/06 owners but owners with families, activities or lifestyle that requires or doesn't require the space, the X7 is a convincing sport luxury SAV.

Originally Posted by crackerjack15

Interesting insights. I think a lot of your cons are because of the short time you had with the vehicle

This +1

[rich5741]

I think HUDs are inherently invisible to most polarized sunglasses. Polarized sunglasses are made to filter glare and reflections. The act of reflecting (am not a physicist so don’t know the exact mechanism) reorients light waves into a horizontal plane, so all reflections (and glare, which is a type of reflection) is horizontally oriented. Polarized sunglasses filter out horizontally oriented light, that is how they cut down on reflections and glare. Since the HUD image is effectively a reflection of the HUD screen off the windshield and thus becomes horizontally oriented, then polarized sunglasses will filter out the HUD.

Simply put, the point of polarizing sunglasses is to filter out reflections, and HUD image is a reflection.

[Wanderer73]

Interesting impressions. For me, the X7 M50i is as close as I could find to a perfect car for a family of five. It's our daily driver and I've found it to be versatile in the city and up in the mountains (endless fun).

OP if you get a chance, go test drive the M50i variant. It's pretty fun to see what a 5,000+lbs SUV can do when you throw it around.

[Jakerx]

Originally Posted by rich5741

I think HUDs are inherently invisible to most polarized sunglasses. Polarized sunglasses are made to filter glare and reflections. The act of reflecting (am not a physicist so don’t know the exact mechanism) reorients light waves into a horizontal plane, so all reflections (and glare, which is a type of reflection) is horizontally oriented. Polarized sunglasses filter out horizontally oriented light, that is how they cut down on reflections and glare. Since the HUD image is effectively a reflection of the HUD screen off the windshield and thus becomes horizontally oriented, then polarized sunglasses will filter out the HUD.

Simply put, the point of polarizing sunglasses is to filter out reflections, and HUD image is a reflection.

Yep. It’s the same in every single vehicle with a HUD.

[weingarm]

Originally Posted by Wanderer73

Interesting impressions. For me, the X7 M50i is as close as I could find to a perfect car for a family of five. It's our daily driver and I've found it to be versatile in the city and up in the mountains (endless fun).

OP if you get a chance, go test drive the M50i variant. It's pretty fun to see what a 5,000+lbs SUV can do when you throw it around.

+1

When you have a family of 6 like me (wife, myself, plus 4 kids age 5 through 12) then the X7 becomes the EVERY DAY vehicle. I am in the "target market" for this X7!

Much more than just weekend jaunts to the ski resort or lake house!

We have the 40i version (wife's primary vehicle). I would gladly take an X7 M50i for just myself but would much rather drive my M5 (or likely upcoming M3 6MT) much more!

[Hejusnice]

Originally Posted by Auricom

Always great to read owner and driver impressions, insights on X7s, and especially reading your 200 mile drive in Sonoma.

I'll address a couple of con's you've outlined:

That's with all BMW HUDs and if you have HUD in both of your 3 Series, this con would also be evident.

If you're in driving dynamics COMFORT mode and depending on speed, RPM and gear it's in - there can be a hesitation before kick-down. Press driving dynamics SPORT or SPORT+ eliminates the issue or use the paddles or move shifter to the left position to engage STEPTRONIC transmission Sport program.

There's also difference between the X7 xDrive40i B58B30M1 335hp and your M340i B58B30O1 382hp and your wife's X3 M40i B58B30M0 355hp engines.

The are system limits to adjusting the BMW 2-axle Air Suspension that most new drivers aren't aware of:

- It may not be possible to change the level during dynamic (Fast-n-Furious) driving, while turning, or taking curves

- If level adjustment is activated frequently in quick succession, the system switches off to prevent overheating and is temporarily unavailable or operates with a delay. The rapidly flashing LED on the rocker switch indicates that the system is unavailable.

- Depending on current ride height it's level adjustment is speed limited eg - you can lower from Normal or Sport levels to Load level unless the vehicle is at stand still. Likewise you can't raise from Normal to H1 or H2 due to specific speed activated ranges - H1 (0-27mph) and H2 (0-18mph)

- If vehicle load is increased, the highest driving level is locked or automatically exited in order to protect the system.

This is an over simplification but the driver's POV to controls is similar and relatively equivalent to your M340i. There are definitely more controls on the driver's door and electronic touch seating controls, but the shifter/iDrive control units are identical - with different finish and extra control for air suspension.

BMW 3 Series

Attachment 2586068


BMW X7

Attachment 2586081

Same could be said of G05/06 owners but owners with families, activities or lifestyle that requires or doesn't require the space, the X7 is a convincing sport luxury SAV.

This +1

[Jhowell]

Originally Posted by rich5741

I think HUDs are inherently invisible to most polarized sunglasses. Polarized sunglasses are made to filter glare and reflections. The act of reflecting (am not a physicist so don't know the exact mechanism) reorients light waves into a horizontal plane, so all reflections (and glare, which is a type of reflection) is horizontally oriented. Polarized sunglasses filter out horizontally oriented light, that is how they cut down on reflections and glare. Since the HUD image is effectively a reflection of the HUD screen off the windshield and thus becomes horizontally oriented, then polarized sunglasses will filter out the HUD.

Simply put, the point of polarizing sunglasses is to filter out reflections, and HUD image is a reflection.

I was going through the Genius videos on YouTube last night and they had a video on the HUD. They mentioned that you can try to rotate the HUD image in an attempt to defeat polarized sunglasses. I haven't tried it yet, but seems like an interesting workaround.

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by Jhowell

I was going through the Genius videos on YouTube last night and they had a video on the HUD. They mentioned that you can try to rotate the HUD image in an attempt to defeat polarized sunglasses. I haven't tried it yet, but seems like an interesting workaround.

I'd imagine that is rotating the image more than the projection of the image, seems odd they'd throw motors in there, but I could be wrong, I mean, I'm no "genius"

People have reported that some lenses/brands let you see the HUD a little better, and some cars have the ability to project a little brighter, so the right lens/car/rotation might get some to the point that they could at least see it "better", but not as good as if they were using a non-polarized lens.

Pilots have been having this issue for decades, and with all the technological advancements their solution is still to wear non-polarized lenses. You would think they would be more concerned about their eyes than most as well and try to seek a better solution. It is sort of a pain because that really limits the selection of decent sunglasses. I've been going Ray Ban the last 10 years or so for my driving sunglasses, most of their frames seem to have both choices.

You could also just drive around with your head tilted 45 degrees.

[huskerdoc2020]

You realize that the dash screen are polarized as well. If you turn your lenses 90 degrees you will see the HUD perfectly but the dash screens vanish.

[Auricom]

Driving with an askew HUD would drive me crazy LOL.

[huskerdoc2020]

Does anyone else HUD seem like it rotates a bit and you have to adjust it?

[MystroX5]

The HUD and polarized glasses is a common known issue with most luxury brands for years. Some luxury brands even had their entire cluster gage not play well with polarized lenses. As far as BMW, I can still make out the HUD with polarized lenses but it is dim. My final solution was to have a one pair of Prada RX sunglasses without polarized lenses. Problem solved and I can now read the gas pumps as they also don’t play well with polarized sunglasses. These are truly minor “first world” problems.

[viperdoc]

We just picked up our 40i and drove 350 miles home yesterday. We got the dynamic handling package on our build. When you combine that with the power, even with our family of 5 packed in the vehicle, and the comfort, It was such a wonderful drive I actually started wondering if I needed to get one too instead of my x5. Only one drive so far, but feels worth every penny of the $93k MSRP

[ChexBMW]

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

Wish I got to play with more of the gadgets like the self-parking, but our day was pretty busy

Great selling point for the X7. However, that feature rarely works anyway. Would be cool if it did.

Many other features you paid for seem to be still in BETA too. Nice vehicle.. Wish it all worked as promised.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by Banana Clipper

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

Great thoughts on the X7, and I agree with most! I'll echo Auricom on many thoughts on YOUR thoughts.

Pro's:

• Front seats have built-in massaging, heating, and cooling, which was nice for a long day of driving

Just realize that the massaging and ventilation (which is not quite cooling) comes with the luxury seating package, which not every X7 has. I completely agree that it's quite awesome, particularly on longer road trips, and makes seating oh so comfortable.

Con's:
[*]HUD is NOT polarized sunglasses friendly - even on the brightest settings the HUD was barely visible

Others have chimed in too. I'm a pilot, and we can't even wear polarized sunglasses in $220 million aircraft, where it's super bright especially at high altitudes, because of our HUDs and cockpit displays. So it's not just a BMW thing. Yes, as others have mentioned, BMW allows you to tilt the HUD display, which I think is silly, because then it's just all canted. Really, the answer is just non-polarized sunglasses. I haven't worn polarized glasses for 25 years, and don't miss them at all. You can find great alternative options.

[*]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

I agree that I think this is an issue of system familiarity. It took me several days or more to figure out the suspension nuances. As Auricom says, it's designed to have limitations under certain conditions.

[*]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

Agreed. I think space is great in the X7. It seats 6-7 adults very comfortably, which was the original point of creating the X7 over the X5. But to do that AND hold luggage for those people on a trip, it requires moving up to Excursion/Suburban vehicle sizes, which is something I doubt BMW will ever do.

[*]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 think this comment is quite noteworthy and deserves reflection. I 100% understand where you're coming from on this, and experienced some of the same "overwhelming" operation tech details when I first got my car, even with years of researching the vehicle, test drives, and 2 hours with a BMW delivery specialist. I also experienced the same thing when I rented a Porsche Cayenne on a vacation, not being able to figure out how to work many of the features, without digging into the owner's manual.

The issue seems to be that the X7 has SO many features and gadgets, that can do SO many things. Whenever a company designs a powerful product, this becomes a conundrum. Past a certain point, features have a complexity where they are not necessarily simple to use, and require experience and/or training. Designers/engineers try to make them as intuitive as possible, or reduce/remove the amount of user input that's required to make these systems work. If they can make them automated, it can become a win for everyone.

But in the end, sometimes it becomes a trade-off question. Do you want to dumb-down the system so that it's obvious to everyone, even first-time users? Or do you intentionally make the system more powerful, knowing that it will be confusing/frustrating for first-time users, and/or require training to use?

As a pilot, I could go way in depth on topics of ergonomics and human factors in system design. But I'll just say that I appreciate that BMW did make so many X7 features powerful, even if they take some time to fully learn in experience. After 2 months of ownership, there's STILL a few details I'm still fully mastering of the car.

AND, I will also say that there's room for improvement from BMW on several of these systems, to make them more intuitive for all users. (ahem... X7 seat operation?) I'm actually surprised that you didn't comment on that one in your review, as that's a common X7 critique from everyone, upon first use. Especially since you repeatedly used the 3rd row! After 2 months of ownership, I still don't find seat operation intuitive. (so.. this lever, in this location in the car, controls that particular seat... do I pull it? Push it? One touch? Or do I have to hold it? One touch didn't do anything immediately, do I have to wait? Or push it again? Or do I have to pull the seatback too?)


Oh, and FWIW, I think you inadvertently activated either an Experience Mode, or Caring Car mode, where it started adjusting all those various parameters on you.

[*]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

Actually, yeah, this reminds me. Whenever my daughter gets in the front passenger seat, she feels compelled to fiddle with the seat adjustments, even if it's already in her preset. This brings up the "Save as preset?" notice on the iDrive every time. I'll have to see if I can turn that off.

[*]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[/LIST]

Yeah. Other than getting very warm, I don't seem to have issues with wireless charging or CarPlay, but I know others do. Room for improvement here from BMW.

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

Yeah, we have various owners here. Many here in the forum are parents that routinely use their X7's with several kids, and find it preferable to drive the X7 instead of a minivan. Me, actually, most of the time, I'm in the X7 by myself. The room and transport capabilities are there when I need it with family or putting something in the trunk. But it's just so... darn... NICE... driving this luxurious vehicle for me, and I personally need the higher seating height of an X instead of a 7-series sedan.

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.

Completely agree! The listing on your rental vehicle doesn't mention the Dynamic Handling Package--I'm going to guess it didn't have it. With DHP, the drive is even more amazing, and the vehicle handles like a dream. It's still a massive SAV, but tight and nimble. I even had a blast doing autocross with the X7! (see my road trip journal in my signature)

Just one other note--the color of the X7 you rented, Vermont Bronze, limits some of the driver assistant automation features. So other X7's will have even a few more features than what you got to try.

Thanks for the X7 thoughts! Hope you get to try one again!

[Jhowell]

Originally Posted by Jhowell

I was going through the Genius videos on YouTube last night and they had a video on the HUD. They mentioned that you can try to rotate the HUD image in an attempt to defeat polarized sunglasses. I haven't tried it yet, but seems like an interesting workaround.

Here is the video:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...a8Pfj6kj_3Q78R