A big facelift for the BMW X7 aims to make it look and feel more like the 7 Series of SUVs. Does it work?

Palm Springs, USA — Even a blind person can tell that the BMW X7 has had a facelift for 2022. That’s because the lights are now split, with the LED daytime running lights now on the upper edge of the front end, and the main lamps in their own nook below.

Close your eyes, fondle the car’s face a bit, and you’ll know straight away that you’re touching the X7 LCI (or ‘life cycle impulse’, which is what BMW calls its facelifted cars).

That ain’t all, of course. The BMW X7 LCI, which is already in Singapore, also has new taillights with a 3D design, plus there’s now a chrome strip on the tailgate that stretches right across the back of the car. It’s apparently tucked under smoked glass, which looks more classy than sticking a strip of chrome to the body directly.

That still ain’t all. Some facelifts are just a matter of bolting on some different lights and bumpers, but BMW seems to have tried extra hard with the X7. We even get a new engine in Singapore, now that the X7 xDrive40i has a 48V mild hybrid system for the first time.

Then there’s a new dashboard layout, new software and new driver assist systems. Like we said, plenty going on with the BMW X7.

First, what’s the same about the X7 is that it’s still the biggest BMW Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). It’s a three-row seven-seater by default, but a six-seat layout is optional, in case you like the thought of two captain’s chairs in the middle row.

It goes up against cars like the Mercedes GLS or the new Range Rover. The key thing about the X7 is that two grown humans can fit into the third row, and there are air-con vents back there with their own temp setting.

Size is one thing, the X7’s positioning is another. It’s basically the 7 Series of BMW SUVs, which is probably why the facelift is such a heavy one: The 7 is all radical now, so the X7 needed a major update to keep up.

Frankly, the big redesign is also a way to telegraph to your neighbours that you could have bought yourself a new 735i, but decided to go with the SUV because you wanted the extra space and seats.

This is the car the new X7 wants to emulate…

Anyway, once you climb aboard it’s obvious you’re in a 2022-era BMW. A long, curved freestanding screen that runs BMW OS8 dominates a new dashboard which has way fewer buttons and smaller air-con vents, for a cleaner look. Because all the cool kids are doing it, BMW put a backlit panel on the dash, too.

Needles and gauges are long gone. Instead, the driver gets a 12.3-inch display, with the angular but hi-res graphics that first turned up in the electric iX. The X7 does without that car’s weird, upside-down hexagonal steering wheel, though. Thankfully you peer through a regular round wheel to see the virtual instruments.

This is the avant-garde, posh BMW SUV to buy if you can live without seven seats!

Meanwhile, a 14.9-inch touchscreen handles the infotainment duties. The tile-based BMW OS8 interface still takes some getting used to (or maybe our writer is simply getting old), but if you really don’t like jabbing a screen and leaving smudges all over it, there’s still an iDrive knob to control things.

It sits beside a stubby new transmission selector (gone is the pistol-grip gear selector that was probably a more expensive component) which you can have in the posh-looking glass that BMW calls “Crafted Clarity” design.

A panoramic glass roof is now standard equipment, so the cabin does fill with light when you want it, the better to show off its new poshness. The seats are still plush and they still look expensive, and all seven still move around electrically. For the upholstery there’s a new vegan (i.e. artificial) material called Sensafin, but you can option soft Merino leather if you’re more traditional.

Interestingly, BMW found it necessary to give the X7 more power. There’s an M60i version that gets to 100km/h in a nutty 4.7 seconds, but the xDrive40i is no snail — 100km/h in 5.8 seconds is pretty quick, plus it’s nearly half a second faster than the previous, non-hybrid model.

The extra performance is courtesy of a nice bump in power, from 340hp to 380hp now. Then there’s the hybrid system, which uses a starter-generator (a motor, in other words) that’s integrated with the eight-speed auto.

Does it save much fuel? Probably not, but it does add up to 9 horsepower, from brief bursts of torque worth 200Nm at a time. When you drive the X7 you do feel the electrification step in to add a light shove rather than a kick, but anyway the six-cylinder turbo is the main star here, revving nicely, snarling distantly and pulling strongly. It’s apparently 90 percent new inside, right down to the combustion chamber’s shape, but it has the smoothness of the old engine.

The X7 still has air suspension, so it continues to zip through corners pretty enthusiastically for something so big and heavy, balancing that ability with impressive ride comfort. You’ll still feel expansion joints on the highway or if the tarmac is lumpy, but the body generally keeps stable on the move.

But this is a big car with a big turning circle, and even adding the optional four-wheel steering only chops that down from 13m to 12.4m.

READ MORE: Can’t remember what the last X7 was like? Click here!

There’s a new driver aid called Manoeuvre Assistant that’s interesting. If you have to pull off the same complicated move repeatedly (say, reversing your X7 past all the other cars in your porch every morning) the car eventually learns your moves and can execute them for you by memory, working the steering, brakes and throttle for you.

The X7 is always going to be about whether it’s easy to handle than how it feels down your favourite mountain road (assuming you have one), but if you want it to at least look a bit fiercer there’s the S$12,000 M Sport package (above).

It adds mean touches like blacked out chrome and gloss black body inserts that actually look pretty tasty. Believe it or not the X7 also has an option for 23-inch wheels, the biggest ever used by BMW. check those bad boys out:

Why the heck not, if you ask us. BMW has obviously succeeded in making the X7 LCI as in-your-face as possible, and you might as well complete the process by giving its bulkiest SUV some subversively athletic design elements. The whole point of not being blind is to have interesting things to look at.

BMW X7 xDrive40i

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