BMW X7

Not every new car these days is designed with a specific eye on European buyers.

Take this one, the BMW X7, an enormous luxury seven-seat SUV that was launched back in 2019 primarily aimed at customers in America, the Middle East, China and various Asian markets.

But BMW thought that better-heeled buyers with larger families here might like one too. It took the Munich maker some time to make an SUV this big.

Their X5 has defined the large SUV class for over two decades amongst Mercedes GLEs and Porsche Cayennes.

But prior to 2019, the company had never fielded a bigger 4x4 - or a proper seven-seat version of this kind of car to take on the larger Mercedes GLS.

The sort of product that would begin to interest the kind of customer who'd usually be browsing in the super-luxury large SUV segment where the Range Rover rules.

The X7, announced in late 2018 and put on sale here a few months after, was tasked with attracting exactly this well-heeled brand of buyer. If you know anything about this car, you'll have already gathered that it's quite a size, but of course that's relative to your point of comparison.

True, it's a little bigger than a Range Rover, but you'd expect that given that an X7 has an extra row of seats.

It's actually a little smaller than its most obvious rival, the Mercedes GLS.

And considerably smaller than the ultimate contender you could have in this class, the Rolls Royce Cullinan.

Even so, this is easily the most substantial - and certainly the heaviest - piece of automotive real estate BMW has ever brought us. The brand always wanted us to think of this car less as a super-sized X5 and more as an alternative to the boardroom segment 7 Series saloon with which it shares its imposing front grille.

The X7's underpinnings though are shared directly with the X5, as were many other things - the standard air suspension and the optional Off-Road package for example.

Plus the two cars rolled down the same American Spartanburg production line.

This one though, was a far more exclusive sight in our market.

It was, according to its maker, 'a triumph of spatial thinking'.

Certainly, if you want the very best large SUV from the 2019-2021 period and it has to seat seven, you'd need to consider it.

The X7's main xDrive30d diesel engine was replaced by a more powerful xDrive40d unit in 2020.

Then the car continued on sale in its original form until Spring 2022, when it was significantly updated.

It's the pre-facelift models we look at here.

US, Asian and Middle Eastern buyers want their luxury SUVs to be big and very imposing, so the X7 is.

If you want one here, that's what you're going to like about it.

Is the huge over-sized front grille a step too far? Not if you take the view that there's simply no point in a car that's 5.15-metres long, 2-metres wide and over 1.8-metres high being aesthetically shy and retiring.

This one certainly isn't. As is appropriate in such a large SUV, you climb up into the driver's seat of an X7 and find yourself positioned commandingly in a cabin that's high in quality but perhaps lacking a little in terms of sheer specialness.

It's hard to fault the cabin ergonomics, which see you perfectly positioned on brilliantly supportive multifunctional 'Comfort' seats trimmed in stitched Merino leather.

And viewing digital screen technology delivered by the 'Live Cockpit Professional' package that combines a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster display with a centre-dash infotainment monitor of the same size, all of it accessible via touchscreen, the usual lower iDrive touch controller or voice control.

There's some clever stuff incorporated into this sophisticated set-up, including gesture control and what BMW calls an 'Intelligent Personal Assistant', which works a bit like the 'Siri' or 'Google Assistant' systems you might use on your 'phone and is there to answer questions you can voice to the car as you drive it. Once you take a seat in the second row, you'll quickly appreciate the generous leg room on offer made possible by this car's lengthy 3,105mm wheelbase.

Most X7s were sold in the standard seven-seat configuration, which gives you a three person bench.

Your alternative is to get a car whose original owner specified the optional 'Six-Seater' package which instead fits out the second row with two individual 'Comfort'-spec seats similar to those at the front, each with their own armrests and cushioned headrests.

That'll give second row folk more luxury and more room to spread out, plus it'll make it easier to get to the rearmost seating row.

But of course it'll mean compromises in terms of seat-folding flexibility and, obviously, passenger capacity.

On balance, we'd prefer to stick with a car fitted with the conventional middle bench. After all, it's not as if you're lacking luxury.

You get exquisitely cushioned head rests, plus electric seat controls for the two outer positions adjust the back rests and move the powered seat bases through a range of 145mm.

Right, enough with that.

What about the third row? It's supposed to be 'adult-friendly'.

Once installed in the very back, there's pretty much the same sort of space as you'd find in a large MPV.

In short, what's on offer in the X7 is a first class SUV that doesn't demote third row passengers to third class travel. And the boot? Well the powered two-piece tailgate can be operated by gesture control and opens to reveal a cargo area that offers 326-litres (about the size of the boot of a Ford Focus), even when all three seating rows are in use.

To make loading easier, you can lower the height of the air suspension using a button on the edge of the lowered tailgate panel.

More buttons on the left hand side of the hatch aperture allow you to electrically retract the rearmost pews and virtually double the size of your cargo area.

And you can electrically retract the second row bench too, which can if necessary fold in a 40:20:40-split, eventually freeing up as much as 2,120-litres of total capacity, assuming you've stuck with your X7 in its standard seven-seat form.

Please contact us for an exact up-to-date valuation.

Our owner survey came across some minor issues with the suspension; in a few cases, there was suspension damage due to wear and tear, which made the system slow to react.

We also heard of an issue with steering rack pinion teeth, which can crack under heavy pressure.

Other reported issues concern corrosion for the alloy wheels, occasional instances of failure with the high pressure fuel pump, a leaky oil filler gasket, electric window malfunctions and a faulty hydraulic unit for the braking system.

The braking system actually attracted a few complaints, some owners reporting that the brakes weren't as strong as they ought to have been when slowing from cruising speeds.

Check this out on your test drive.

Another owner reported that when his car was parked, it slipped out of Park and lurched forward through a wall; BMW could not trace the fault.

Another model had its sunroof explode when being driven.

And another owner complained of faulty power adjustment for the seats.

In that situation, when one row started working, the other row stopped working.

Check the powered seat mechanisms thoroughly when you inspect the car.

Otherwise, it's just the usual things.

Insist on a fully stamped-up service record and check the alloys for scratches and scuffs.

[based on a 2019 model X7 xDrive30d ex-vat] Parts prices for an X7 model from this period can be reasonable if you shop around.

We trawled around the internet and found these: An oil filter is in the £9 bracket.

An air filter is around £26.

Front brake discs cost in the £209 bracket; rear discs are in the £134 bracket.

A set of front brake pads is around £131-£161; rear pads are around £37.

A fuel filter is in the £35 bracket; a starter motor is around £267; wiper blades are around £16-£24.

BMW was the first manufacturer to make a large luxury SUV that didn't fall about when presented with a corner at speed.

So if anyone was going to be able to make a 5.1-metre leviathan weighing the best part of two and a half tonnes handle sensibly, you'd have to think this Munich maker would be in with a chance.

Sure enough, the X7 manages to be a deal more agile than you'd expect it might be, particularly if you happen to be in a variant fitted out with 'Integral Active Steering', which steers the rear wheels for greater cornering stability.

Or a model featuring the brand's 'Anti-roll stabilisation' technology.

This set-up uses automatically-adjustable anti-roll bars that give you lots of suspension movement for a great ride in a straight line, yet spring into action through the bends to compensate for the body roll you'd otherwise get.

All models got standard air suspension - and of course xDrive 4WD. You'll want to know about engines.

Most buyers for models made and sold in the 2019 model year will opt for the 'xDrive 30d' variant which uses a 265hp version of the brand's usual straight-six single-turbo 3.0-litre diesel, combined with the 8-speed Steptronic Sport auto gearbox that features across the range.

This volume variant records up to 33.6mpg on the WLTP combined cycle and up to 171g/km of NEC-rated CO2.

This engine was updated with a more powerful xDrive40d diesel unit in 2020.

The petrol alternative is the 340hp 'xDrive40i' derivative.

Like the base diesel, this model could from new be ordered with an optional 'xOffroad' pack which includes a sump guard, specific driving screen interfaces and a series of transmission and suspension settings for various different surfaces.

But a typical X7 buyer will more greatly prioritise on-tarmac performance and in that case may very possibly be interested in the two full-M-spec variants also on offer, the 530hp petrol M50i and the 400hp diesel M50d.

Both feature a standard 'M Sport differential' which when cornering at speed, allows drive torque to be redirected from a faster-turning wheel to a slower-turning one, helping to fire you from bend to bend.

In an SUV market full of so-called 'seven-seaters' that can actually only take small children in their rearmost pews, the X7's capacity to properly accommodate seven adults is refreshing.

Don't be misled; apart from a Mercedes GLS, no other SUV can do this.

And that Merc struggles to match the dynamic capability of this BMW both on and off tarmac. If you want a really special feel, look for an X7 fitted out with options like the Skyview panoramic roof, the 'Crafted Clarity' cabin decor and the Bowers & Wilkins Diamond audio system.

With features like that in place, provided you can afford the premium asking prices and you shop carefully, there's very little else not to like here.

This X7 will have a distinctive appeal if you like the brand's cool sporting vibe, have a large family and want the very best.

Size matters.

But then you always knew that didn't you...