2020 BMW X7: A True Jack of All Trades (and Master of Many)
The 2020 BMW X7 is that hefty neighbor you’ve always wanted to help you make a grand entrance and help you do the heavy lifting in style, even if all you had to do was load designer bags into the back-passenger seats.
Considered a Large Luxury SUV by almost everyone who sees it and tries to get in it, the X7 is officially two years old (depending on when you read the sonograms) and it really is an impressive beast.
Plenty of room. Standard BMW luxury inside and out. Three rows of seats. No skimping on anything. This is that rolling living room / bubble bath / MGM musical that also has a Matrix / Thunderdome edge to it that should make all you know and love happy – except for, perhaps, the person paying the monthly payments on it.
U.S. News and World Report calls this year’s X7 a “true jack-of-all-trades”, which IMHO is an apt description but nonetheless an interesting one. A BMW is supposed to be a lot of things, but a Jack-of-All-Trades? Well, that’s something that a Ford or a Chevy or a Chrysler is supposed to be. When you need a car that can do it all – because in your real life you have to do it all every day – you purchase a workhorse, and historically, BMW does not come to mind.
Yet here we are in 2020 (wow, what a year it has been thus far), and even those who are not struggling to pay the bills are looking for purchases that can ‘do it all.’ So, with the X7 (I tested the M50i trim – very, very, very nice), you really can have it all – for the starting price of $73,900.
Turbocharged. 3.0-liter six-cylinder. 335 horses. 330 pound-feet of torque. At the base level….
At this price level, it might be best if I state what you have to pay extra to get.
There are three trims: xDrive 40i, xDrive 50i and M50i. (I take it personally that they usually loan me the top-tier trim to test drive: they think I have class.) At the top, you get a V8 4.4-liter turbo.
If you want items like soft-close doors (those are very nice!), leather upholstery, surround-view cameras (something else you will really love) and Harman Kardon sound, you’ll need to go up to the xDrive 50i, which starts at $92,600.
And if you really want all the sporty Speed Racer, Little Deuce Coupe, snazzy stuff, you’ll want the top-of-the-line, top-o-da-morning M50i, which (clutch the pearls) starts at $99,600 and comes with 22-inch wheels (which are impressive), sport exhaust, sport brakes, sport suspension, a sport differential and …..
Launch Control! I have no idea why you would need Launch Control on a car that is a Jack of All Trades, but, hey, if you qualify at your lending institution to get into this car …. I am itching to be a travel companion once everything opens back up (wink).
I am still in favor of going for a test drive before buying, and depending on where you live and who you know, I don’t know how that will work right now. Still, give it a whirl. I can honestly tell you that I had fun with the 2020 BMW x7 M50i…..
…. Especially since after my week of fun, I could return it to David, say thank you and not have to guess how much a week’s rental of that car would have cost me.
