Congrats!! Definitely post some pictures

 

I will post up some pics soon, it rained today so it’s dirty now and I’m dropping it off Thursday for the clear bra.

 

Well this is going to be a little long winded but here goes:

So I finally had some seat time in the new X7 after getting PPF on the front, ceramic coated and the windows tinted. I'm not sure I mentioned some of the details on the X7, like what color I ordered, etc. so here are some details. I remember back when I bought a brand new IS250 back in 2008 that was black on black I told myself I would never get another black car as a daily driver as it is too tough to keep clean and shows every scratch and other imperfection. After I got rid of that car I ended up getting all white cars from there including both my LS', my first GTR, my GX470 and 460, my IS350 and my Durango SRT. For most of the past 8-10 years I had three white cars in my household. Now I have three black cars in my household, my GTR, M340 and X7 are all black. I'm not sure how that happened other than for the BMW's, I really didn't like the look of those cars in white and thought they looked best in black. I also stopped caring so much about the scratches, etc. since the M340 and X7 are leased.

Anyway, back to first impressions after having the car for a couple weeks now. First off, I order the X7 black on black. Given the size of this SUV I didn't like the looks of it in white and felt it looked better in a darker color and I was torn between getting carbon black which is a really really dark blue with Tartufo leather which is BMW's caramel type color. We really didn't like the chrome grille and other accents on the car so we were going to get the shadowline package which blacks everything out and we weren't sure how that would look on the otherwise more luxurious color combo we were going for. So we just said F it, let's get black on black given the fact that it will hide my kids messiness when they are in the car. I know people here think black interiors are boring but we like it. Next option was picking interior trim and whether to go matte black wood or gloss black wood with silver grain. We have matte black on our M340 and thought we should try something different and given the glass controls in the car we though the gloss wood would look better. I'm still not sure we made the right choice here, it looks fine but part of me thinks maybe we should have picked the matte black wood because there is a good bit more wood in this car vs. my M340 and the gloss is a bit much.

Interior: We also optioned it with the extended Merino leather and it is really nice and soft, very much like the semi-analine leather in my old LS' and way softer than the upgraded Vernasca leather in my M340. As far as the front seats, they are very comfortable but there are so many adjustments I still haven't had time to dial in the perfect seating adjustments for me as it's just too overwhelming and not as simple as my old Lexus'. I have no doubt these seats are going to be very comfortable on long trips once they are dialed in. The only issue I see is that they are so soft I can see it looking worn rather quickly from getting in and out of the car over time. The fit and finish is perfect and materials used makes it feel pretty upscale. The panoramic roof is really nice with the skylounge lighting and even the third row has a sunroof although it doesn't open. The second row seating is nice for my kids because they can move backward for more legroom which is something my Durango didn't have. As noted on my test drive, the cargo area is a good bit smaller than Durango and the floor of the cargo area is higher so there is less room because of that too. Luckily I got the tow hitch so I can use a cargo hitch for vacations but because of that you lose the kick to open/close feature when you select that option. The split tailgate is something I never had and in certain situations its nice, in others I prefer the entire lift gate to open. The one thing that I got used to with my Durango was the manual second and third row seating which took all of about 2 seconds to put up or fold down. Like my old GX460, the power third row is just slow and while it makes it more luxurious to have it powered, it just isn't as practical.

Exterior: For a SUV I feel like it has some presence in the M50i configuration due to the 22" wheels with 315 in tires in the back. I could have optioned for 21" all season tires but for a sporty truck I wanted some wheels that gave it a nice stance so I had to go with the summer tires and will have to spend $2,000 before winter for winter tires. I still feel like it isn't the best looking SUV given the large grill but with the shadowline package it blacks everything out and because the wheels are the only silver part on the car I ended up ordering some satin black wheels that should be here in a month or two and will have a more aggressive offset. Overall, I still feel like my Durango SRT looked better but this isn't too bad. The strange thing it doesn't look that big but parking in my garage it is longer and wider than my Durango so it seems like with all the luxury features, it just takes up more interior space.

Driving Impressions: This is where things get interesting. I was very used to the stiff suspension in my Durango SRT even in comfort mode and the handling on back roads was great and I even felt more confident in this large SUV compared to my old IS350. The instant torque of the V8 was awesome. With the X7, the suspension is very soft, almost too soft from what I am used to. Even in sport plus mode it seems softer than the Durango in comfort mode which is what I always used because of how firm it was already. Sure it's more comfortable but I feel like I don't have the confidence taking turns and going around sharp curves on back roads like I did with the Durango. I even opted for the $3,400 dynamic handling package which has four wheel steering and other handling benefits. As for the engine, it is a little quicker and faster than my Durango and has more horsepower with the TTV8 but it doesn't have that instant torque like my Durango and definitely doesn't have the exhaust sound I was used to in the 392 hemi.

Issues: Right when I picked the X7 up I noticed right away that the tweeter above my head was blown and I am taking it in this Saturday to have them look at it and then I am sure they will have to order it. That means another trip back to the dealer. The tweeter crackles so much it gives me a headache after a few minutes so I am pretty annoyed about that considering I paid for the B&W sound system upgrade which was $3,400 and I don't feel like making two trips to the dealer for a brand new car (where's the quality control here?). As a result I can't comment on whether the B&W upgrade was worth it other than the speakers light up at night and it looks cool.

Overall: I optioned this SUV with every option available except captains chairs and right now I'm not in love with it, mostly because I'm used to a much stiffer ride and I'm not used to the Lexus-like ride anymore. My wife and kids like it so that's all that really matters and I'm sure once I get used to the luxury side of things or take a long trip in it I will appreciate it more.

Pics to come shortly!

 

 

I hope you will start liking it the more you drive it. It sucks to keep driving a car that you dont love. 3yrs is a long time to be in a car that you dont truly enjoy driving.

 

Surprised by this (handling and responsiveness). First off, did you test drive one before ordering? There's no way the ttv8 is less responsive than the durango hemi unless you're in comfort type mode again where it's designed to be 'lazier'. My more humble santa fe is night and day different in response between comfort and sport modes. Comfort is slow to respond. Sport is basically instant. Maybe your car just needs a few more miles on it too. As for handling, with the package it should be way better than the durango. It may exhibit a bit more lean maybe but should still be very capable i would think.

Anyway, hope you get more pleased with it!

I KNOW my santa fe is no handling champ but that's what makes getting into the LC so much fun. especially its steering and i have rear wheel steer / VGRS too!

 

X7 is a nice choice. Dealers can't keep them in stock. The 40i moves around fine imo, but the 50i is another level. Maybe I missed it, does your X7 M50i have the cooled cup holders? massaging seat feature?

 

I'm sure I will like it the more I drive it but certain cars I really loved including my LS600hL, I loved that car. With the Durango I wasn't sure I would feel that way but my wife and I really liked it and it was hard to see it go. Even though it wasn't perfect and the had some creaks and rattles due to the stiff suspension, it was a great SUV. If someone asked me if it was luxurious or whether the fit and finish was great I would say no but then follow that up with, but it is F'ing cool.

We did test drive it a couple times but not long (I even used launch control on my test drive a couple times!). It just seems like the instant torque of the hemi off the line throws you back a little more compared to the smooth TTV8, maybe its the responsiveness or turbo lag, I'm not sure. As for handling, around turns it just doesn't feel as planted and has a little more roll than I'm used to but it could be I'm not used to the suspension just yet as I've only put on a couple hundred miles so far. From what I have read the dynamic handling package is supposed to be great but I haven't felt much of that just yet since I just got it.

My X7 has the cooled/heated cup holders and the front driver and passenger massage seats. I ordered every option available except captains chairs in the second row. BMW didn't do a good job with the captains chairs because they were so tight nobody could squeeze between them to get to the third row and they don't fold flat so the cargo area is very limited with them. I got lucky ordering this when I did because a week after I ordered it certain options started to not be available like the dynamic handling package.

 

One thing I notice on my BMW (and also loaners from the dealer) is that even with the driving mode is set to sport or sport plus, it wont feel quite as responsive as you might want unless you have the transmission in sport as well. Assume you’ve tried all combinations?

 

I haven't tried all combinations yet. I have just tried Sport+ and Adaptive. I will have to see what works best and save the setting to individual. I think I need a lot more seat time in this thing to get everything dialed in, especially the driver's seat.

 

if you haven't tried it already, just flipping the gear selector to the left so the transmission is in sport mode makes a really noticeable difference. You don't even need to have the car in Sport or Sport+, it still makes a positive difference. Keep us posted!

 

there's a driving sport mode and ALSO a separate transmission sport mode? That seems uh, unique (confusing).

 

Maybe it's just the angle of the shot, but it seems to align with the impression i got when i sat in each of the 3 rows of the X7 that the second row leg room wasn't that great?

 

Engine, steering, chassis, brakes and transmission in many BMWs can be adjusted individually, with 3 modes - comfort, sport, and sport plus.

 

It may not be the tweeter above your head, its very hard to pin point the crackling, usually its all the mid range speakers that are crackling. Almost every BMW audio system has crackling at certain frequencies, even if you swap for aftermarket speakers - I assume their amps are setup to exaggerate certain frequencies to the point where you sometimes get distortions. I had issues with Logic 7 in my old X5, B&O and B&W. They tend to get better as the speakers break in. If you set your 3d audio setting to studio, I believe the overhead tweeters turn off.

Just so you know, all of their systems are made by HK, with different level of quality. B&W labeled system is easily BMW's best setup yet, short maybe of Rolls Royce bespoke systems, but it is still a HK system, the only actual B&W parts are the two diamond tweeters in the front doors.