Drive Notes: 2024 BMW 750e xDrive

by Tim Healey

Published: May 8th, 2024

This week I was testing a 2024 BMW 750x xDrive plug-in hybrid, and honestly, I can't fully process the experience.

Let's just say this isn't the 7-Series I grew up with.

Oh sure, it's still luxurious. It's still a large, expensive flagship with both a base and as-tested price in the six figures. And it's still recognizably a Bimmer, inside and out.

But, as you'll see in this mini-review, it's an oddball to live with.

Pros

The amount of rear-seat space is limousine-like. I wish I could've hired a driver while I had the keys to this car in my possession.
As you might expect, the ride is silky smooth.
The seats are all-day comfortable.
If you like to be coddled by automation and gadgetry, this is the car for you. Cinch your seatbelt and the seat slides forward into your preferred driving position. The doors are power-assisted. If you equate wealth with "I let the machine do a small part of the work", this is the car for you.
The screens in the rear-door armrest are a nice touch.
The transitions from gas to electric are pretty smooth.
Matte paint looks good on this car.

Cons

BMW has gone a bit too far with the big, angry twin-kidney-bean grille. It's just too much.
This car is massive. Big enough to make parking in the city nerve-wracking, especially considering the matte paint job.
I don't often say a powertrain that has 308 horsepower and 331 lb-ft of torque is underpowered, but the hybrid powertrain (which uses a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six) needs a tad more oomph given the over 5,000-lb curb weight. At least it's silky-smooth.
I never got used to the power doors. This could be a "me" problem -- I like to plant my foot on the brake pedal to assist with exiting, and doing so here makes the car think you want to close the door.

There's a lot of luxury to like here -- it's quiet, smooth, and spacious. I could even learn to live with the way-too-blocky styling, I suppose. I also don't mind the power assistance when it comes to comfort, and the things that annoyed me would be easy enough to adjust to in time.

Still, it wasn't that long ago that flagship luxury sedans -- the 7-Series, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Lexus LS -- managed the contradiction of being both understated and flashy at the same time. This one goes for bold, and I am not sure it works.

That rear seat sure is nice, though.

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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3 of 39 comments

Carson D on May 10, 2024

I rode my bike past a BMW iX M60 as it was being loaded with beach stuff the other day. It sounded like it was idling quite loudly, but it is an EV. I was surprised by the noise, because I thought it was a Fisker Ocean as I rode up to it, and I know that they're EVs. Has anyone here driven an iX M60? Is it normal for them to sound like real automobiles while their owners are running the A/C in a parking space?

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- MaintenanceCosts on May 10, 2024
  
  EVs are now required to have a synthetic noise that comes on at very low speeds to warn sight-impaired pedestrians in parking lots and at crosswalks. I haven't driven an iX but on most EVs that noise goes away in Park. The iX, being a current BMW, may also have fake engine noise that you can turn on and off.
  
  1
Wjtinfwb on May 10, 2024

Had an E38, loved it dearly. I thought nothing could make me love the subsequent "Bangle" 7 series, but this latest version did. Apparently the psychotic drug epidemic plaguing North America has made its way to Munich and filtered into the design studios. This car is just grotesque.

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