Start with what the BMW 7 Series is: a 4-door saloon, built from 1977, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. What it meant takes a little longer.
How it came about
The BMW 7 Series is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker BMW since 1977. It is the successor to the BMW E3 "New Six" sedan and is now in its seventh generation. The 7 Series is BMW's flagship car and is only available in a sedan bodystyle (including long wheelbase and limousine models). It traditionally introduces technologies and exterior design themes before other models in BMW's lineup.
The first generation of the 7 Series was powered by straight-6 petrol engines, and following generations have been powered by inline-4, straight-6, V8 and V12 engines with both natural aspiration and turbocharging. Since 1995, diesel engines have been optional in the 7 Series. Unlike the BMW 3 Series and BMW 5 Series sedans, BMW does not offer a full M model, but once offered an M performance variant, the BMW M760 with its 6.6L V12 (at the time the most powerful BMW ever made, not to be confused with BMW 760 6.6 V12 which does not offer the same performance). The Alpina B7 served as the high-performance variant of the 7 Series.
Under the skin
The record carries the shape — a 4-door saloon. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
Family and rivals
In the Bmw line-up the BMW 7 Series has a clear place: it replaced the BMW New Six; the factory was Dingolfing. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the GM (General Motors) Saab 900, the Mazda RX-7, the Toyota Supra. Its Bmw stablemates include the BMW 116 and the BMW 269.
Owning one today
Buying one now means $17,700–$59,600 for a typical example, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $3,055–$7,199 a year. Insurance sits around $1,690–$3,340 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.