Article Summary
- The outward-facing button to active the automatic doors is gone.
- With the 7 Series facelift, BMW is moving the button inside the door handle.
- The doors now work with radar sensors mounted in the side skirts to open and close faster than before.
The G70 has undergone what is probably the biggest facelift in the history of the 7 Series. With so many changes, some of them have flown under the radar. While a Life Cycle Impulse rarely alters a car’s profile, the updated flagship bucks the trend. Aside from the fresh colors and wheel designs BMW typically rolls out with LCIs, the luxobarge hides another change in plain sight.
When the seventh-generation model broke cover in April 2022, all the official images showed the 7 Series with its optional automatic doors. Fast-forward four years, and the same holds true for the facelifted version. However, the outward-facing button that triggers the electrically operated doors to open or close is missing. Or is it?
BMW has moved the button to the inside of each door handle. It still works as advertised, even if you’re wearing gloves or the handle is covered in ice. As for what prompted the change, it’s part of the Neue Klasse aesthetic to declutter the design with smoother, cleaner surfaces. It’s a small change with a big impact for those with a keen eye for detail. Going forward, you won’t be able to tell which 7 Series has automatic doors and which one doesn’t.
If I’m honest, the old round button didn’t exactly scream luxury-car material, so we’re glad to see it now tucked out of sight. Aside from relocating the button, BMW has upgraded the automatic doors to operate faster. They now work with radar sensors mounted in the front and rear sections of the side skirts. The new hardware also improves the collision-protection function by better detecting obstacles.
As before, you can still open and close the doors manually “with little effort” thanks to the servo mode, where the electric motor continues to provide some assistance. BMW claims it has also updated the soft-close function for the 7 Series LCI, though additional details are not available.
Automatic doors are unlikely to remain exclusive to the 7 Series for long. BMW could offer this option on next year’s second-generation X7 as well. Rolls-Royce has offered automatic doors for a while, and logic suggests the ALPINA brand will follow. The newcomer will bridge the gap between BMW and Rolls-Royce, which could mean some features optional on a 7 Series or X7 may come standard on the fancier version carrying the ALPINA badge.
