The idea here is that those not yet ready to go full EV should still have the chance to buy a flagship BMW that will waft around on electrons most of the time and cost very little to tax. I thought its all-electric brother the i7 was the best large EV I’ve driven, better by a distance than its Mercedes EQS rival, but, as a plug in, I think Benz’s rival S 580 e poses a far tougher challenge.
For a start the Merc really will do almost 70 miles before the petrol motor fires up – in the BMW that figure is nearer 45 miles; also BMW seems to have firmed up the M760e, perhaps to justify that M badge, degrading the i7’s superlative ride just a touch. If it’s any better to handle in the corners I neither noticed nor particularly cared: whatever the badge says, it’s just not that kind of car.
None of which is to dismiss it. Behind those dreadful looks still lies far and away the most convincing generation of 7 Series BMW since the very first, which was still around when I got into this game in the late 1980s. You can spend hours – literally – configuring the interior to your smallest requirements, but when stripped back to what actually matters, it reveals itself to be an eerily quiet, spacious, well-appointed and still fabulously comfortable car. The interaction between its electric and petrol motors is superb too. But if forced to make a decision, I’d still have an i7. AF
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