One of the most affordable BMW 7 Series you can get with a petrol engine these days is the BMW 740i. Using just a B58 3-liter straight six engine with a turbocharger next to it, you might think it would be slow to get a move on. Well, you’d be wrong for a couple of reasons. Of course, compared to the M760Li xDrive bruiser the 740i is a slouch but, then again, that’s not a fair comparison.
The 740i comes with 326 HP and 450 Nm (332 lb-ft) of torque. They are put to good use though as they have to carry around a body that weighs 1,800 kg (3,968 lbs) and, even though the new 7er did shed some decent weight compared to its predecessor, it’s still a big car to deal with. Nevertheless, according to the official specs released by the Germans, the car will do 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standstill in 5.5 seconds and then go up to a top speed that’s limited to 250 km/h (155 mph).
To put things into context, the 5.5 second run to 100 km/h (62 mph) is just shy of what the E46 M3 used to do back when it was new. Considering that was an M3 and this is a full-on limousine with everything you could possibly need inside to travel in absolute comfort wherever you’re going, I’d say the 740i is more than decent in a straight line. The video below also shows just how fast the top speed can be reached if you go all out.
Looking at the speedometer and the counter we’d reckon it would take you under 40 seconds to do that, provided you have either a track or an empty unrestricted Autobahn available for such testing purposes. That said, for $83,100, the BMW 740i does seem like a bargain in terms of performance.
[fvplayer src=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EoCJZzaf6w&t=2s” width=”640″ height=”360″ startend=”2-“]
