2021 BMW X 7: All You Need To Know — Not Just a Point A to B drive

BMW X7: Not Just a Point A to B drive! BMW con­tin­ues to aston­ish the mar­ket with its evolv­ing tech­nol­o­gy and unprece­dent­ed upgrades. As a lux­u­ry car/truck, BMW con­tin­ues to have the basic lux­u­ry fea­tures ( basi­cal­ly basic for BMW ) with a fine, ele­gant taste in each mod­el to con­tin­ue com­pet­ing itself. BMW’s main ene­my is TIME, and so far, BMW has been the win­ner. In 2021, BMW released two ver­sions of the X7 with 2 dif­fer­ent engine options ( X7 xDrive 40i and X7 M50i ). BMW con­tin­ues its well-known fea­ture of hav­ing a long list of addi­tion­al options than the stan­dard list com­pared to oth­er man­u­fac­tur­ers. I believe that’s an advan­tage in a lux­u­ry vehi­cle as most of the basics are already lux­u­ry options. Hav­ing a big­ger list of added options gives you the ver­sa­til­i­ty to add on (and man­age your bud­get accord­ing­ly )while still hav­ing all the lux­u­ry options usu­al­ly not found in oth­er vehi­cles if you chose not to add many options.

Why The X7?

It is BMW’S biggest Sport Util­i­ty Vehi­cle (SUV ). It is an upgrad­ed size from the X5 with 3 rows seat­ing ( X5 had the third row as an option ). Yet, the third row is big­ger than the X5 option­al one and big­ger than most three-row SUVs.

Engine Options 

Both engine options have 8‑speed auto­mat­ic trans­mis­sion and all-wheel drive. 1- xDrive 40i: This is the small­er of the 2 options; it has tur­bocharged 3.0 liter inline-six cylin­ders giv­ing 335 horse­pow­er  2- M50i: This big­ger engine has tur­bocharged 4.4 liter inline 8 cylin­ders that gen­er­ate 523 horse­pow­er.

Which Engine Is Better For Me?

Well, it depends on what you aim for… If you are dri­ving for its fun dri­ve with­out the need to tow any­thing, then go with the small­er, cheap­er xDrive 40i engine. Yet, if you plan to tow some­thing like a boat etc., you would need to gath­er some information. The tow­ing capac­i­ty of any of these 2 engines is great, yet if you have a cer­tain load in mind to tow, it is bet­ter to choose carefully. In gen­er­al, as a rough exam­ple, boats that are 21-foot long usu­al­ly weigh around 5000 Ibs. Most trail­ers of the same length would weigh between 500‑1000 Ibs. So you would need a tow­ing capac­i­ty of around 6000 Ibs. The xDrive 40i tow­ing capac­i­ty is around 5400 Ibs, while the M50i can tow up to 5950 Ibs. We had searched lots of guide­lines for tow­ing and engine capac­i­ty. From our expe­ri­ence, these are the aver­age num­bers you would aim for. Hav­ing said that, the X7 M50i can tow up to 7500 Ibs, yet I won’t rec­om­mend this on an ongo­ing basis if you plan to keep your lux­u­ry baby for a longer time. Yet, if your boat is small­er than that, then you are good to go with no concerns.

Fuel consumption :

Obvi­ous­ly, when you aim for an SUV, you know you are pay­ing more gas than most sedans. Also, when you want to own a BMW X7, you are going for a heavy, stur­dy machine with high­er torque. This comes with a rel­a­tive­ly increased fuel cost. Hav­ing said that, the X7 high­ly com­petes with its coun­ter­parts’ lux­u­ry SUVs by oth­er manufacturers. These 2 engines require Gaso­line ( not Diesel ) and specif­i­cal­ly the ultra-pre­mi­um one.  The Xdrive 40i con­sumes 10.8 litres per 100 km, while the M50i con­sumes 13.6 litres per 100 km.

Accelerations :

The Xdrive 40i accel­er­ates from 0–100 km/hr in 6.1 sec­onds, while the M50i only takes 4.7 seconds. Is this impor­tant? Prac­ti­cal­ly, no!  We only men­tioned it for your knowl­edge, as it only indi­cates the engine strength, and we won’t rec­om­mend reach­ing 100 km/hr in a few sec­onds for safe­ty pur­pos­es unless you are on a vacant freeway.

Packages :

Con­fused regard­ing what to choose? What to add to your new dri­ve? We will try to make it a bit easier. As we men­tioned, BMW has a big list of options. All of these are just an add-on to a basic lux­u­ry vehi­cle, so it is wise to be mind­ful of what you add to your list.

(A) Xdrive 40i Packages 

- Advanced Dri­ving Assis­tant Pack­age ( $ 2000 )

• Steer­ing and lane control 
• Eva­sion assist
• Dri­ving assis­tant professional
• Cross-traf­fic alert (front)
• Lane keep assistant
• Traf­fic jam assistant
• Active cruise con­trol with stop and go

- M Sport Pack­age ( $ 3400 )

• Sev­er­al wheels options to choose from
• Black high gloss roof rails
• M sport brake
• Anthracite Alcan­tara roofline
• With­out exte­ri­or lines designation
• M sports exhaust system
• M aero­dy­nam­ics pack­age (The M aero­dy­nam­ics pack fea­tures the front and rear aprons as well as sill cov­ers at the side in body colour. It also includes inserts in dec­o­ra­tive ele­ments in Dark Shad­ow metallic. )
• M sport pack­age ( The M Sport mod­el exte­ri­or equip­ment includes 21’’ M light alloy Dou­ble-spoke style 754 M wheels (Bicolour with run-flat tyres), BMW Indi­vid­ual High-gloss Shad­ow­line roof rails, High-gloss Shad­ow­line exte­ri­or trim, M aero­dy­nam­ic body styling, M des­ig­na­tion on the front side pan­els, M Sport brak­ing sys­tem, Step­tron­ic Sport trans­mis­sion and tailpipes fin­ished in M Sport pack­age-spe­cif­ic geom­e­try. The inte­ri­or equip­ment includes BMW Indi­vid­ual head­lin­ing in Alcan­tara Anthracite, Door sill fin­ish­ers with M des­ig­na­tion, Door sill inlays with illu­mi­nat­ed BMW M des­ig­na­tion, Fine-wood Fine­line Black inte­ri­or trim with High-gloss met­al effect, M‑specific leather steer­ing wheel, M‑specific key, M‑specific ped­als and M vehi­cle key.)
• High-gloss shad­ow line 
• M leather steer­ing wheel

- Dynam­ic Han­dling Pack­age ( $ 4750 ) Active com­fort dri­ves with road pre­view ( The Exec­u­tive Dri­ve Pro sys­tem ensures excep­tion­al dri­ving com­fort while fea­tur­ing out­stand­ing dynam­ic dri­ving char­ac­ter­is­tics. Although the two-axle air sus­pen­sion with vari­able dampers already fea­tures excel­lent com­fort fea­tures, the addi­tion of Exec­u­tive Dri­ve Pro with elec­tro-mechan­i­cal body roll sta­bil­i­sa­tion reduces body roll in bends and on bumpy, uneven road sur­faces to a minimum. The sys­tem is based on active sta­bilis­ers on the front and rear axles and con­tin­u­ous­ly reg­u­lates the sus­pen­sion dur­ing the jour­ney. Dri­ving com­fort and dynam­ics reach the high­est lev­el of expres­sion thanks to the inte­gra­tion of addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion from the nav­i­ga­tion sys­tem, the dri­ving style analy­sis and the Route-ahead data col­lect­ed via cam­era. Only avail­able with Inte­gral Active Steer­ing on M Per­for­mance models. ) Inte­gral active steer­ing ( Inte­gral Active Steer­ing boosts manoeu­vra­bil­i­ty and agili­ty at low­er speeds while improv­ing sta­bil­i­ty at high­er speeds. The vari­able steer­ing ratio enhances the steer­ing angle while manoeu­vring, which makes the steer­ing more direct. For small steer­ing move­ments, for exam­ple, on the motor­way, the steer­ing is more indi­rect, thus improv­ing accu­ra­cy and safe­ty. At low­er speeds, the rear-wheel steer­ing offers greater manoeu­vra­bil­i­ty and agili­ty by turn­ing the rear wheels oppo­site the front wheels, only in con­junc­tion with Exec­u­tive Dri­ve Pro on the M Per­for­mance model. - Two-Tone Night Blue Pack­age ( $ 5100 )

• Ivory White/Night blue full Meri­no Leather
• Walk­nap­pa Leather Dashboard
• Night Blue Alcan­tara Roofliner

- Pre­mi­um Enhanced Pack­age ( $ 7000 )

• Trav­el and com­fort system 
• Rear enter­tain­ment sys­tem ( 1950 $ extra )
• Heat­ed and cooled cup holder
• Auto 5‑zone cli­mate control
• Com­fort seats, front
• Head-up dis­play
• BMW dri­ver recorder
• Soft-close doors
• Park­ing assis­tant plus w/surround view
• Elec­tric side sunshades 

Pre­mi­um Excel­lence Pack­age ( $ 16,000) Select One Of The Following:

• Ivory white extend­ed meri­no leather
• Cof­fer extend­ed meri­no leather
• Black extend­ed Meri­no leather
• Tartu­fo extend­ed meri­no leather
• Ivory white/night blue full meri­no leather
• Ivory white full meri­no leather ( $2500 extra )
• Cof­fee full meri­no leather ( $2500 extra )
• Black full meri­no leather ( $2500 extra )
• Tartu­fo full meri­no leather ( $2500 extra )

Plus :

• Park­ing assis­tant plus w/surround view
• Lane keep assistant 
• Anthracite alcan­tara roof liner
• Steer­ing and lane control
• Auro 5‑zone cli­mate control
• Sky lounger panoram­ic glass sunroof.
• Ambi­ent air pack­age ( The Ambi­ent Air Pack­age com­pris­es fra­grance dis­per­sal and air ion­i­sa­tion func­tions. There are two fra­grances to choose from. The inten­si­ty of the scents can be con­trolled in three stages via the iDrive but­ton or Con­troller in the air con­di­tion­ing con­trol pan­el. The Starter kit includes two fra­grances: Blue Suite No. 1 and Gold­en Suite No. 2. Only avail­able as part of the Pre­mi­um Pack).
• Heat­ed and cooled cup holder
• Elec­tric side sunshades 
• Mas­sage func­tion for dri­ver and passenger
• BMW laser-light headlights
• Dri­ving assis­tant professional
• Active cruise con­trol with stop and go
• BMW dri­ve recorder 
• Traf­fic jam assistant
• Com­fort seats, front
• Ven­ti­lat­ed seats, front
• Soft-close doors
• Eva­sion assist
• Cross-traf­fic alert ( front)
• Walk­nap­pa leather dashboard 
• Glass appli­ca­tion “craft­ed clar­i­ty” for inte­ri­or elements
• Head-up dis­play 

(B)  M50i Packages 

- Two-Tone Night Blue Pack­age ( $ 2500 )

• Ivory White/Night Blue Full Meri­no Leather
• Night Blue Alcan­tara Roofliner

- Dynam­ic Han­dling Pack­age ( $ 4750 )

• Active Com­fort Dri­ve with Road Preview
• Inte­gral Active Steering

- Pre­mi­um Pack­age ( $ 7500 )

• Uphol­stery ( sev­er­al colours )
• Sky Lounge Panoram­ic Glass Sunroof
• Ambi­ent Air Pack­age ( The Ambi­ent Air Pack­age com­pris­es fra­grance dis­per­sal and air ion­i­sa­tion func­tions. There are two fra­grances to choose from. The inten­si­ty of the scents can be con­trolled in three stages via the iDrive Con­troller or but­ton in the air con­di­tion­ing con­trol pan­el. The Starter kit includes two fra­grances: Blue Suite No. 1 and Gold­en Suite No. 2. Only avail­able as part of the Pre­mi­um pack.)
• Glass Appli­ca­tion ‘Craft­ed­Clar­i­ty’ for Inte­ri­or Elements
• Walk­nap­pa Leather Dashboard

Includ­ed At No Extra Cost :

• Glass Appli­ca­tion ‘Craft­ed­Clar­i­ty’ for Inte­ri­or Elements
• 4 Year/80,000km No Charge Sched­uled Maintenance
• Remote Engine Start
• M Sport Exhaust System
• M Sport brake
• M Sport Differential
• Tire Pres­sure Monitor
• Tire Repair Kit
• Adap­tive 2‑Axle Air Suspension
• Alarm Sys­tem
• Uni­ver­sal Remote Control
• Com­fort Access
• Soft Close Doors
• Leather Sport Steer­ing Wheel
• Adap­tive 2‑Axle Air Suspension
• Alarm Sys­tem
• Rear View Camera
• Satin Alu­minum Roof Rails
• Panora­ma Sunroof
• Lug­gage Com­part­ment Package
• Sun Pro­tec­tion Glazing
• Velour Floor Mats
• Sport Seats
• Lum­bar Support
• Seat Heat­ing, Front and Rear
• Heat Com­fort Pack­age, Front
• Auto­mat­ic 4‑Zone Cli­mate Control
• 3rd Seat Row
• Ambi­ent Lighting
• Adap­tive Full LED Headlights
• LED Fog Lights
• High-Beam Assis­tant
• Active Pro­tec­tion
• Dri­ving Assistant
• Sir­iusXM Satel­lite Radio Tuner
• Harman/Kardon® Sur­round Sound System
• Intel­li­gent Emer­gency Call
• BMW Tele­Ser­vices
• Con­nected­Drive Services
• Con­nect­ed Pack­age Professional
• Apple CarPlay Preparation
• Extend­ed Smart­phone Con­nec­tiv­i­ty with Wire­less Charging
• BMW Live Cock­pit Professional
• WiFi Hotspot
• Design Pure Excellence
• Cross-Traf­fic Alert (Rear)
• Col­li­sion Warn­ing w/City Braking
• Lane Depar­ture Warning
• Blind Spot Warning
• Rear Col­li­sion Prevention
• Speed Lim­it Info

Extra $$

• Alu­minum Run­ning Boards
• Trail­er Tow Hitch
• BMW Laserlight Headlights
• High-Gloss Black Kid­ney Grille with Extend­ed Contents
• Ven­ti­lat­ed Seats, Front
• Ambi­ent Air Package
• Mas­sage Func­tion for Dri­ver and Passenger
• 6‑Seat Con­fig­u­ra­tion
• Bow­ers and Wilkins Dia­mond Sur­round Sound System
• Rear Enter­tain­ment System
• BMW Ges­ture Control
• Anthracite Alcan­tara Roof Liner
• xOf­froad Package
• M Sport Brakes, High Gloss Black
• BMW Dis­play Key

What Are The Drawbacks Of The 2021 BMW X7?

- Price 

Well, if any, for sure, its price is a bit high­er than oth­er mod­els, espe­cial­ly if you add up few options to the basic mod­el. How­ev­er, BMW, in gen­er­al, is not for every dri­ver. It is a lux­u­ry vehi­cle that is not only com­pet­ing with oth­er lux­u­ry man­u­fac­tur­ers but also beats them in most features.

- Third Row Size

The third row ( despite being big­ger than the X5 and oth­er 3‑row SUVs ) is still not as big as the sec­ond row. It would fit a small-size adult, though, not just kids. I am not sure of any lux­u­ry SUV that would have a full-size third row to fit a big-size adult. I won’t crit­i­cize BMW for this, though, because it is an SUV, not a VAN. I see the third row in a lux­u­ry SUV as a bonus when I dri­ve my kids and their friends around. It is not dai­ly use, but it is a nice option to have when need­ed. The big trunk of the X7, when the third row is fold­ed, is for sure one of the biggest ones I had used.

- Third Row Access Speed

The third row in the X7 is also a bit slow to fold and unfold using the auto­mat­ic option. It takes 10 sec­onds for the sec­ond row to move for­ward and 11 sec­onds to fold down in order to get into the third row. The third row itself takes 10 sec­onds to be unfold­ed. For sure, this is slow­er than expect­ed in a high-end lux­u­ry SUV and does not fit the oth­er high­er-per­for­mance options BMW X 7 has. Yet, in fair­ness, I couldn’t find any men­tion­able speed dif­fer­ence in oth­er lux­u­ry SUVs with regard the third-row accessibility. The whole issue is attrib­uted to the auto­mat­ic/one-touch func­tion in these vehi­cles. The one-touch prin­ci­ple is, in gen­er­al, slow­er than the man­pow­er to fold and unfold seats in par­tic­u­lar and in any auto­mat­ic machin­ery oper­a­tions in general. (That’s kind of like the old ele­va­tors’ doors decades ago that used to be oper­at­ed man­u­al­ly by pulling or push­ing to open and close This which used to take a sec­ond as opposed to the auto­mat­ic but­ton-oper­at­ed ones nowa­days where you press the but­ton, wait, then the door moves etc.)

In Summary 

BMW X7 is a great, well-priced lux­u­ry SUV if you are will­ing to spend extra for a spe­cial dri­ve. It might be con­fus­ing which engine/packages you would choose even after read­ing around. How­ev­er, if you had your mind­set on the X7, any­thing that comes after is not a huge step, and the local deal­ers are well pre­pared to help you put the last fine touches.