BMW X7 2019 first drive

This is probably the most regional car BMW has designed.

Its big-grilled largeness is aimed at buyers in America, the Middle East, China and other Asian markets, and judging by the enthusiasm with which it was viewed by colleagues from Dubai, it looks as if BMW may have hit the target.

These buyers are offered a version with a petrol V8 that we won’t get, its twin exhausting spitting dune-assaulting promise even at idle.

European buyers, who will need to think hard about where they might park this seven-seater before committing, can choose between the 335bhp inline 6 xDrive 40i sampled here, a 192bhp xDrive30d or a 290bhp M50d.

The X7 shares the recently renewed BMW X5’s platform, but it’s substantially bigger than that car, occupying a footprint 5.15m long and 2.0m wide less door mirrors. The X5 shares the same width, but come in at 4.92m long and 1.75m high, the taller X7 topping 1.81m, which certainly contributes to the idea that you’re driving a gargantuan beast. So does looking over your shoulder towards the distant tailgate.

But that, of course, is the point of this car. It’s big enough to seat five in absolute comfort, and even those banished to the back will find a lot more space than usual once installed.

They’ll need flexible bodies, though, because getting past the forward edge of the wheelarch requires dexterous effort.

The boot is bigger than you’ll find behind the third row of seats some seven-seaters, but for truly usable space you can drop both rows to uncover 2121 litres of finely upholstered goods tray.

Fine upholstery there and everywhere else is a pleasingly unmissable feature of the X7, this being the latest of BMW’s luxury range whose stablemates include the 7 and 8 Series, all identified under the Bayerische Motoren Werke label.

Such is the surface area of seat trim that the choice of material and trim can have a dramatic effect on the cabin ambience, as can the option of the vast glass roof, which part-opens.

The impact of the X7’s interior will be as nothing compared to the business of conducting it down a road if you have never driven a vehicle of this scale before. You’re sitting high and the rear window is a long way off, but it’s the X7’s width and the initial feeling of bulk that can intimidate. Even on American Interstates the lane-keeping assistance will be kept busy if you don’t concentrate on herding it between lanes.