Perhaps most people's aesthetics are still stuck in the "pedantic" era of internal combustion engines, or BMW, which has always been well versed in the "sales code", has already figured out the real needs of the new generation of NewRich. In short, the new generation of BMW 7 Series/i7, which was just launched not long ago, has quickly become the focus of the topic with its design and over-the-top volume. Even in the eyes of many veteran car fans and "media teachers", this chassis codenamed G70 BMW 7 Series is comparable to the same shocking E65 at the beginning of the two events in 2001, and must be careful to move chris Bangle, the design god who has already established himself as a portal, to prove that all ill-intentioned criticism of the new car will eventually fade, and the Munichers will once again stand on the peak of D-class luxury cars.
Not to mention that during Chris Bangle's tenure as BMW's design director, the design of the E65 was mainly written by Adrian van Hooydonk, and Chris Bangle only acted as the Dutchman's "Bó Lè". Even looking at the 45-year history of the BMW 7 Series, which has lasted for 7 generations, there are many more jaw-dropping models than the E65 and G70. Even in a sense, reshaping people and breaking boundaries may be the core product force of the BMW 7 Series in the same class.
745i SA: The legendary M7, created in 1983!
Back in 1977, BMW replaced the aging New Six (E3) with a large luxury sedan code-named E23, and named it the 7 Series for the first time, becoming the new brand flagship of the Blue Sky Baiyun brand.
In order to strengthen the brand's sporty positioning and respond to the high-performance model 450SEL 6.9 (W116) launched by the Mercedes-Benz S-Class next door. BMW's engineers decided to do the same and build a 7 Series that was "strong" enough. The initial plan was to borrow the 4.5L V8 engine from Porsche on the 928.
But after loading tests, engineers soon discovered that the engine, which was both considerable in size and weight, did not perform as expected. Even in some parameters, it is not as good as its own 3.2T in-line 6-cylinder engine. As a result, BMW released the flagship model of the 7 Series in 1983, the 745i.
Soon, BMW's engineers quickly discovered an unsolvable bug: the in-line engine and longitudinal layout had encroached on the E23's engine compartment, and with the addition of additional turbochargers, the end result was that the 745i model could only arrange the steering column on the left. This meant that the flagship 7 series could only be forced to abandon the right-hand driving markets such as South Africa and the United Kingdom, which were profitable at that time.
While Munich executives were at a loss, engineers at the Rosslyn plant in South Africa came up with a brilliant idea to replace the right-hand 745i with a 3.5L inline 6-cylinder engine codenamed M88/3, which was originally built exclusively for the BMW supercar M1 and then installed on BMW's high-performance models such as the M635 CSi and M5 (E28) in the 1980s.
Thanks to Bosch's mechanical injection, dual overhead camshafts (DOHCs), independent throttles, and many other advanced technologies, the engine not only has a compression ratio of 10.5, but also has a maximum power of 210 kW (286 hp) far exceeding the 185 KW (252 hp) of the left-hand drive model's 3.4T engine. Thanks to this, the car accelerates from 0-100km/h in just 7 seconds and reaches a speed of up to 236km/h.
Not only that, but in response to the increased power, engineers also replaced the luxury sedan with the same braking system and rim tires as the M635 CSi. At the same time, the body has also added a small, sporty wide body. In addition to the M-Power logo on the engine trim cover, some South African versions of the 745i also have the ///M badge installed on the grille.
The move is said to have completely angered BMW executives in Munich. According to the official caliber, they believe that the exhaust sound of the engine from the M department is too noisy to reach the level of a top luxury car. In fact, the additional cost and the potential negative impact of the car on sales of the same model of the left-hand drive after the launch of the car may be their real consideration.
In order to prove the performance of the "first M7 in history", the South African BMW official even used a modified 745i SA to participate in the South African Modified Saloon Car Championship.
Driven by driver Tony Viana, the sprawling luxury sedan beat rivals such as the Alfa Romeo GTV, Ford Sierra XR8, and Mazda RX-7 on the field to win the 1985 annual championship in the Group One category.
By the end of production in 1987, the BMW plant in Rosslyn, South Africa, had produced only 209 right-handy 745i cars with M engines, and 17 of them with 5-speed manual transmissions had become a rarity for collectors of classic cars today.
750iL GoldFisch: The "Cuban Missile Crisis" of the Ashkenazi luxury brand
Today, downsize and electrification of engines is seen as politically correct, but back in the 1980s, a race for large-displacement armaments between luxury brands was the norm.
In the late 1980s, BMW developed a highly expandable engine unit. To test its extreme performance, engineers built three-cylinder engines and V16 engines, respectively. For some reason, information about the former is extremely limited, and as for the V16, it gave birth to perhaps the craziest BMW 7 Series in history.
The engineers started with the idea of finding a car as a "test bench" for the new engine. Among BMW's entire range of products at the time, the long-shaft 750iL (E32) sedan with the V12 engine was BMW's production car with the largest engine compartment. So the engineers decided to "go fast." However, the original V12 of the 750iL has filled the engine compartment to the fullest, and even the remaining space that cannot accommodate one hand has caused great difficulties in the daily maintenance of the car, not to mention a steel monster with four additional cylinders and a displacement of up to 6.6 liters.
After barely cramming the new engine into the cabin, the engineers found that their work was far from over. The remaining space in the engine is not even enough to accommodate the water tank and cooling fans. Therefore, the engineers could only open their minds, sacrificing the spacious trunk of the original car, installing a water tank and two cooling fans.
In order to dissipate the heat gathered in the trunk as quickly as possible, the taillights had to be removed, and on this test vehicle, it was not even possible to find the backlights and rear fog lights necessary for the regulations. In addition, engineers made two rear fenders with deflectors from fiberglass, so that air currents at high speeds could pour into the trunk to cool the tank.
Compared to V16 juniors like bugatti Veyron, this special 7 Series tuning is much more conservative, and the V16 engine can only produce a maximum power of 304Kw (414 hp) and a maximum torque of 625 Nm. With the help of a 6-speed manual transmission, this massive luxury sedan can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 6 seconds, with a top speed of up to 282km/h.
BMW, which has always been conservative in terms of management, has created this crazy product mainly because its old rival, Mercedes-Benz, is developing a more crazy W18 engine at the same time, which is said to be a combination of three in-line 6-cylinder engines. According to the plan, it will become the driving force for the flagship model of the S-Class.
As with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the brash Ashkenazi duo finally agreed before completely tearing its face to keep the flagship sedan's power at V12 levels. As a result, the prototype, dubbed goldfisch by German engineers, was forever dusted in history after its development.
In the early 1990s, when the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo was overhauled in the middle, it was also hoped that BMW could supply the V16 engine on the Goldfish to replace the old 6.75L V8 turbocharged engine. But the high cost and a series of difficult problems such as the weight after loading and heat dissipation finally made Crewe's research and development team abandon this crazy idea.
L7 (E38): The least "greasy" big guy car
In the eyes of many bimmers, the status of the third generation 7 series (E38) is undoubtedly irreplaceable. As the last generation of the 7 Series, which offered a manual version except for the top trim, this generation of the 7 Series was praised by the American Car And Driver as "the real driver's car in the history of the 7 Series". In addition, whether it is "007: Empire of Tomorrow" released in 1997, or Jason . Statham's "Very Human Trafficker 1", E38, all made a splash in it.
However, it is such a luxury car that enshrines sports temperament and driving pleasure, and is almost synonymous with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W140) of the same period, but it has also tried to break the human design.
As an engine supplier to Rolls-Royce in the 1990s, BMW not only used this to blackmail the wealthy Volkswagen Group into abandoning the acquisition of Britain's top luxury brands. At the same time, they also decided to test the top luxury car with the 750iL equipped with the same V12 engine as the Silver Angel. In fact, BMW's understanding of the flagship luxury car is simple: extravagant space, stacked configurations and sparse production.
Bmw L7 is the direct result of this theory output, in order to obtain excellent spatial performance, BMW directly on the standard 750iL B-pillar stiffly lengthened 25cm, and added a non-trivial side window.
The extravagant rear row resembles an upstart office, with the ubiquitous leather and solid wood, from separate refrigerators, fax machines, privacy glass to videotape players, and at the end of production, the limousine can even be equipped with an optional on-board computer that can connect to the Internet and a privacy partition in the front and rear rows that can be raised and lowered electrically.
In terms of power, this sedan with an empty mass of more than 2.2 tons is no different from the ordinary version of the 750Il. The 5.4L V12 engine, which has a maximum power of 243 KW (331 hp), has the ability to accelerate the behemoth by 0-100 km/h in 7 seconds, while the car's top speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h.
Needless to ask, there is no point in a car so positioned to please the driver in the driver's seat.
As the English writer Montaigne said: "If the soul has no goal, it will inevitably lose itself." Because omnipresence equals omnipresence. The blindly followed the luxury BMW L7 did not achieve the expected success, in the four years from 1997 to 2001, BMW only delivered 899 L7s, compared to the seemingly lackluster, even a little greasy car itself, L7 owners are not lacking in interesting "souls".
Among them, the famous costume designer - "Lafayette" Karl Lagerfeid once purchased an orange-red L7 through BMW's personalization department, in addition to the fully customized leather decoration in the car, the wood grain decoration even has The signature of Karl himself. In addition, a mystery Japanese customer customized an L7 with Alpina rims and a wide-body kit.
Editor's summary: Returning to reality from these historically bizarre BMW 7 Series, whether it is the M-Power plus 745i SA, or the one of one V16 750iL, aside from the fan perspective of gossip and curiosity, it is actually the choice and inevitability of each era. Just like the new 7 series that seems to be subversive design, whether it is a luminous middle net, a split headlight or a huge volume, it is actually a "commonplace" design in this era. Perhaps the subversion in our perception does not stem from these designs themselves, but from the fact that they appear on the BMW 7 Series together.