BMW 7 Series 745e 2019 first drive

In addition, the lithium ion battery pack stored beneath the rear seats may physically be no larger than before (you still lose just under 100 litres of luggage sapce), but its energy capacity is now 12kWh, resulting in a claimed electric-only range of 36 miles. 

At 48g/km, CO2 emissions continue to sneak under the critical 50g/km regulatory threshold, which is some achievement given that with WLTP rules now in force, plug-in hybrids are tested with a full battery, an empty battery and at various states in between. 

We’re driving a development car – not that you’d know it, because this lightly revised interior is vault-like in its fit and finish. The architecture is unchanged, but there are now more lavish finishes for the switchgear and the purely digital instrument binnacle is now the same one found in the new 8 Series, 3 Series and BMW X5, albeit with a plethora of readouts pertaining the to the hybrid powertrain. It's also gloriously comfortable in here. 

There’s a choice of new driving modes, book-ended by the option of ‘locking’ the powertrain into electric mode, with a top speed of 87mph, and Battery Control mode, whereby energy is siphoned from the 3.0-litre engine and channelled through the gearbox-integrated electric motor to charge the battery.

Most of these cars will live their lives in the default Hybrid setting, however. The 745e’s ability to set off in silence then awaken – with barely a ripple in momentum – a smooth-spinning straight-six seemingly located in a different postcode is profoundly impressive. With 196lb ft of torque from the electric motor, throttle response is crisp at low speeds, but a brief stint in Sport mode on the autobahn highlights the true potency of this powertrain; 443lb ft from 1500rpm and 389bhp demonstrate why a 1995kg limousine still needs at least a half-dozen cylinders. Given the space, it will sail into triple figures without hesitation, thrumming sweetly all the way.   

While both cars ride beautifully on adaptive air suspension, we'd wager the Mercedes S560e still better isolates passengers and breathes more instinctively with the road. Admittedly, the distant pitter-patter underfoot in the 745e could be more to do with the winter tyres than spring rates increased to handle an additional 200kg of hybrid hardware. What’s more, you’d now require one of our road-testing microphones to make a noise comparison with the Mercedes, and, in general terms, BMW seems to have closed the gap.

Criticisms? BMW has calibrated more regenerative travel into the brake pedal, which as a result feels a touch over-servoed and has oddly cushioned initial travel. The 745e is also a touch keen to stabilise any roll. Fine handling is ingrained in the brand’s DNA, and more recent 7 Series iterations have always suffered a little for that, because, unlike the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, they can’t simply discard all sporting pretence in the pursuit of luxury.

One special facet of the plug-in hybrid 7 Series we don't get to try is the intelligent powertrain management. BMW knows that if the driving experience is too complex, it will turn customers off the idea of buying a 745e instead of a 730d. A new program, known as Anticipatory Hybrid Drive, has therefore been designed to put the car’s versatile powertrain to best use without the need for the driver to switch out of the default Hybrid mode. If you have the sat-nav running, BMW claims the powertrain will if necessary charge the battery then automatically switch into electric mode at the ‘precise’ city limit or when the car finds itself in a traffic jam.

A development of this software will be tested on the 330e before finding its way onto the flagship 7 Series. Adaptive Recuperation uses sat-nav data and the car’s forward sensors to determine whether a lift of the throttle should result in the car coasting or applying the regenerative brakes.