Ask anyone to name the most luxurious car they can think of and I'll bet good money they say Rolls-Royce. But having spent some time with the BMW i7's new Theater Mode, which includes a 31.3-inch 8K screen that gracefully slides down from the roof, they may have to revise that opinion.
There's no real RRP when it comes to a Rolls, while customers can specify pretty much any conceivable option they can dream up, so long as the budget stretches. But dig a little deeper and you’ll notice BMW has a big part to play in the story.
Ever since the German giant acquired the British brand in 1998, it has been providing parts and know-how in order to streamline the manufacturing process. Whisper it, but the latest Rolls-Royce Spectre, the brand’s first EV, has a lot in common with the BMW 7 Series – in particular, the all-electric i7.
However, in a bold move, BMW has reserved arguably its most impressive tech for its own vehicles, rather than letting its altogether more opulent sibling bask in all the touchscreen glory.
Armed with the keys to one of the more 'entry-level' UK-specific i7s, which start at £106,000 (around $105,000 / AU$320,00) but rise to over £160,000 (about $168,500 / AU$364,00), I spent a few days prodding buttons and having my lower back pummeled in the name of journalism.
Screen burn
Before we get to that incredible Theater Mode, let's take a short tour around the rest of the i7's interior. The modern approach to automotive interiors appears to be throwing touchscreens at every surface possible, and while BMW shows some restraint in the front, it has gone completely loco in the rear.
Drivers are presented with a curved 12.3-inch dial display, as well as a 14.9-inch infotainment screen that takes care of pretty much everything. The dash area is deliberately bereft of physical buttons, which its equally beautiful and frustrating.
My kids went absolutely bananas over the prospect of enjoying a full-blown movie session during a long drive.
In addition to this, there’s a crystalline iDrive controller, which looks like it has been lifted directly from a Premier League soccer player's dining room, as well as backlit glass trim throughout the interior.
Paired with the beautifully soft (and very white) leather optioned on the ludicrously large and plush seats this press demonstrator, it felt like a genuinely luxurious place to while away the miles for all riding onboard.
The 12.3-inch driver display boasts a number of very cool innovations, including Augmented Reality navigation, which neatly layers digital directions and arrows onto live camera feeds when approaching junctions.
What’s more, BMW has ploughed on with its camera-based gesture control technology, updating it so it is now more responsive than ever. A twirl of the index finger just in front of the main infotainment system will turn up the volume, for example.
If that’s not your bag, you can also use a variety of natural voice commands to have the vehicle do exactly what you want.
Everything is highly customizable, too, from the screen layouts to the information you want in both the digital driver display and the heads-up display that’s projected onto the windscreen. It makes driving the thing a doddle.
Without getting too bogged down with specs, the model I drove boasted 450-odd bhp, a 127mph electronically-limited top speed, a 0-62mph sprint time of just 5.5 seconds and an all-electric range of 357 – 380 miles.
These are big numbers for the supposed entry-level model and those figures feel more impressive when behind the wheel.
Progress is swift but effortless, lumps in the road are smoothed over and the gargantuan 5,391mm (17ft) length is neatly disguised thanks in part to rear-wheel steering that somehow makes the i7 feel as agile around town as a Fiat 500.
A movie theater on wheels
Driving the i7 is one thing, but experiencing it from the cosseting rear seats is the proper way to approach things. All four doors open automatically, but locating the button is a bit fiddly.
Rear passengers press a small button that sits flush to the surface of the metallic door panel to close the massive apertures and once inside, the chaos of modern life is pleasantly sealed away thanks to masses of sound deadening and insulation.
Each rear occupant is presented with a small and fantastically crisp touchscreen next to the door handles. This takes care of all creature comforts, including massaging seats, climate control and even the ambience of the hundreds of hidden LEDs beautifully installed throughout the cabin.
Several pre-set modes are on offer, from Digital Art, which displays striking colors and numerous pieces of digital artwork on the various displays, to a Relax mode, which plays a sort of chilled-out ambient soundtrack through the powerful Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system.
At night, even the sunroof glass lights up thanks to integrated LED threads that create a sort of hatched effect, similar to those systems that protect priceless jewels in Mission Impossible movies.
However, it is Theater mode that really brings the i7 to life, as it sees the 31.3-inch 8K display gracefully slide from its stowed position in the roof panel to its viewing angle. Blinds then majestically appear to cover the side and rear windows for darkest ambience possible.
The screen starts up with Dolby-esque grandeur, with deep notes rumbling through seat 'exciters', and BMW graphics scroll across the digital real estate. All you need is a popcorn scent pumped through the HVAC system and it would be perfect.
The display itself runs Amazon Fire TV software and relies on a BMW eSIM to get its data feed. Annoyingly, this press car didn’t come with one and I tried to create hotspot from various devices to get it work, but it didn’t.
One solution I found was plugging a traditional Amazon Fire Stick into the HDMI input at the back of the screen and creating a hotspot with my phone. It’s not suitable for daily use, given the number of trailing wires, but it helped me at least get a feel for the theater on wheels.
An immersive experience
Without being able to verify the 8K figure, images certainly looked sharp and the sound was excellent from the Bowers & Wilkins system – it positively boomed through the seats during action sequences.
Clearly, the user interface is much better without my janky Fire Stick set-up, as it’s just a case of tapping on the screen to select movies and TV shows via the built-in Amazon Fire TV OS.
However, there are a few mild quirks to BMW’s system, chiefly that certain apps within the Amazon ecosystem, such as YouTube, can’t be navigated via touchscreen and require use of those little displays built into the door handles to act as remote controls.
Those with the Amazon Fire TV app on their smartphones can use the phone as a controller, which comes in very handy when playing games on the big screen.
Secondly, not all of the Theater Screen's width is used for entertainment purposes by default, as the flanks typically house some generic informational widgets, such as the date and the ambient temperature or weather updates.
Thankfully, the main media block can be shifted left or right, if certain rear passengers want to opt out of movie night, while the aspect ratio can be adjusted and the display can be set to a full-screen mode to get rid of those irksome widgets.
The screen itself can also be adjusted back and forth, as well as adjustments for the tilt angle, but the display is so big, it does feel a bit close for comfort and requires a bit of neck craning.
It's easily forgiven, seeing as that 2000W surround sound is so impressively huge, although passengers can connect headphones via Bluetooth (the only devices the system will currently allow) if the driver starts getting annoyed.
It’s also worth noting that the Theater Screen also houses a front-facing camera, which could be used for web conference calls should the Amazon Fire TV OS offer those apps in the future.
I guess an Alexa two-way video call would be achievable, although I didn’t test it out.
Tech is the new luxury
Comparing a BMW to a Rolls-Royce is akin to comparing apples and oranges, simply because the prestige British brand has always been about 'shy tech' - minimizing the amount of gadgetry at play inside its cabin in the quest of pure opulence and relaxation.
However, times are changing and the next generation of the ultra-wealthy are increasingly looking towards clever use of technology as a status symbol. The BMW i7, alongside the latest 7 Series in general, fulfills this brief with distinction.
Sure, some might view the addition of a whopping TV in the back of the car as distasteful, but it never failed to make an impact – it was almost always met with "oooohs" and "ahhhs" from anyone I showed it to and my kids went absolutely bananas over the prospect of enjoying a full-blown movie session during a long drive.
But above all, the i7 is an excellent car, bristling with technology but also a smooth, quiet and powerful machine to drive... if you ever want to sit in the driver's seat, that is.
You might also like
