Luxury SUV gets mild hybrid engine tech to trim fuel consumption – so is it a Range Rover beater? On sale Now Price from £83,295
Max Adams Max.Adams@haymarket.com
BIG SUVS SHOULDN’T really work in the UK, with its narrow streets and traffic ‘issues’. Still, buyers love them for their elevated driving positions and great visibility. Likewise, we know a big-engined seven-seater sounds like a bad idea when fuel is so expensive, but this facelifted BMW X7 has an answer for that too. The luxury SUV is available with mild hybrid engine tech to make the fuel efficiency figures (and in turn running costs) more palatable.
To give it the oomph it needs, the X7’s revised range starts with a choice of turbocharged 3.0-litre engines: the 375bhp 40i petrol we’ve driven, and the 347bhp 40d diesel. The 40i manages a brisk 0-62mph time of 5.8sec, while the 40d is just 0.1sec slower but has much better official fuel consumption (36.2mpg versus 29.4).
There’s also the M60i V8 petrol with 523bhp and a 0-62mph time of 4.7sec – but that’s not a mild hybrid and you’ll be lucky to see 20mpg in real-world driving (officially it does 23.2mpg).
All three engines have plenty of low-end shove, and if you put your foot down on an open road, you’ll hit motorway speeds smoothly and alarmingly quickly.
Our M Sport test car came with optional four-wheel steering, which does wonders for manoeuvrability around town and when parking, and it makes the X7 feel far more agile at higher speeds than it has any right to be. It comes as part of the £3000 Executive Drive Suspension option, or with the £16,000 Ultimate Pack, which adds a long list of luxury gadgets.
It’s not the end of the world if you don’t tick either of those boxes. The X7 has accurate steering that makes it a breeze to place on the road. The standard-fit air suspension does an excellent job of keeping body lean in check on twisty country roads and smothers the worst lumps and bumps just as well as the best luxury saloons – even with the larger optional 22in wheels. Refinement also impresses, with appreciably low levels of wind, road and engine noise.
The interior is suitably luxurious, too. Even without the polished glass gear selector and knurled metal buttons the Ultimate Pack adds, there are none of the cheap-feeling plastics that blight a small part of the Range Rover’s interior. The driving position is imperious and the space is so wide that there’s no risk of coming within the personal bubble of your passenger.
The one disappointment is that the air-con controls have migrated to the 14.9in curved touchscr
