2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 - First Drive Review

BMW seems to be on a mission lately to offer something for everyone, no matter how nonsensical a certain consumer’s particular set of needs and wants may be. Case in point: the brilliant X6 and its mutant half-sister, the 5-series Gran Turismo. The latest in Bavaria’s barrage of the bizarre, the ActiveHybrid 7—a full-size “luxury performance” hybrid—seems to actually make sense relative to those two. It doesn’t hurt the argument for its existence that a competitor from Lexus—the LS600hL—has been on the road for two years now.

What makes the ActiveHybrid 7 strange is BMW’s boast that it is the quickest hybrid sedan on the market. If speed is the objective, we’re not sure why a hybrid is the answer. Likewise, if fuel economy is the end goal, tuning the twin-turbo V-8 gas engine for an additional 40 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque seems silly. However, if a 7-series customer believes he needs a car more powerful than the 750i but doesn’t want to step up to the 12-cylinder 760Li—which we think he should—and also wants 15 percent or so better fuel economy, BMW has just the model.

BMW’s engineers claim they set out to increase fuel economy, and the performance gains are a secondary benefit they hadn’t intended, but that sounds like PR script to us. No dimbulbs, they probably had a hunch that adding a bunch of extra power and torque would make the car quicker. The official claim is a half-second quicker to 60 mph over the nonhybrid 750i, or 4.7 seconds—which would beat our tested time for the LS600hL by 0.7 second. A brief blast up the autobahn during our test drive confirms that the hybrid 7 rockets to its 150-mph governor without any of the lethargy commonly associated with hybrids. Later on, driving more like downtrodden suburban Americans, we saw an indicated 20 mpg.

So, It’s Fast. How Hybrid-y Is It?

Okay, so you really care about the hybrid bits? It’s a mild hybrid, meaning no gliding about on electric power and smugness alone. You want motion, you’re going to have to choke the planet with the internal-combustion engine. There’s an electric motor sandwiched between the gas engine and the torque converter in the eight-speed automatic transmission. It contributes an additional 20 hp and 155 lb-ft—for a combined output of 455 hp and 515 lb-ft—and allows the engine to sit quiet at stops, as it powers the accessories. Although it isn’t a completely seamless stop and start, the transition doesn’t call attention to itself.

Our larger complaint is that, although the engine fires up as soon as you lift your foot from the brake, if you snooze at a light or are inching through a left-turn lane waiting for a break in traffic, a quick leap from brake to gas beats the reignition process and results in a herky jerk forward. However, if you plan on a quick dive for the gas, you can disable the stop/start feature by putting the shifter into sport mode.
Braking with Convention

This 7’s hybridity is also inconspicuous under braking. Although the mere mention of regenerative braking usually erodes the feel of the stop pedal in question, the ActiveHybrid 7’s brakes remain firm and linear. We noticed slight lurches under deceleration, but they seem to be the fault of the transmission downshifting, and not attributable to the brakes. Of course, the fact that the transmission is causing the disruptions doesn’t lessen their obnoxiousness or somehow make them more welcome in an otherwise serene car.

A mild-hybrid setup requires a smaller battery than more-advanced systems, and the 7 hides its lithium-ion pack under the trunk floor. It deals a meager one-cubic-foot blow to trunk volume—dropping it from 14 to 13—leaving BMW with a one-cube advantage over the LS600hL. BMW engineers tell us trunk space is the reason the hybrid 7-series and ActiveHybrid X6—which is launching simultaneously—use different systems. Although the X6’s full-hybrid setup allows for greater gains in fuel economy, its larger battery would have consumed more of the already-tight trunk space. Also, BMW is quick to point out that the battery in the trunk helps preserve the 7’s weight distribution, which is the same 51.5/48.5-percent front/rear for the long-wheelbase car as it is for the nonhybrid version, while the stubbier model pushes a bit more forward for 51.3/48.7. Weight increases by about 250 pounds from the hybrid components and the beefier rear axle borrowed from the V-12 7-series, necessitated by the increased torque load.

Look, Ma, Fewer Emissions!

Like other hybrids based on plain old polluters, the hybrid 7-series relies on badging to convey its uniqueness, although it’s not so subtle compared with other 7s. “ActiveHybrid 7” badges adorn the trunklid and C-pillars, and there’s also a unique 19-inch wheel design and a bespoke Bluewater Metallic color. (We’d have gone with a nice peaceful gray and called it “Blackwater Metallic.”)

Interior cues are limited to some tweaks to the instrumentation—an instant fuel-economy meter and the battery-charging monitor live in the lower part of the tach—and additional displays in the vehicle information screen. One, a bar graph, shows how active the hybrid system has been for the past 15 minutes, and the other shows the usual hybrid energy flow in beautiful high definition. Otherwise, it’s the same old 7-series, which is to say it is attractive, spacious, and comfortable (especially in long-wheelbase form).

How Much Did Captain Planet’s Costume Cost?

It is not, however, the same old pricing. Like the ActiveHybrid’s acceleration, the sticker price will get a little electronic boost when the hybrid 7 goes on sale here in the spring of 2010. Figure on $100,000 to $110,000 in the U.S., depending on how BMW decides to equip it. Considering the 750i’s base price of just over $80,000—and the more-palatable $7500 premium for the hybrid in Europe—that’s quite a leap, but if BMW rolls in one or two of the big-money options packages, that could start to look a little more acceptable.

So now there are two ways to spend $100,000 on a full-size luxury hybrid sedan. We’d buy this one. (As long as 2000 U.S. customers agree with us, BMW will be happy.) Then again, if BMW and Lexus were buying retired tugboats, lining them in leather, and putting wheels on them for street use, we’d have an opinion on which of those to buy, too. But that wouldn’t make it any less of a goofy purchase.

BY JARED GALL, PHOTOGRAPHY BY FOREST CASEY October 2009
CarAndDriver.com