As impressed as we are with the all-new BMW 7 Series and its on-board tech, in terms of performance, its 730d xDrive version isn’t particularly faster than the previous generation model.
Before we talk about those numbers, let’s in fact see how quickly (or not) the new 730d xDrive can move its 1,900 kg behind (4,188 lbs) from 0 to 230 km/h (142 mph).
It starts off by hitting 100 km/h (62 mph) in about 5.8 seconds, though after that, it doesn’t look any faster than, say, a run-of-the-mill hot hatch. The entire sprint took around 39 seconds to complete, as for the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark, the Bimmer needed roughly 25 seconds.
It’s not a really fast car, but you might call it adequately fast, considering how much it weighs and the category it’s in. But here’s the thing; the old 730d xDrive was only 85 kg (187 lbs) heavier, yet was similarly fast throughout its rev range.
In fact, the F01 version needed 6 seconds flat in order to hit 100 km/h, and since that’s just a 0.2 sec difference, we might as well call it insignificant.
Though, if you want to take the G11’s side, you could argue that in the second run (where the driver put transmission in Sport and shifted from 1st into 2nd himself), the car was slightly quicker. The difference? About a full second from 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph), compared to before.
While we can all probably agree that the all-new 7-Series is a very impressive car, on paper the 730d xDrive version isn’t any quicker than the already outdated Audi A8 3.0 TDI quattro, which is even slightly down on horsepower.