I wanted to post a quick update with more driving impressions now that I have thousands of miles on the car, but my previous thread is getting a little cumbersome. For those of you who want the order history, photos, and my FIRST impressions of the car, you can view all of that here:
http://www.7post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1229434
Today, I crossed over the 4000-Mile mark, after owning the car for a month and a half, and thought I'd share some further impressions now that the car is well, and truly broken in.
Adaptive Mode
When the G12 was first introduced back in mid-2015, and I started scouring sources of information about the car, I was very skeptical about the claims BMW made regarding the ability of the car to "read" the road ahead and instantly adjust suspension settings to match the situation -- especially since I knew this was a feature the Mercedes S-Class offered ("Magic something or other") and that BMW's entry would be a "first effort" to better compete with their rival. BMW's marketing language was very bold "
Active Comfort Drive and Road Preview impart an unrivaled combination of sporty handling and luxurious riding comfort that must be experienced to be believed."
So how does it fare? It has, hands down, become my favorite driving mode. Full stop. This mode is simply amazing -- especially compared to the (now) crude and clumsy Comfort Plus, Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus settings in my previous 7-Series (2012 F02). It's mind blowing to be driving on the highway in moderate traffic with the car's suspension feeling very soft (think pliant, yet controlled), then to have a stretch of highway open up in front of me, allowing me to increase speed, and I "feel" the car change beneath my rear-end, and in my hands -- things automatically stiffen slightly, the steering stiffens a bit, and the accelerator becomes even more responsive. Yet barreling down the highway, I feel the road beneath me, but all the bumps and bounciness is filtered out. It's like I'm slicing right through them with a hot knife. I'm often driving alone, and find myself saying out loud (to no one) how amazed I am at the suspension on this car.
Another thing I've learned about this mode is that I do need to leave about two car lengths between me and the car ahead of me for the system to really do its thing. Any closer to the car ahead, and the ride, although nice, doesn't feel as if it absorbs bumps as well, and is slightly less stable (read: rebounds over bumps by bouncing a bit). My guess is the cameras cannot see them coming, so the suspension defaults to the Comfort setting. But when it's working, BOY, what a comfortable ride!
Eco Pro Mode
This is another mode, I was skeptical about -- mostly because it seemed ridiculous to add a fuel sipping, performance muting feature to such a large car motivated by an incredibly powerful V8 engine. Now that I've had the car a while, I totally get it, and have come to rely on this mode to wring extra mileage out of the last few gallons of gas in my tank. Sure, "Eco Pro" is supposed to be a driving style, training you to accelerate more smoothly, keep a consistent speed, etc., but I use it purely as a last-ditch range extender, and it works nicely.
I've especially come to love the coasting feature (where the drivetrain is disengaged, so there is no engine-braking effect -- the car just rolls and rolls using momentum and, if heading down a slope, gravity, to keep a good thing going while using very little fuel). My commute to work (Highway 280 for my Northern Californian brothers) from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley, then back again, is full of hills. When I get down to the last six or seven gallons of gas in the tank, I switch over to this mode to make the most of the downward portion of the hills. The range-extender gauge in Eco Pro mode is rewarding to watch as the "extra" miles are reclaimed by coasting. I know this feature has been available on other BMWs, and I'm glad to have it in my new 7.
It's not a setting I choose to stay very long though. Starting out from a dead stop in 2nd gear is soooooooo slow haha! And the cycling on and off of the A/C (in the name of fuel savings) can get a little annoying too. There's a setting where I can disable that feature, and I think I'm going to do it.
Overall, it's a slick setting to help stretch the gas in my tank (even if marginally). It's probably mostly psychological, but nice to know it's there.
Fuel Consumption
What's actually more incredible is that even without using the Eco Pro feature, I'm averaging about 23-24 MPG in mixed city / highway driving without having to resort to the conservative efforts I described above. Granted, for my commute, I only have about 4 miles of City traffic, and 40 miles of Highway traffic. Regardless, this larger, heavier, more powerful V8 is actually LESS THIRSTY than the inline 6 in my outgoing F02 7-Series (740Li). If I really babied that car, I'd get close to 21 MPG, but routinely settled for 19 or 20 MPG. The extra mileage I'm getting in the new 7-Series can be attributed to the lighter weight of the car (Carbon Core, etc.) a better transmission -- my 2012 7-Series only had a 6-Speed automatic vs. this new one's smooth 8-Speed, and maybe better aerodynamics. Whatever it is, I'm surprised to be spending less on gas (even with dropping gas prices) than I did in my 2012 7.
M-Sport Package
Before taking delivery of my car, I read a lot of mixed reviews (from owners, not automotive reviewers) about the M-Sport package -- specifically, the thin sidewalls of the runflat 20" wheels making for a very harsh ride, and the M-Exhaust being so loud at cruise that it spoils the serenity of an otherwise very quiet car.
My verdict: Nonsense. Even with the 20"s, my car offers a sublime ride -- and I've been on a variety of highways in varying degrees of upkeep: Highway 280, Highway 101, Interstate 5 <-- all Northern California; and the 10, the 405, the 105, the 110, the 15 and the 60 <-- all Southern California and have absolutely NO complaints about the ride quality. Additionally, I've had plenty of time on long stretches of highway (my recent trip down Interstate 5 to Los Angeles then on to Palm Springs, for example) and found the cabin to be incredibly quiet at speed. Yes, I could hear the engine (barely) but what I heard frequently kept a grin on my face. The sound isn't intrusive, but is a reminder of the power I have in my hands. I love it.