BMW ActiveHybrid 7
BMW ActiveHybrid 7
MSRP: $102,300
Estimated MPG: 17 city / 26 highway
Class: Full-size sedan
The BMW ActiveHybrid 7 is the gasoline / electric edition of the luxury car company’s flagship sedan. This full-size cruiser comes in two versions, the standard ActiveHybrid 750i and the extended wheelbase ActiveHybrid 750iL, with the latter serving as the pinnacle of BMW’s hybrid program in terms of price, comfort and high tech features.
Like the ActiveHybrid X6, the ActiveHybrid 7 is not exclusively focused on providing top level fuel mileage. Although the vehicle’s 17 miles per gallon in city driving and 27 miles per gallon on the highway is a touch over 15 percent better than that of the regular BMW 750i, the real story is that the ActiveHybrid 7 delivers that efficiency improvement while churning out more power than its gasoline-powered cousin.
The sedan generates 455 horses and 515 lb-ft of torque through the combination of a 4.4 liter, twin-turbo V8 engine and a single electric motor. This allows the large sedan to charge to 60 miles per hour in under five seconds. Fuel mileage is improved not just through the assistance provided by the electric motor, but also thanks to an auto engine start / stop feature as well as a regenerative braking system. The ActiveHybrid 7 maintains BMW’s Driving Dynamics System, which allows for control over things like throttle and suspension response and stability control intervention, and it comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Inside the BMW ActiveHybrid 7, luxury abounds. All editions of the hybrid come with items such as four zones of automatic climate control, heated leather seats, a voice-controlled navigation system and a hard drive for storing digital music files. Packages for the ActiveHybrid 7 include the Cold Weather package, which adds heaters to the rear seats as well as a heated steering wheel, and for the Li extended wheelbase model the Luxury Rear Seating package which installs a massage function and cooling feature for those riding in the back of the sedan.