Summarize

Well this one will certainly split opinion! Meet BMW’s refaced 7 Series that gets an — uhm — bold new look as part of an extensive mid-life facelift set for SA soon. While the facelifted car reflects upmarket BMW models’s shift to greater interior luxury, the parallel move to a more formal design language is interesting, to say the least!

Due in both standard and long-wheelbases, both models stretch a further 22mm — plausibly to accommodate that gong of a chrome grille up front that extends back into a newly contoured bonnet and deeper into that new front bumper to fit. Add revised OLED tail-lights with a full-width daylight running LED band and wider tailpipes along with 5.1mm thicker glass for the windows and new front wings to improve and enhanced sound-deadening in the rear wheel arches. Interior upgrades stretch from new materials to latest connectivity and a Reversing Assistant to back the car up to 50m back where it drove in from.

Seven’s engine line-up continues as is with a 390kW 4.4-litre V8 for the 750is, the M fettled 430kW 6.6-litre V12; 195 and 235kW versions of the 3.0-litre straight six turbodiesel and the 293kW quad-turbo diesel six in the 750ds. Seven comes with adaptive suspension featuring electronically controlled dampers and air springs and optional rear-wheel steering.