The new BMW M760e
BMW has a long and storied history of making fast, entertaining and slightly louche sports saloon cars. But how does it fare in the new era of hybrids and electronics? Darius Sanai, who has a rich history of BMW ownership, gets in the saddle of the latest top-of-the-range model, the M760e, in a series of reports
One of my favourite books, growing up as a book-and-car-mad chap in London, was a Roald Dahl compilation called The Wonderful story of Henry Sugar. Aimed more at young adults than children, it is a series of unrelated typically surreal tales that mix brilliant storytelling, myth, and a certain topical character.
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They have, incidentally, just been made into a series of short films by Wes Anderson – essential viewing if you haven’t seen them already.
The BMW M760e’s interior uses high-quality touchpoint
But back to the book. One of the stories is called The Hitchhiker, and it features a successful and wealthy gentleman – it is written in the first person, so I wasn’t ever that sure as a child, and still I’m not now, how much the narrator had the author woven into his persona – who gives a lift to a hitchhiker who turns out to be a dizzyingly brilliant pickpocket, or “fingersmith”, as he calls himself.
I won’t give any more of the story away, but what really mesmerised me was not the dark arts of the fingersmith, but the car the narrator was driving: a BMW 3.3 Li.
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Already a modern classic, or an old car, by the time I read the story, this was a masterpiece of 20th century modern design, inside and out. At that stage I wouldn’t have been able to identify an Eames chair from my school sofa, but I knew a beautiful post-Bauhaus car when I saw one.
‘I liked cars that were beautiful, growlingly powerful without being too flashy, and had the ability to transport you long distances effortlessly’
My school friends worshipped Ferrari and Lamborghinis; but for me that came later. I liked cars that were beautiful, growlingly powerful without being too flashy, and had the ability to transport you long distances effortlessly at high-speed, cigar in one hand, to the most glamorous end of Europe. The 3.3 Li as described in Roald Dahl story ticked all the boxes.
And so few years later, when I had enough money to buy my first car, I bought what was effectively the sexier sister car to the car in the story. The 3.0 CSi was similarly powerful, but slightly cooler and flashier as a two-door version and unspeakably beautiful.
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After that, working as a foreign correspondent in South Africa, I had a chance drink in a bar with the esteemed chief correspondent of France’s Le Monde newspaper who was selling his car, BMW’s successor to the 3.3 Li, a 733i, a big, fast, imposing and swift saloon. It was not as beautiful as its predecessor, but it was a better car, and I bought it. Fast forward quite a few years and one wonders whether the great-great-great-grandchild of that original car, now dubbed the M760e, has anything at all in common with it apart from the BMW badge on the front and back.
‘The new M760e certainly has distinctiveness and character, but it also has a level of quality that is above anything’
Mine arrives on a drizzly day in December and it looks just the part, an imposing slickly drawn tank of a car in solid grey. If they ever made a nimble version of a battle tank, for commanders to zoom around in, assessing the field, this is probably what it would look like, I ponder.
But while imposing, the slickness of its design means it is not flashy – just like the original car in fact. Driving it around London, it doesn’t incite the aggression and envious looks that some cars of this price and opulence do. BMW has a justified base of admiration among car lovers, and I found I was more likely to get thumbs up and photographs.
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The new M760e certainly has distinctiveness and character, but it also has a level of quality that is above anything until you get into the price category 100% above this one, where Bentleys and Rolls Royces roam.
‘You want to feel quality, and that’s where the M760e really excels’
Particularly delightful to the touch were the glass switches for performing functions like closing and opening the doors, which are heavy and long.
Touch is so important for luxury: it’s what distinguishes the feel of changing the time on a Rolex or helming a Riva yacht. And if you’re going to be spending much of your time complying with restrictive speed limits and traffic, you don’t just want to feel comfortable: you want to feel quality, and that’s where the M6 really excels.
Meanwhile, like any powerful and driver focused car, this is a machine that needs plenty of road to show off what it can do and its first few weeks have been confined to within London’s orbital motorway, the M25. So, soon, I will take out out into the wilds of Britain’s Home Counties, traditional territory of Jaguars, Land Rovers, and men in red trousers who enjoy speaking about their second and third homes, to their second and third wives. How will it fare? Watch this space.
The BMW 760e defines what constitutes a ‘grand tourer’
Long-term review, Episode Two: testing the BMW 760e as a long-distance grand tourer
Among car enthusiasts, there has always been debate about what constitutes a “grand touring” car. Named originally after the travel taken (not by car) by the aristocracy of England in the 18th and 19th centuries to discover the wonders of Europe, the original grand tourers were cars with the power, comfort and capability to drive from London to Venice in two days and still leave the driver thrilled.
As cars became more powerful, more comfortable, and more electric, the term should have become completely moot – and in any case the fastest way to get from London to Venice is on a plane, either your own or someone else’s.
Enthusiasts still love the term though, as it evokes piloting your way across the continent, burning tarmac while in charge of your own destiny.
‘It evokes piloting your way across the continent, burning tarmac while in charge of your own destiny’
And this debate about what exactly a grand tourer is, fed our thoughts while piloting our BMW M760e for its first longer trips. The original intention had been to drive from London to the south of France, but a change of plans meant that trip is now waiting until the sunny climes of summer. Instead, our mini grand tour took place through southern Britain, which doesn’t have too many long straight and empty roads, but nonetheless allowed us the chance to stretch the big BMW’s legs.
We had two questions to ask of it: would it prove to be a truly luxury companion on the open road? And secondly, would this four-door powerful and imposing luxury car have that hard to define grand touring edge?
Some would say a grand tourer cannot have four doors, although it may have back seats accessed via the front doors. But more importantly for us is the question of whether a car is not just comfortable at high speed but feels like you are piloting something special and powerful, with the ability to enjoy itself on the open road.
‘The interior has really been honed from the highest quality materials with no obvious cost savings evident’
A grand tourer may be unsettled around town, but it settles down to a long gait on the highway and enjoys thrashing around high-speed curves on its way to your country manor.
Certainly, this BMW feels supremely luxurious cruising on a highway. That’s not just about power and comfort, it also a feeling that the interior has really been honed from the highest quality materials with no obvious cost savings evident.
That’s a serious statement of intent by BMW: given the cost savings afforded by economies of scale in parts manufacture. This is not just a giant version of the smaller BMWs used by the middle classes around the world to ferry their children to school and sports.
‘The M760e looks likely to be a benchmark in luxury car design and experience’
On the occasions we managed to stretch its legs it did feel more agile than any big saloon car would, normally. Much more fun to drive.
A point of distinction, and for the sanctity of the BMW brand, which has been built for decades on creating the “ultimate driving machine”, to quote an advertising tagline. On our experience so far, the M760e looks likely to be a benchmark in luxury car design and experience.
Episode three: BMW M760e long-term review: the passengers’ view
Car reviews, historically, are written by people who drive the cars they are reviewing. This makes sense if the car in question is made to be driven by its owner. However, in the case of the BMW M760e, the top of the range sedan/limo produced by the German car manufacturer, we imagine in a significant number of cases the person behind the wheel will be wearing a chauffeur’s cap and the people that really matter will be sitting in the back.
‘The high-quality leather and vast amount of legroom offered by this long wheelbase set up in this car means even tall and long-legged passengers felt completely at ease’
So, for the third episode of our time with this stunning and imposing car, we called on a variety of experienced rear passengers to give us their opinions. Comfort of seat and space is an important factor of course, and the high-quality leather and vast amount of legroom offered by this long wheelbase set up in this car means even tall and long-legged passengers felt completely at ease.
There is also excellent personal screen within the door controlling everything from temperature for the individual passenger to window blinds. Delightful.
A rarely mentioned but nonetheless important element of comfort is how the car makes you feel if you are a rear seat passenger. In short, does this car make you feel ill?
‘The car’s grace and power makes journeys disappear fast’
Some passengers are more susceptible than others to sickness, but there are certain cars that consistently create a worse effect than others through a combination of ride, road stance, noise. Some electric cars are particularly bad for combining disorientating silence with floaty rides – a terrible combination.
Our survey of seat passengers in the BMW show that it is one of the best performing of all the cars we have reviewed in terms of the “car sickness” index. We think this is due to accommodation of the measured sounds coming from the car – not silent, but not noisy either – and BMW’s historically slightly sporty stance on the road, which reduces floatiness and lean. Whatever the reasons, it’s a great place to be a rear passenger.
The BMW has ‘measured sounds coming from the car – not silent, but not noisy either’
With the final and most important element of our passenger review comes from one of the car’s most exciting features. At the touch of a button, a cinema style screen descends from the ceiling and displays itself in front of the rear passengers. Connect and you can watch Game of Thrones in your own home cinema with your own individual controls while your driver cruises you down the motorway towards your Cotswold country house.
It works very well and is engrossing for rear seat passengers. The car’s grace and power makes journeys disappear fast anyway, but with this element the M760e becomes the first car in the world where you reset passengers are likely to say, “I hope we’re not there yet!”.
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