BMW 7 Series (2015-2022) review

It’s highly unlikely that if you’re in the market for a BMW 7 Series, you’ll be frightened of a large bill or two. Not when the entry price for a 740i petrol is £69,445. Want that in long-wheelbase, chauffeur-spec (minus the driver you’ll be needing to hire)? That’s a £4,070 premium. Really, why wouldn’t you? Is your parking space really that small?

Tempted as you might be by the straight-six 740i and its piffling 335bhp, it’s not the 7 to pick if you want to game the tax man. Emissions are 161g/km, compared to the 745e’s 50 or so grammes per km. Even the (very good) diesels can’t compete with that. As a result, you’ll save around £400 a year in BIK tax. Not life-changing, but hey, it might take your mind off the depreciation. Big barges like this tend to lose value like yesterday’s train ticket. The 745e will also be far better insulated to future inner-city charges which penalise cars which can’t run on electric power in urban settings. One for the diplomatic embassies to bear in mind…

If you’re covering big mileages, then diesel will still prove to be easier to live with than petrol, so there’s a lot to be said for the real-world 40mpg of the 740d. In the USA and China, the V8 750i and V12 M760Li will reign supreme – even though the V12 flagship has been detuned from 602bhp to 577bhp on account of its new particulate filter clogging the exhaust.