2024 BMW i7 M70 Saloon Review
BMW goes on a power trip with new i7 M70 xDrive
BMW’s most powerful electric M car is not a sporty coupe, but a massive limo that’s somehow lost none of its appeal in its most performance-orientated form.
Review
Some might tell you power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but if anyone knows how to increase power without sacrificing anything else, it’s BMW. The German company’s heart lies with motorsport, and the company is busily setting about ensuring its electric cars are as sporty as their combustion-powered equivalents. Only more powerful. And none is as powerful as this: the new i7 M70 xDrive. Based on the luxurious i7 saloon, it aims to merge the worlds of efficiency, performance and luxury in one enormous four-door limo. But is that even possible?
Sporty-yet-subtle styling
BMW’s styling department has copped some flak in recent years, and with good reason, because some of the designs have been challenging at best. The i7 is among those, what with its massive grille, narrow lights and those clean slab sides. It isn’t so much an acquired taste as a completely divisive creation, splitting those who think it’s terrible and those who think it’s kind of acceptable in two.
If you don’t like the standard i7, you probably won’t like the M70 version much either, but it has a few sporty upgrades such as the aerodynamic door mirrors, the M badges on the flanks and the sportier side skirts. There’s an M Performance package, too, offering more black exterior trim than the standard car, which already comes with black glossy surfaces around the front grille and windows.
Similarly, the interior upgrades are quite subtle, with M-specific leather upholstery and special door sills, as well as M-specific content in the touchscreen and digital instrument display. Otherwise, it’s much the same as any other i7, with the brilliantly sharp and easy-to-use screens in one housing that spans half the dashboard, while there’s ambient lighting that changes depending on the driving mode selected.
Room to relax
There’s a huge amount of space, too, with massive seats for the driver and front passenger, as well as acres of rear legroom. Both the front and rear seats are hugely adjustable, and they come with climate control that allows them to be heated or cooled depending on the occupant’s preferences. And customers can choose a massive theatre screen that folds down from the roof to keep rear-seat passengers entertained.
Those passengers won’t have any trouble carrying their luggage, either, because despite its two-motor electric powertrain, which puts one of those motors at the rear of the car and stores a massive battery under the floor, the i7 has a boot that’s competitive in the luxury saloon market. At 500 litres, it’s roughly the same size as that of a petrol-powered Audi A8.
Charging ahead
Like every other i7, the M70’s propulsion system is relatively simple. There’s a huge battery under the floor, providing 101.7kWh of usable energy to power the electric motor – or, in this case, motors. At the front, there’s an ample 258hp to power the wheels, while there’s an even more sufficient 489hp motor at the rear. Incidentally, it’s the most powerful electric motor ever fitted to a BMW production car.
As a result, the i7 M70 xDrive gets a total of 660hp that’s distributed (albeit unevenly) between all four wheels. That’s enough for a 0-100km/h time of just 3.7 seconds, which makes this 2.7-tonne leviathan fast enough to embarrass some serious sports cars.
However, the M70’s performance has reduced the distance it can travel on a single charge compared with other i7 models. That said, the damage isn’t as bad as it could be, and the big BMW will still cover up to 560km between charges, according to the official efficiency test. And charging the battery is a reasonably rapid affair, too, assuming you can find a charging point powerful enough. With the capacity to take on charge at up to 195kW, the i7 can charge from 10 to 80 per cent in a mere 34 minutes.
Surprisingly smooth
Given the M70’s performance, and the fact it has to maintain control of that heavy body to offer the sportiness BMW customers demand from the M division, you might expect the i7 M70 to ride somewhat stiffly, but not a bit of it. Like the standard i7, it’s incredibly supple and comfortable, allowing it to more or less glide down the road, particularly at motorway speeds. But even around town, where there tend to be sharper potholes and speed bumps, the M70 soaks up the imperfections admirably.
But don’t go thinking this is some big cruiser that’s only fast in a straight line, because by dint of some engineering magic, the M70 xDrive handles properly too. It feels heavy and the brake pedal is almost alarmingly soft - a hangover from the less performance-orientated models designed to help drivers brake smoothly - but it stops effectively, and the steering is light but precise, and that makes it very easy to drive, even at speed. Naturally, it isn’t as agile as BMW’s smaller saloons, but for something this big it is far more entertaining than it has any right to be.
Nevertheless, it’s at its best on a good coast road or a sweeping main road, where the smoothness and speed can work in harmony. But given customers are far more likely to use the i7 on long journeys than quick Sunday morning blasts through the countryside, that’s probably for the best.
Excellent but expensive
Unsurprisingly, the i7 M70 xDrive doesn’t come cheap. Once you’ve got the car you want, you’re looking at more than €200,000, and that will be absolutely unpalatable for many would-be buyers. Certainly, when you can get an i7 that’s more than rapid enough for about €70,000 less, it hardly looks like a value proposition. But money aside, it’s a brilliant feat of engineering. That BMW has managed to make something so fast, so luxurious and so appealing is testament to the brand’s engineering know-how, and you can’t help but respect it.
What next for BMW?
BMW’s inexorable march towards an electric future continues, albeit while continuing to offer a range of petrol, diesel and hybrid options to customers. As a result, there’s a new 5 Series on the way, offering buyers a choice of petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric powertrains, and there are various other performance models in the pipeline. We’re expecting an updated 1 Series in the not-too-distant future, too.