2018 BMW 740e iPerformance: The Ultimate Driving Machine plugs in
Cars
[MUSIC]
Look what we have here, it's the BMW's flagship, the 7 series sedan.
But this 2018 740E X Drive High Performance is not like most 7's you're familiar with, and that's because it's a plugin hybrid.
Building on the 740's luxury amenity is a big old battery and a healthy dose of electrified efficiency.
But does that extra fuel economy come at the cost of performance?
Well, let's hit the road and I'll show you.
[MUSIC]
Now the plugin hybrid trades the seven series three liter inline six for a smaller two liter inline four.
Still turbo charged, it now puts 255 horsepower by itself but it's joined by an electric motor that adds 111 horsepower to To the party.
Now together they make 322 horsepower, because hybrid math, but what's most interesting is they're combined 369 pound foot torque figure.
that's 47 pound feet more than the gasoline version, and that goes a long way towards making up for For the fact this car weighs 400 pounds more than the gasoline version.
Now that bigger battery pack can be plugged in and recharged to add something like 12 to 14 miles of electric range unto the front end of any trip.
BMW says it takes like, 2.7 hours to recharge, but I've never had it take more than two.
And that's because with a plug-in hybrid, your battery's never really at zero, no matter what the meter says.
So it's gonna take a little bit less time than you might think to recharge.
Now, for those first 14 miles, you're looking at something like 67 miles per gallon equivalent.
And after that, the numbers gonna drop down to 37 MPG combined.
That's only like four miles per gallon more than the non hybrid version so I'm definitely gonna recommend that you plug this thing in at least once a day.
Now you don't really feel the extra weight through the acceleration because you've got extra [UNKNOWN] but 400 pounds is nothing that can bend the laws of physics.
You've basically got a lot of weight at the back of this vehicle.
And that's gonna change the weight distribution somewhat.
Though interestingly, it does pull it closer to the 50 50 desired weight split that you want for good handling.
But it still you can feel it when you're in corners with body rolled and leaned being squat and dive and things like that.
Even though he fixes a little bit of it with adaptive dampers, you can't really bend the laws of physics there.
Then again, nobody really buys a 7 series, a car of this size for the driving dynamic Dynamic.
You're typically looking for something comfortable and quiet.
And the hybrid system more than adds comfort and quiet to this package.
Partially because sometimes the engine's not running, but also because it basically adds a little bit of electric torque, which makes acceleration feel a little bit more effortless when you do something like go to pass.
[MUSIC]
Overall I think the hybrid system is actually worth the investment.
But let's talk about how much more of an investment it's gonna be.
The 2018 BMW 740e xDrive iPerformance has a very long name and a really big price tag.
It starts at 90,700 bucks.
But that's only like $4,600 more than Than the non-hybrid 741i with all-wheel driving.
Using the EPA's numbers and doing a bit of back of the envelope math, I'm thinking best care scenario we're looking at a year and a half to two years for that hybrid to pay for itself would save fuel.
But that's only if you plug in regularly, which I recommend you do.
But this is a Beamer, so you know that starting price ain't where we ended up.
With all of the driver aid features And a couple of luxury upgrades.
This example tips the scale at 99,845 bucks.
That's right, 100 grand.
For that kinda money, subjectively I'm a bit more of an S-Class guy, but I digress.
But, if you're sold on the Beamer, you could rest well knowing that the hybrid system isn't that much more of an investment.
And it doesn't really affect the performance all that much.
If you're interested in a 740i, it's definitely worth a second look at this plug-in.
[MUSIC]
