2010 BMW 760i / 760Li

BMW launches its latest 12-cylinder luxury missile.

BY JENS MEINERS
July 2009

Despite rising fuel prices and environmental consciousness, the power race in the luxury segment goes on. Although Europeans prefer their luxury cars with diesel power, the V-12 gasoline engine continues to see strong support in the U.S. and China—and Russia seems to have the fever, too. BMW feels that maintaining a presence in the segment is important for its brand image.

Indeed, BMW is the company that jump-started the V-12 wars in 1987 with the E32 750i/iL, which produced 296 hp from 5.0 liters. It was a huge success, selling 48,600 total units and sending shockwaves through the Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart. But it all went downhill from there. Of the last-generation 7-series V-12, the E65/E66 “Bangle butt” car, BMW sold 910 in 2007 and a mere 466 in 2008. Compare that with the more than 14,000 V-12–powered 7-series models built in 1988 alone, and the extent of the decline becomes even more stark. Now BMW hopes to reverse the slide with the all-new 2010 760i and long-wheelbase 760Li (U.S. customers will only get the 760Li).

Force-Fed Progress

To get things right, BMW knew it was going to have to give its V-12 engine a major overhaul. A big reason: The 750i/Li, powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8, is a pretty good match for the previous 760i/Li in terms of performance. Moreover, the old car’s naturally aspirated 438-hp, 6.0-liter mill has been hopelessly left in the dust by Mercedes’ twin-turbocharged V-12, which is found under the hood of the S600 and, in AMG tune, the S65.

To wit, there was no serious discussion about pursuing anything other than turbocharging once the decision was made to keep a V-12 at the top of the lineup. “Without turbocharging, we probably would have needed 8.0 liters of displacement,” says Wolfgang Nehse, who is responsible for engine testing and integration. He also says this engine is 98 percent new. Although we have little reason to doubt this claim, we note that the new engine’s displacement remains at 6.0 liters, so it seems BMW did not need to start with a blank sheet of paper.
Specifications

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

BASE PRICE: $137,425

ENGINE TYPE: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 48-valve V-12, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection

Displacement: 364 cu in, 5972cc
Power (SAE net): 535 bhp @ 5250 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 550 lb-ft @ 1500 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manumatic shifting

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 120.9–126.4 in Length: 199.7–205.2 in Width: 74.9 in Height: 58.0 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 4850–5000 lb

PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 4.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.5–12.6 sec
Top speed (governor limited): 150 mph

FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 12/20 mpg

Two Honeywell Garrett turbochargers feed one cylinder bank each, boosting power to 535 hp from the previous engine’s 438. Maximum boost pressure is 13 psi, and the turbochargers are relatively small for quick throttle response and minimal lag. Says Nehse, “We didn’t go to the limit.”

Not that you’ll really want for more power in this new 760. The sprint to 60 mph should take just over four seconds, with the charge to 100 mph executed in less than 10. Top speed is an electronically governed 155 mph (150 mph for U.S. cars), an offspring of a gentlemen’s agreement among German carmakers that BMW initiated with the E32 in 1987. Since 1987, the agreement prevented a competition for ever-higher top speeds, and we suspect it has helped keep Germany’s autobahn free of a speed limit thus far. So we are all for the politically correct governor, but we do feel bad for the 760 being kept on such a tight leash. Our educated guess is that the massive sedan could top out near 190 mph.

Maximum torque is 550 lb-ft, available between 1500 and 5000 rpm. That’s a slightly lower figure than that of the less powerful 510-hp Mercedes S600, which reaches 612 lb-ft between 1800 and 3500 rpm. Both cars show only the slightest hint of turbo lag.

Six (or Seven) Gears Are for Suckers

The 760i/Li is the first Bimmer to be equipped with a new ZF eight-speed automatic, a gearbox that will work its way into most other BMWs in the near future. Next will be the 5-series GT and then the lesser 7-series models. We hear that all future 5-series models—four-bangers, too—will be equipped with the eight-speed box. Curiously, the transmission will be supplied by ZF to Audi, where its first application will be in the next-generation A8 launching this fall. BMW is quick to point out that it carried out the bulk of the engineering work together with ZF. We are looking forward to hearing Audi’s side of the story.

Of course, the new transmission and its myriad gears mean that it’s basically impossible to tell which one you’re in at any given time. The car displays the gear only when you’re in manual-shift mode, and it switches ratios so often it’s hard to keep track—and the fact that it can skip gears (enabling, say, an eight-to-two downshift) certainly doesn’t help in that regard. We’re not fond of being this detached from the car, but having eight speeds allows for an extremely long top gear, which makes for 155-mph cruising at 3600 rpm. This also helps to keep fuel consumption at acceptable levels. Twenty or so mpg is within reach if you drive reasonably, which sounds easier than it is, given the 760’s utter lack of acoustic feedback. The only time you hear the V-12 is when you’re sitting at idle, where you hear a silky purr closer to the sound of BMW’s inline-six than a V-8.

Hard to Hide the Mass

Overall, the chassis strikes a rather happy compromise between comfort and dynamic ability; you can adjust among comfort, auto, sport, and sport plus using the standard Dynamic Drive system, with commensurate changes to the damping, stability-control system, and shifting strategy. But when you push the 760 to the limit, there’s no mistaking there is a heavy engine up front—the V-12 engine weighs about 600 pounds versus 476 pounds for the 750’s V-8—and understeer is a bit of an issue. Also, this is not the first 7 on which we’ve noticed a slight rumble when hitting certain bumps; we’re told that it is caused by a disagreement between the suspension and the Dynamic Drive system on random cars, probably due to a production variation. A BMW engineer says the company is working on a solution, but we’re a bit surprised that such a problem made it to production.

In the long-wheelbase 760Li, the rear passengers are well pampered, although we prefer the cushy lounge seats of the Lexus LS to the slightly firmer BMW chairs. We are happy to report that iDrive has evolved into an intuitive gadget, and using the climate-control system was easy. Our test cars were equipped with a second air-conditioning unit for the rear compartment, which is nice, we suppose, but it looks like an aftermarket addition and takes up nearly 1.5 cubic feet of trunk space.
Specifications

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

BASE PRICE: $137,425

ENGINE TYPE: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 48-valve V-12, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection

Displacement: 364 cu in, 5972cc
Power (SAE net): 535 bhp @ 5250 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 550 lb-ft @ 1500 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manumatic shifting

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 120.9–126.4 in Length: 199.7–205.2 in Width: 74.9 in Height: 58.0 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 4850–5000 lb

PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 4.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.5–12.6 sec
Top speed (governor limited): 150 mph

FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 12/20 mpg

The 760 looks massive, but it is a very aerodynamic car, and that’s one of the areas BMW will focus on even more in the future, says a company executive. Only experts will be able to tell the 760 models from the more pedestrian 7-series variants. The front grille is slightly thicker and convex, which we wouldn’t have noticed if we hadn’t been told. The glitzy emblem reaching from the front fenders into the front doors now wears a V-12 badge, and the rear exhausts have dual bezels left and right. BMW has put a chrome strip between them, too.

The competition? The next-generation A8 should take a huge step forward, but it is not clear yet whether Audi will follow in the footsteps of this 760 and Mercedes’ S600 with a turbocharged 12-cylinder or stick with a naturally aspirated W-12. The Lexus LS600hL, a V-8 hybrid that supposedly offers the performance of a V-12, does not even come close to the BMW or Mercedes in terms of performance or driving pleasure.

The upshot: BMW is now on par with the Mercedes S600 when it comes to engines, and the 7-series arguably is more modern than the S-class. But whichever you choose, it’s clear that we’re the real winners in the V-12 luxury power wars. Let’s hope they keep fighting.