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2010 BMW 750i xDrive (photos)

BMW's flagship sedan gets all-wheel drive for the 2010 model year. More luxury cruiser than sport driver, the 750i covers long distances while occupants enjoy a comfortable and refined ride.

Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Wayne Cunningham
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BMW's flagship sedan, the 7-series, comes in a variety of flavors. Two different engines are available, as is all-wheel drive. You can get the car in stretched format, denoted by the letter L in the model name.
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The 750i xDrive, although a conventional sedan, has a sleek design. The sides have a smooth look, broken up only by fender ornaments. Of course, the car gets the classic BMW kidney grille.
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The 750i xDrive gets power from a 4.4-liter twin-turbo direct-injection V-8, good for 407 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque. This big engine also means excessive fuel consumption.
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The cabin is exceedingly roomy, and many features come standard, such as the navigation system. One thing that is not standard on this car is an M sport package, which adds some cosmetic elements.
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The ride is very comfortable. The 750i xDrive runs smoothly over rough asphalt. The suspension does have a sport setting, but the ride never gets too firm.
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The trunk is very deep, which is to be expected on a sedan of this size.
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The cabin is very well-designed and covered in leather and wood.
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M rocker panels are part of the M sport package.
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We found the steering very responsive in the 750i xDrive, although the suspension is not firm enough to keep it flat in the corners.
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The bottom of the tachometer shows fuel consumption, and also has a section indicating regeneration. When slowing down, electricity is generated to top off the battery.
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The head-up display is particularly useful, showing vehicle speed and route guidance graphics.
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We were surprised that the automatic transmission only has six gears, as many big luxury cars are getting seven- and eight-speed transmissions.
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A switch on the console takes the car to sport mode, which affects the suspension and power train.
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BMW's new iDrive controller is a big improvement over the previous one. Quick-access buttons open key cabin applications, so the driver does not have to fumble through a menu structure.
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The navigation system's maps, stored on an 80-gigabyte hard drive, are some of the best we've seen.
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Zoom out to a one-mile scale, and the maps show satellite imagery.
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Although rotary letter selection is a little tedious, the car shows the selected letter in large format, making it less distracting to use while driving.
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The 750i xDrive comes standard with HD radio.
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We found this iPod interface a little frustrating to use.
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Standard sonar object detection provides help while parking.

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