BMW’s upcoming flagship SUV, the soon-to-be-released BMW X7, is almost here. Up until now, we’ve seen a concept car version of it, which was almost unanimously hated, and we’ve seen several spy photos. So we have a decent idea of what it will look like on the outside. However, we hadn’t seen any photos of the X7’s interior. Until today that is, as new spy photos of its interior have just been released. (We don’t own them but check them out here)
The BMW X7 is designed to be the most luxurious, most premium and most high-tech SUV in BMW’s lineup. It’s the flagship, the one that best represents what the brand can do in that segment. So the X7 needs to be the uber-ist of all of BMW’s uber SUVs. On the inside, at least, it seems as if the X7 is off to a good start.
First, you notice the steering wheel, which is a pretty typical modern BMW steering wheel. It’s the same one you’ll find on any modern 5 Series, 6 Series GT or 7 Series. It looks good and it’s nice to hold but it’s nothing new. Then, you notice the center console and all of its newness. For starters, the shift lever is new and is the same one we’ve seen on the BMW M5, as well as the upcoming 8 Series and 3 Series. So it seems to be the new lever BMW is going forward with. It looks good, even if it looks a bit like an inappropriate part of a robot.
Next to that shift lever, you’ll see the new iDrive controller that’s also been spotted on the 8 Series and 3 Series, which features a knurled aluminum surround and looks much more premium than the current plastic piece. Surrounding that new controller seems to be the usual bevy of redundant iDrive buttons but it’s what’s below that which interests us. Underneath the iDrive controller are two aluminum switches, the left of which controls something I can’t read but the right one seems to control the car’s ride height, which would indicate that this BMW X7 has adjustable air suspension. That’s pretty cool. Very Range Rover-like.
Now, you if you look from the center stack, you’ll notice a new layout for the HVAC controls. In between the main two dash vents there is a very small little screen, which I’m assuming houses the HVAC info. Underneath those, there are a bunch of HVAC buttons, such as fan speed, temperature and heated seat controls. What’s odd, though, is that the little screen between the vents seems rather small to house all of that information without getting too muddled. So maybe some of it will be displayed on the iDrive screen, which actually doesn’t look much different than any current Bimmers’.
Ahead of the steering wheel lies the same new digital instrument panel as we’ve seen on every other upcoming BMW. From what we’ve seen, it looks very cool and we can’t wait to test it out.
All in all, though, this new X7 seems to have some new features but doesn’t seem radically new and we’re not sure how well those new HVAC controls are going to work. We’re going to have to see the final product to actually pass judgement.
[Source: Autoblog]
