The Ultimate High Tech Luxury Electric Car!

Aug 3, 2023

The Ultimate High Tech Luxury Electric Car!

BMW i7 is absolutely loaded, and I’d take it over any other ultra luxury electric sedan.

Shot on iPhone 14 Pro

Content

0.27 -> - So I'm just gonna be right up front

2.316 -> and honest from the beginning.

3.54 -> I got a lot of good things to say about this car.

5.46 -> This is probably the most high-tech

8.4 -> and impressive luxury electric car I've ever seen.

12.66 -> Actually it is, 'cause I've tested some others

14.76 -> that would be close.

15.87 -> The Lucid Air would be close, things like the Maybach,

19.41 -> things like the Bentley Flying Spur.

21.81 -> I'd take this over all of them.

23.873 -> And that says a lot.

25.5 -> So let's just get right into it.

27.66 -> I'm gonna hopefully try to cover everything

29.58 -> that is so impressive about this car.

31.32 -> I might miss some stuff,

32.64 -> but let's just start with the basics.

35.04 -> So BMW i7, not the first BMW

37.8 -> that I've tested on this channel,

39.33 -> and so it's not the first one

40.98 -> with this crazy look at the front.

43.92 -> It kind of grows on you, but whatever,

46.02 -> we'll focus on that later.

47.34 -> The point, though, is the basics are

49.35 -> it's a full-size luxury sedan.

51.87 -> Long sedan, just like you've seen

53.85 -> with these other luxury ones.

55.02 -> Huge hood, it's longer than a Cadillac Escalade.

58.53 -> But with that they move all the electronics up to the front.

61.65 -> Pretty good amount of trunk space,

62.94 -> huge backseat, huge front seat.

65.67 -> And it's got dual motors rocking around 530 horsepower.

70.86 -> It'll do zero to 60 in about four-and-a-half seconds.

74.04 -> So it's not slow by any means.

76.519 -> And at a full charge, I am seeing

79.08 -> about 270 to 280 miles of range.

82.8 -> I looked on their website and it's showing things

84.48 -> like 300 to 320, but I think in winter

87.683 -> you'll probably expect to get a little less.

90.27 -> This is the way it's designed.

91.32 -> I would personally never get this color,

93.15 -> but I get that people who are buying this car

95.67 -> probably don't mind that.

97.05 -> You can see the taillights here are these like little slots.

99.81 -> Of course, it's still the classic BMW logo

101.61 -> with one of the cameras here on the back.

102.84 -> And if you wanna open the trunk,

103.89 -> I'll just go ahead and show you right off the bat,

105.66 -> pretty good amount of trunk space.

107.16 -> Not the biggest opening here.

108.45 -> I tried to put a box in here and it was a little bit tight,

111.81 -> but it still worked.

113.07 -> And you have subtrunk space, too,

114.84 -> for all your charging equipment

116.04 -> if you wanna put it down there, so that's nice.

118.5 -> And that is your trunk.

119.46 -> So nothing too shocking there.

121.23 -> It is automatically opening and closing.

123.57 -> And then you get around to the side,

125.58 -> I mean, it's not a surprise that this car has a ton of room,

127.741 -> but what's inside really that's impressive is the tech.

131.61 -> And I kind of just want to get to that.

132.99 -> I mean, we could talk about the outside.

134.37 -> You wanna talk about the wheels here?

136.17 -> Big wheels, 21-inch wheels front and back.

139.08 -> Pretty big brakes as well.

140.67 -> Oh, it has these crystal headlights.

142.44 -> Look at these DRLs are all crystally,

145.71 -> kind of like the Flying Spur again.

147.54 -> Then these inset real headlights back here.

150.738 -> Squinting pig is what I'll call it.

154.17 -> Kind of looks like a squinting pig.

156.6 -> Now, when I was talking about competitors earlier,

159.45 -> full-size luxury sedans, big four-door sedans

163.409 -> that are aiming to be soft and cushiony and comfortable

167.79 -> much more than they are supposed to be sporty.

169.89 -> So maybe a standard Model S, a Lucid Air, or a Maybach.

175.65 -> I think the Lucid and the Tesla are much sportier

179.43 -> and firmer even at their softest settings than this is.

183.69 -> And the Maybach is kind of a match with this.

186.18 -> And the Flying Spur is somewhere in between.

188.64 -> I would take this over all of them,

189.9 -> and I mean that when I say it.

191.88 -> And that's half because of how comfortable it is,

193.92 -> but there's so much tech inside

195.27 -> that it's kind of incredible.

196.23 -> So let's just get right into that.

198.69 -> It actually starts with the door.

199.95 -> This is the door handle here.

201.15 -> You can hit that button right there

202.86 -> and it'll pop open a little bit,

204.39 -> but also it will completely open the entire door,

207.24 -> and it has sensors to know exactly how far it can open

210.27 -> based on if there's a car next to you

212.022 -> or something like that.

213.69 -> So let's try that again.

214.95 -> It closes by itself.

216.09 -> If I'm not next to the car, hit that button.

220.02 -> Checks, now there's nothing next to it,

222.93 -> so it opens all the way.

224.34 -> That's pretty fire.

225.54 -> You get in the car.

226.77 -> If I want to close the door,

228.51 -> I put my foot on the brake and it closes for me.

232.707 -> That's already pretty solid.

234.45 -> If you wanna open it automatically,

235.56 -> you hit that button right there.

237 -> It's capacitive, which is kind of annoying,

238.77 -> but it does the same thing.

240.18 -> And I kind of just wanna do that every time.

246.69 -> Now, this is for sure 100% one of the cars

249.84 -> that I would rather be in the back seat than the front seat.

253.32 -> But if we're gonna get it, we might as well talk

255.03 -> about being in the front seat.

256.733 -> And to be fair, it's a very comfortable, solid experience.

259.92 -> I was looking at these seats before.

261.99 -> They say "leather" because this top half is leather,

265.35 -> but then the bottom half is cloth,

266.91 -> and I was a little bit confused by the cloth decision.

270.281 -> I mean, it's comfortable but it doesn't

272.28 -> really feel quite as luxurious as the ones

274.59 -> that are all full leather.

275.82 -> So I'll at least mention that.

277.8 -> But this carpeting here is super soft.

280.41 -> Everything around me is comfortable.

282.09 -> The headliner is soft Alcantara.

284.1 -> Everything is really well built.

285.99 -> And it almost goes to the extreme

287.64 -> as far comfort and quietness.

290.28 -> It doesn't do frameless windows.

291.6 -> It does these big huge framed windows

295.189 -> to have incredibly good noise isolation on the inside.

300.51 -> I can have a whisper, I tested this,

303.15 -> a whisper quiet conversation at 50 miles an hour.

307.26 -> It's so quiet, just talking like this.

309.96 -> Because the road is so silenced as you're driving

313.32 -> that you don't even hear potholes at 50 miles an hour

315.48 -> at highway speed.

316.38 -> So you look around here at the basics.

318.03 -> The steering wheel, pretty nice.

320.01 -> Comfortable leather, couple buttons over here,

322.86 -> couple buttons over here, cruise control stuff.

325.5 -> You've got these air conditioner vents,

327.57 -> and let's just look at these for a second.

329.64 -> They are capacitive, so you can slide this little indicator

333.12 -> on how much or how little air you want

335.16 -> or just tap, which I don't love.

337.74 -> It still feels like I have to look

339.09 -> to make sure I confirm exactly where I got it,

341.43 -> but at least it's pretty responsive.

342.75 -> And then there's this dial thing right here

344.82 -> that lets you point the air wherever you want.

347.4 -> So that sort of system works well.

349.77 -> I just accidentally opened the door.

351.15 -> That's probably why you don't want capacitive buttons.

353.34 -> But that's a sort of theme you see everywhere.

355.32 -> There is a lot of metal and there is a lot of leather,

357.75 -> but there also is a lot of glossy plastic,

359.58 -> especially here in the middle.

360.84 -> We've talked about this stuff in BMWs before.

363.03 -> This light, this crystal thing, the light comes in,

365.88 -> it shines, it bounces like little rainbow reflections

368.58 -> all over the car through the prism.

370.35 -> It is what it is.

371.64 -> This start/stop button is kind of annoying.

374.49 -> If I'm gonna nitpick, I wish it wasn't so glossy,

377.43 -> because there's just a bunch of fingerprints

378.9 -> that are gonna accumulate around here.

380.1 -> But wireless charger up here, out of the way,

382.47 -> not a distraction for the driver.

383.94 -> Two cup holders, some storage,

386.664 -> and some USB-C ports in there.

389.13 -> And, of course, a door storage,

390.78 -> your handle, and all the window controls

392.7 -> and child lock and stuff over here.

394.11 -> And then seat controls, lock and unlock.

396.356 -> Good to go.

397.8 -> Here's your two screens up front

399.57 -> with BMW's newest iDrive system.

401.88 -> This one is actually kind of interesting,

404.19 -> because if you wanna switch up what you see

407.328 -> behind the steering wheel, which this is the AR mode,

411.9 -> which will overlay directions on top of the road.

415.17 -> But that's only when you're using

416.52 -> the built-in navigation system.

418.29 -> You also have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay wirelessly,

422.07 -> which I much prefer, but that's at least here.

425.79 -> There's also a really good HUD.

427.74 -> You can see where it would pop up right there.

429.51 -> And you can choose what displays on the HUD

432.09 -> and on this layout down here whenever you want.

434.46 -> So it's pretty good.

435.51 -> It's responsive, it's straightforward.

437.58 -> All this stuff makes sense to me.

440.01 -> And so that's sort of just a moot point.

442.68 -> There's other stuff happening with BMW software

444.96 -> and there's all kinds of crazy tech still.

447.15 -> This up here, it's got a sensor

449.07 -> so that I can do this and the volume changes.

452.94 -> I told you guys this is not something

454.56 -> I would want to do while driving,

455.76 -> but the fact that it works is kind of neat, so there's that.

459.93 -> You can change the sound of the car's acceleration

462.09 -> to an iconic Hans Zimmer sound,

465.69 -> and he actually composed the sounds for this car.

468 -> There is just a crazy amount of customization and luxury

471.51 -> and tech just in the front seat.

473.43 -> And briefly, the driving experience, like I said,

476.04 -> is super luxury focused.

478.68 -> So very soft, very quiet, absorbs potholes.

483.45 -> It has three-and-a-half degree rear wheel steering,

486.51 -> super, super lightweight steering.

488.28 -> I mean, you're driving around and it feels

490.32 -> like you're barely connected to the road at all.

492.33 -> You're just kind of floating over the top of it,

494.55 -> which is, I guess, how you'd want to be limousined around,

497.67 -> especially if you're in the backseat, which we'll get to.

500.175 -> But there's one other thing I kind of wanted to mention,

502.32 -> and I never thought I would say this out loud,

505.41 -> but the voice assistant in this car is actually pretty good.

510.21 -> It's pretty decent.

511.56 -> It does things like, you use the keyword,

514.297 -> "Hey, BMW, close the roof shade."

520.47 -> - [Computer] Closing the roof roller blinds.

523.2 -> - And it's pretty responsive pretty quick and pretty good

525.99 -> at knowing what I actually want it to do.

527.4 -> And it can do a surprising amount of things in the car.

529.2 -> It can change your drive mode, it can turn up

531.57 -> and down the volume, it can activate the massage seats,

534.12 -> the heated seats, change the temperature in the car,

536.61 -> all the basic stuff you'd want to do.

538.02 -> So if the capacitive stuff happening

540.81 -> on the dash is a little too much,

542.28 -> yeah, the voice assistant is pretty good.

544.8 -> There are microphones all throughout the car

547.2 -> so that it knows which seat the voice is coming from.

550.38 -> So if I'm in the back seat and I say, "Hey, assistant,

554.19 -> close or open my shade," without even saying

557.28 -> what seat you're in, it will close or open your shade

559.5 -> because it knows what seat the voice is coming from.

562.29 -> It's kind of good.

563.73 -> Most underwhelming piece of luxury in this car

565.74 -> by far is the speakers.

567.87 -> These are the Bowers & Wilkins speakers.

569.73 -> They are an optional upgrade, I believe.

571.59 -> There are speakers like subwoofers in the seats.

574.71 -> There are also speakers in the headrests

576.81 -> and there are speakers all around the cabin.

578.94 -> And they are very average sounding, mediocre sounding.

582.78 -> I much prefer, I mean, the Maybach speakers were incredible,

586.29 -> but pretty much any other set of speakers has sounded

588.9 -> just as good as if not better than these.

590.64 -> But that's enough talking about the front seat.

592.92 -> I want to show you the tech in the backseat of this car

596.88 -> because it is on another level.

598.74 -> So let's hit that button right there

601.23 -> and hit that button right here.

602.79 -> This one, same deal.

604.65 -> Everything's automatic, as you'd expect.

606.18 -> And let's hop into the biggest backseat

608.46 -> you could possibly need.

610.38 -> And this is the automatic close button right here.

614.491 -> Ooh, so, where do I begin?

619.38 -> I mean, obviously, maybe it's not obvious,

622.26 -> tons of leg room, pretty good amount of head room,

627.24 -> lots of ambient lights everywhere.

629.46 -> Don't forget about the microphones.

631.357 -> But in general, it's really soft and comfortable.

634.08 -> This could be a three-seater in the back

635.97 -> but I don't really think you want

637.1 -> to put a second person in the back.

638.64 -> These are the executive back seats.

640.74 -> So these are the two sort of fully reclining jet-like seats.

645.84 -> And then the middle, I'd probably just stick

648.39 -> to having this armrest right here

649.77 -> because you also get hidden cup holder,

653.67 -> wireless charger, and then a whole bunch

655.83 -> of storage in there and two USB-C ports.

658.5 -> There is still a lot of cloth.

659.88 -> This is all soft cloth.

661.71 -> This part is leather, there's a cloth,

664.11 -> and the seats like 60, 70% cloth

666.93 -> and then have some leather up here.

668.49 -> Super soft headrest right there.

671.22 -> Hidden USB-C ports in there for charging as well.

674.34 -> You've got your HVAC adjustment right here.

677.04 -> But you've probably noticed this already,

678.42 -> so let's just get into it.

679.29 -> There's a screen here.

680.52 -> Each of the passengers has an entire screen,

683.55 -> instead of having a tablet in the back.

685.23 -> And I kind of like this setup instead of the tablets

688.38 -> that we've seen that are detachable,

690.15 -> because they allow you to control everything

692.37 -> about your specific seat's experience.

695.7 -> What would you control about your seat experience?

697.38 -> Your climate control, your blinds.

700.02 -> There's blinds in the back seat here.

701.85 -> If I hit that little button, pops up the blinds,

704.43 -> which is kind of like a shade/tint mechanism,

707.67 -> which is kind of fire.

708.93 -> You also have the roof shade.

710.25 -> You can control all that stuff.

712.08 -> But, of course, there are modes for the backseat, too.

715.74 -> And when I hit theater mode, it puts all of these shades up

720.24 -> and drops down a 30-inch 8K touchscreen

725.326 -> to watch movies and videos in the backseat.

729.93 -> This has to boot up.

731.19 -> It does this whole dramatic booting sequence.

733.29 -> And because all the shades are down now,

735.39 -> everything is much more visible.

737.1 -> If the shade was up, it would be more reflective,

739.23 -> like you see the reflection over there.

741.36 -> But it does this boot up sequence

742.77 -> and it is an Amazon Fire Stick UI.

745.98 -> This car has its own sim card, its own data connection.

749.4 -> So when you connect it to your cell phone plan,

751.5 -> it's like another device,

752.88 -> like an iPad or something like that.

754.32 -> And so it can automatically always be connected

756.36 -> to the internet and you can always stream the way you could

759.888 -> from a Fire Stick, because that's what the UI is.

762.69 -> Now, if I can nitpick a little bit on the 8K touchscreen

766.62 -> in the back, UI is really the only challenge with it,

769.92 -> and that's really most of this car.

771.96 -> There's so much tech, but the UI is a little tricky.

775.26 -> Basically, this is the Fire Stick UI in the middle,

777.78 -> and then you have a touchscreen on either side,

780.96 -> which right now is just the time and the weather.

784.26 -> So I don't know, you kind of put that over to the side.

787.5 -> Then when you wanna change stuff about the display,

789.72 -> you do most of the controls

791.01 -> over on the touchscreen on the left.

792.78 -> Okay, change aspect ratio to 32 x 9 make it ultra wide,

796.59 -> or 16 x 9, or change the volume by swiping up and down.

800.52 -> Change where it is in the car.

802.11 -> Maybe I'm the only one watching a movie.

803.64 -> Put it back in the middle for everyone.

805.53 -> All of that is from the side.

807.142 -> But if I wanna actually play with this part,

810.782 -> this part, it's a little bit jenky.

815.55 -> Sometimes it responds well, sometimes it doesn't.

819 -> But you can fire up a movie,

820.71 -> or you can sort of use this remote experience over here

824.76 -> by jumping into the UI and knowing where to go.

827.46 -> Fire TV, continue.

830.49 -> And now this up and down arrow can switch menu items

835.68 -> and scroll between things because this is the remote.

839.34 -> It's kind of annoying to have to jump through all this stuff

841.8 -> and get through all the hoops that should sort of

843.27 -> automatically know I want to do that and jump me there.

845.91 -> Either way, let's fire up.

848.73 -> I hear this was a pretty good movie.

851.287 -> "Top Gun," okay, maybe resume "Top Gun."

856.11 -> There we go.

858.12 -> And we're into the movie.

859.44 -> And the speakers will be booming and the shades are down

862.62 -> and we see everything in glorious high definition.

866.67 -> Also, they say it's 8K.

867.93 -> I can't verify that it's 8K.

869.58 -> This is streaming from Amazon Fire Stick.

871.29 -> I don't even think that can stream in 8K.

873.45 -> I think that's just sort of a marketing number

875.01 -> they can throw out at us.

876.21 -> But it looks pretty good.

878.46 -> I mean, it looks pretty good

879.293 -> for the screen in the back of a car.

880.97 -> So I don't hate this.

882.36 -> There's also an onscreen remote button like that

885.06 -> so you can scroll up and down with this remote here.

888.54 -> You can move this over, go back home, hit back.

893.25 -> I mean, it works, okay?

896.76 -> It's not the most comfortable thing in the world.

898.65 -> Hopefully, you don't have to do a whole lot

900.18 -> of navigating through menus, you just kick back

902.13 -> and pull up YouTube and watch a video and you're fine.

905.52 -> It's not fast at all either, as you can tell.

911.43 -> But it works.

912.48 -> And you can pull up a Forest Auto Reviews video

915.27 -> and watch it in 4K on the screen.

918 -> Matter of fact, I don't think you can do that

920.13 -> in the YouTube app.

920.963 -> It's telling me I have to use the built-in controls here

925.83 -> and pull it up with the remote.

926.97 -> So as you can see, the UI is not the friendliest part,

929.31 -> but it's just like this car has a screen in the back.

932.43 -> I don't know how else to explain that

933.66 -> that's something I've never seen before.

936.24 -> And it's a giant screen and it's super useful.

938.37 -> I just wanna reach over and hit the skip ad button

940.35 -> that's under there, but that doesn't work.

942.21 -> It has to use the remote

944.01 -> and then I have to skip with this to hit that.

946.744 -> So that's the only challenge.

948.78 -> That's literally the only challenge is UI.

950.85 -> Now, I didn't even show you lounge mode.

953.43 -> This is one more crazy thing you can do

955.17 -> with this executive backseat.

957.105 -> Okay, so there was modes.

959.22 -> Now I'm just gonna go, I wish this was another mode in here

961.32 -> because when we go to My Modes, there is no lounge mode.

964.17 -> I think relaxed mode might do something close to it.

967.11 -> Nothing really changed.

968.19 -> It's kind of unclear what these modes are

969.99 -> actually going to do.

971.1 -> Obviously, theater mode does this.

973.05 -> But if you go to the seats in the executive backseat

976.83 -> and you see that button right there, go ahead and hit that

980.31 -> and wait for about 30 seconds for this seat,

985.68 -> this front seat here, to move all the way up

988.8 -> to basically touch the windshield.

991.02 -> This automatically happens on motors.

993.589 -> This is obviously also gonna be difficult for,

996.51 -> well, maybe the driver doesn't really care,

998.4 -> but this seat moves all the way up.

1000.2 -> This footrest motor rises out.

1002.96 -> This kind of pumps up, as you'll see,

1006.05 -> start to move my feet in a second,

1008.24 -> and it leans me all the way back

1010.22 -> and sort of creates this ultimate passenger

1012.98 -> princess experience, which I am totally cool with.

1017.15 -> So what's that, about 30 seconds?

1018.62 -> We just got everything set up.

1020.12 -> This entire thing is laid out.

1022.31 -> I am destroying the rear visibility for the driver right now

1026.57 -> and also his side visibility, because now this seat is

1029.9 -> in the way of him seeing that mirror.

1031.91 -> But I am so comfortable, I don't even...

1035.57 -> Officer, I'm chilling, I'm chilling right now.

1038.15 -> I just wanna remind you, this is half the price

1041.12 -> of the Maybach, this is undercutting the Lucid Air.

1044.36 -> This is undercutting Mercedes S-class.

1047.27 -> This is undercutting the Tesla Model S Plaid.

1051.17 -> No, not the Plaid, the Plaid is about 105.

1054.069 -> This is about 120 to start.

1055.67 -> But this is a crazy back seat.

1058.85 -> And it's kind of just a part of the way it's built in.

1062.15 -> You can get driven around in this car all the time.

1064.49 -> I would prefer to be driven in this car

1067.649 -> instead of driving it.

1068.482 -> So I guess it's time for a conclusion,

1070.82 -> so I have to get out of my super comfortable backseat

1073.04 -> to go over this.

1074.51 -> But I think the point here is

1078.2 -> I like a lot of things about this car.

1079.76 -> There are some quirks that you start to get to

1081.83 -> when you actually live with it,

1083.69 -> things like the fact that the front seat has

1086.33 -> to be up a certain amount in order

1088.34 -> for the backseat user to actually use that display.

1091.07 -> Look at, this looks insane.

1094.79 -> I also don't think it's the prettiest car

1096.26 -> in the world, but hey, to each his own.

1099.77 -> There's some pigs out there that would love this.

1102.53 -> But honestly, I'm thinking this all comes down

1105.23 -> to the fact that this is still one

1106.88 -> of the best types of vehicles to go electric.

1109.76 -> This is what I was saying in the Bentley video,

1111.35 -> which is like, okay, you want to make a large,

1115.268 -> luxurious four-door sedan, right?

1119.12 -> What do people want when they buy those?

1120.59 -> They want it to be comfortable, obviously.

1122.72 -> They want it to have a lot of space.

1123.98 -> They want it to be quiet, they want it to be smooth.

1126.83 -> And they already know it's gonna be heavy

1128.42 -> and it's gonna be expensive.

1131.03 -> Okay, well, that seems perfect to go electric,

1134.6 -> because now you end up with this,

1136.22 -> which is the quietest possible version, obviously.

1139.37 -> It's the smoothest possible version to drive.

1141.32 -> There's also a faster M70 version that does

1143.39 -> like a three-and-a-half second zero to 60,

1145.16 -> in case you're into that.

1146.75 -> But it's still expensive and it's still heavy

1150.353 -> and it's the best version of everything.

1153.02 -> And it's also, they put all the tech in this thing

1154.82 -> with the executive backseat,

1156.05 -> and I think they did a good job.

1157.82 -> I don't know, let me know what you think.

1158.93 -> Is there anything you don't like

1160.28 -> about the M70 version of this, other than this?

1165.47 -> I'm super curious.

1166.67 -> This might be the best luxury sedan on the planet right now.

1170.42 -> Thanks for watching.

1171.89 -> Catch you guys in the next one, peace.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXFnJcpCFtk