Now pay attention folks. This here is the first Uber-Saloon ever produced by a German marque since the almighty Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 in the 1970s. The BMW Seven Hundred and Fifty as Q mentioned in the James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies, or simply 750iL as what you and me would normally call it is an engineering marvel. Although the 750 mentioned in the Bond movie is the newer E38 model, the predecessor E32 is the car mentioned here.
In 1987, BMW figured that the time was right to launch a technological tour de force. The 750 had a 5.0liter V12 engine that pumped out about 300bhp. In those days, 300bhp was alot of horses. It was also the most technologically advanced v12 that anybody produced in a while. Jaguar was in fact soldiering on with its v12 from the 1960s for its series III Jaguar XJ12. With 300 horses, this saloon could wipe the slate of most Porsches and Ferraris of its day. If not for the usual 250km/h speed limit German manufacturers put on their saloons, it would and could hit 300km/h given a decent stretch of autobahn.
It also came loaded with all the necessary refinements (although not 'Q' branch refinements) like double glazed glass, self levelling suspension at the rear and even stability control, which was rare in cars of those days. These cars was ultra refined. Even Mercedes Benz only managed to come up with 8 cylinders in its ageing 560SEL W126 platform in 1987. Only with the epic (in size and engineering) W140 series, Mercedes became king of the Uber saloons with the 600SEL 6.0 liter v12 which pumped out 408bhp in 1992.
Driving the darn thing
I drove one sometime last year, as when it first came out I was still in High School. Honestly, driving a 7series never felt easier with so much power. You'd think 300bhp would overwhelm any chassis. Nowadays, 300bhp may be considered as the norm as most small Imprezas, Evolutions have more than that nowadays. But you must remember, this was mid 1980s technology in play here. Back then, people seemed happy driving their 120bhp Honda Civic SI thinking that they've got the fastest thing ever built and doing 180km/h was a magical figure to most 20 year olds. Maybe that's why no one really died those days (except for those really unlucky ones), kids today get to crash at around 300km/h if their parents can afford a Nissan GTR. Lucky buggers.
BMW managed to make everything seem to work nicely for the 7. I felt like I was handling and driving a much smaller saloon. This was down to impressive ergonomics (i.e controls and seating where you want it to be). Lane changes can be done at ease unlike some larger saloons which you'd have to plan a day in advance. It felt extremely nippy and felt like driving a Honda Civic EK9. Okay, I'm exaggerating here. But it does feel nippy and nimble enough for city driving. Coupled with its all leather and wood interior, air conditioning and other refinements. You'd still feel like you're a Captain of an Industry and not like you're in a pensioned off freighter waiting to sink.
Somehow, these older BMWs seem to have one flaw. Brakes that are very under servoed. You feel like all of its 300bhp is going to run wild if you don't apply pressure on the brake pedal. I thought all hell may break lose if I didn't apply pressure to the pedal. Hard work just keeping still in a 300bhp salooon if you know what I mean. I first thought that it was a fault in the brakes as it being a 1990 model and all but no, I've read that most BMWs feel like that. Not that I am complaining when I was driving faster than parking speeds.
How much would one cost you these days? About RM40,000.00 would get you one. Maybe cheaper. How do I know this? By the same person who let me drive it in the first place. His dad, the chairman of my company owns two of this. Both are drivable and both are immaculate as the build quality and materials used were superb. Faults? Some electrical niggles here and there, but they're at least 18 years old. Acceptable. Road tax for these cars however isn't so acceptable. Anything close to 5,000cc costs around RM10,000 per annum.
Note: You could get the newer E38 740 (pictured here) for around this price and imagine that you're James Bond. Yes he drove a 750 version of this in Tomorrow Never Dies, but I've heard both the BMW V12 and V8
and there's not a doubt in my mind that the v8 sounds better than the 12. It always is, I'd like a V8 woofle that has a sense of occasion over eerie silence and refinement of a v12. Unless its a Ferrari 12. (which I recently got to listen as I managed to coax my friend to start up a Testarossa recently)
And another thing, these cars were the last decently styled Seven series before the supremely ugly Seven series styled by Chris Bangle came along. From a slim pillared saloon which is the epitome of subdued elegance and speed, we got a gargantuan hulk that's hideously ugly and even if they say it drives well, I rather stay miles away from it. Yes BMW says that sales of that model were better than previously, but that's no excuse to make a car look like a building. It's not supposed to look like the Guggenheim. Make it look like the starship Enterprise or a space shuttle. Anything that looks like a rocket is better than a stationary piece of living space.
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