BMW 750iL - Road Test - German Car

To fully appreciate a 750iL, you can't view it as a mere car. BMW's flagship sedan is more of a mobile hedonist chamber, something to be experienced, not just driven. Venture inside and you enter a realm of absolute overkill. The 750iL may lack a live-in butler and an onboard wine cellar, but there's not much else missing from its prodigious roster of standards. In fact, there are no factory options. Should you be one of the few fortunate souls able to ante up the $92,570 price of admission-which includes $1700 in gas-guzzler tax and a $570 destination fee-you're home, figuratively and literally.

Open a door, and the house lights slowly rise to bid you a warm welcome and reveal one of the most opulently appointed interiors to be found in any car, anywhere. The feel here is more like a library-albeit a rather high-tech one-than a luxury car. Admittedly, the driver and front passenger enjoy the primo locations in the 750iL. BMW's Comfort Seats are, quite simply, the most outstanding torso cuddlers installed in any car to date. Their 14-way power adjustability-including a separate rake adjustment for the upper portion of the seatback-makes them ideal for long-range running. A power tilt/telescoping steering column further aids in choosing a perfect driving position. Like the seats, its leather-bound wheel is heated to take the edge off those frosty mornings.

Complementing copious quantities of noise-attenuation materials, the 750iL boasts dual-pane glazing on its door glass-to keep things whisper quiet even at triple-digit speeds and to allow one to more fully enjoy the cellular telephone and 440-watt 14-speaker AM/FM/CD/cassette stereo. Augmenting the huge list of power standards is a one-touch express feature for the windows, moonroof, and even the ignition system. Rear passengers in the 750iL also are extremely pampered. Legroom is superabundant, and the seatback angle, headrest, and lumbar support all are power adjustable. Like the front buckets, the outboard positions have individual heating elements, and ducts on the rear of the center console ship both warm and cool air to the aft quarters. To maximize privacy, the backglass features an electric sunshade while the rear side windows feature manually operated screens.

Making 322 horsepower at 5000 rpm and 361 pound-feet of torque at 3900 rpm, the 750iL's 5.4-liter SOHC V-12 packs a solid performance punch. Paired with the mandatory ZF five-speed automatic transmission, it propels this 4553-pound luxo-sport tourer from zero to 60 mph in a mere 6.4 seconds and through the quarter mile in 14.7 ticks at 98.3 mph-fast enough to soundly smoke that obnoxious Mustang GT-driving teen in the next lane. Adaptive controls on the gearbox tailor its response to match individual driving styles. Confirmed do-it-yourselfers can choose either the Manual mode, which selects and holds a gear, or the Sport mode, which engages a more aggressive shift program. Turn off the traction control and you can even surprise the teens with squealing-tire takeoffs.

A suspension system comprised of MacPherson struts up front and BMW's multilink setup in the rear makes the 750iL feel as equally at home on featureless interstates as it does on serpentine switchbacks. Fine-tuning this hardware are anti-roll bars, electronic damping control (EDC), and rear self-leveling. The 750iL also boasts BMW's electronic traction-maxing and anti-spin systems, Automatic Stability Control plus Traction (ASC+T) and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), both of which can be manually deactivated to satisfy those with more enthusiast leanings.