Reviews March 9, 2010, 4:21PM EST

Review: 2010 BMW 750Li xDrive

The 2010 BMW 750Li with xDrive offers the luxury and legroom of a limo but the power and handling of a, well, BMW

By Thane Peterson

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Editor's Rating:

The Good: Great handling, excellent in winter driving, night vision and regenerative braking systems

The Bad: Mediocre fuel economy

The Bottom Line: BMW's flagship luxury sedan is much improved, especially if you live in the snowbelt

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Up Front

There are numerous excellent top-of-the-line luxury sedans on the market, but the BMW 750Li remains the model to beat.

Both of BMW's (BMW:GR) flagship luxury sedans, the 750i and the longer, roomier 750Li, are marvelous vehicles. The advantage of the 750Li is that it's 205.3 in. long, nearly half-a-foot longer than the 750i, with almost all the extra space going to expand rear legroom to 44.3 in. Unless you're taller than Kobe Bryant, that's space to spare.

Belying its size, the 750Li feels almost as nimble as the much smaller BMW 335i, one of the best-handling cars around. And in snow and on ice, BMW's xDrive all-wheel-drive system—added to the new 7 Series for 2010—makes the car remarkably sure-footed. I test-drove the 750Li xDrive during the huge snowstorm that hit the East Coast in late February, so I should know.

Admittedly, the new BMW 7s aren't cheap. The 750i starts at $83,875 and the 750Li at $87,775 (in both cases including a $1,000 gas-guzzler tax). Add $3,000 to either model for xDrive, plus an additional $300 in gas-guzzler taxes. If you're really into speed, there's also a 760Li with a gigantic 535-horsepower 12-cylinder engine, but that raises the starting sticker to $139,975 (including $2,100 in gas-guzzler taxes).

The main reservation I have about this car is whether to wait for the new 740i and 740Li to come out this spring as 2011 models. They'll be comparable to the 750s except that they'll be powered by a twin-turbocharged, 315-horsepower inline six-cylinder engine and will start at $71,025 and $75,425, respectively. That's a lot less money but it's not clear they'll have the same zing.

To me, the turbocharged 4.4-liter, 400-horsepower V8 that comes standard in the 750i and 750Li seems like the ideal engine for a car this size. Coupled with a six-speed automatic transmission, it generates an incredible 450 lb.-ft. of torque, which is enough low-end power to make even the heavy (4,861 lb.) 750Li xDrive take off like a bat out of hell.

Predictably, fuel economy isn't great. Mileage ratings range from 15 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway (17 on average) for the 750i, to 14/20 (16 on average) for the 750Li with xDrive. That's slightly below Daimler's (DAI) Mercedes-Benz S550 4matic, which averages 17 mpg, as well as Volkswagen's (VOW:GR) Audi A8 L Quattro and Toyota's (TM) all-wheel-drive Lexus 460L, both of which average 18.

However, BMW drivers can probably beat the averages if they try. One of the innovations in the new 7 Series is a regenerative braking system that recovers energy and stores it in the battery, much as a hybrid vehicle does. My test car averaged more than 17 mpg in mixed driving, more than 1 mpg above its rating, probably because I watched the Eco gauge and braked gradually to maximize energy savings.

Sales of the BMW 7 Series seem to be holding up. The total sold during first two months of this year was 2,207, almost exactly the same as in the first two months of 2008, when the market was in much better shape.

Behind the Wheel

I can't say enough good things about the driving characteristics of the 750Li with xDrive, both on dry pavement and in winter weather. Oddly (considering that all-wheel drive adds weight), both the 750i and 750Li are one-tenth of a second faster in accelerating from zero to 60 with xDrive than without it, according to BMW. I clocked my test car at a blazing 5.1 seconds, exactly the time BMW rates it at (and about as fast as the 335i).