I saw a few posts in the other threads talking about 2nd row legroom, so that prompted me to finally post a little mini-review on my test drive this past weekend.
I got to drive a 50 Luxury edition (Arctic Grey/Ivory White Extended Merino/Ash Grey/Silver trim) this past weekend with the bench seat in the second row. While the posted numbers (37.6") of second row legroom is indeed correct, what that number doesn't show is that is the leg room with the 2nd row seat in the "base" position. The seat can then slide forward a good 3 inches from the base (didn't actually measure, just estimating here) and more importantly can slide rearward an easy 4+" to give some seriously good legroom. I'm 6'2" with fairly long legs and after my test drive I did my standard torture test of sitting behind myself. At first, I was disappointed in that as the specs say, there is a whopping .2" more legroom versus the G05. But then I hit the cool little button on the side of the seat and it just kept moving further and further back. Before hitting the stops, I had at least 4" before my knees would hit the back of front seat. Lots of foot room too. Also, you can recline the 2nd row bench seats which made for a really comfy 2nd row. The cushioning is really nice too. Granted, the fully slid back position would kill the 3rd row, but I was able to fit in the third row with the 2nd row in the "base" position. My knees were definitely hitting the seat back, but I fit. My 5'4 wife fit back there without issue. Of course you probably shouldn't put a 6'2" person in the third row. Head room is an issue in the 3rd row though. I had to duck down to keep from hitting the ceiling. Considering how tall the X7 is, I was surprised by this.
Also, for anyone who cares the X7 drives much better than it has any right to. It doesn't feel too big (though I didn't do any backing up or parallel parking on my drive) and sort of shrinks around you as you drive. Except for the added length towards the rear, it doesn't feel any bigger than the G05. Visibility is very good (is it typically is with BMWs) and there is a really commanding view over the hood. Handling was very good for such a large vehicle. This was a Luxury 50 and sadly, I didn't notice if it had the 4-wheel steering or not (trying to find out now). MSRP was about $106,000 on it so it very well might have. Both my wife and I were really surprised by how easy it was to park and maneuver on the lot.
I drove the car hard on my test run as there are some great country back roads by my dealership that let you really push a car. This one had the 22" wheel option on it. I spent about 30 seconds in comfort mode before moving to sport as it was just too soft for my taste. Too much bouncing around and body roll. Sport mode was excellent for such a big vehicle. Still plenty soft for highway or normal use, but handling and overall driving experience was so much better. Very smooth, but yet surprisingly little body roll and sway over bumps/ruts/corners. I took some sweeping turns well in excess of 50 MPH and didn't come close to scaring the crap out of myself. Frankly, the X7 drove very car-like, though you could still feel its mass if you have any performance driving experience. Getting back into our '16 X5 35i with DHP right afterwards really was a contrast, with our F15 feeling so much lighter. Despite, this I was incredibly impressed with how well the X7 drove. I can't wait to get into a 40i MSport with the Dynamic Handling package to see if there is a noticeable difference, but I could certainly live with the "base" air suspension, especially for a big, heavy 3-row SUV. I'll also wager that the 40i will actually be better to drive (short of the horsepower, of course), than the 50i due to there being less weight on the nose.
The V8 was incredibly smooth and I wish I could afford a 50i. The engine lets you build up speed effortlessly. Apparently I hit 90 at one point (though I swear I never broke 70). Frankly, with my build on a 40i coming in around 92K, even the 40i is a bit of a stretch. A 40i with a RaceChip/JuiceBox should work out just fine though.
I will say that the interior is up to par with the price tag. Everything looked and felt fantastic. The Luxury seats are fantastic, way better than the Comfort seats on our F15. The Merino leather feels fantastic as well.
Cargo area is generous with the 3rd row folded down and the under cargo storage area is still pretty big. Power folding seats are nice and there are "shortcut" buttons for "Max Cargo" which folds down both the 2nd and 3rd row seats automatically and a "Max Passenger" button that folds both row back up for you. You can also manually fold any of the 2nd or 3rd row seats down. Personally, I'll probably stick with the 2nd row bench seating as they were very comfortable, add a 7th potential seating position, and fold down flat. For the life of me, I can't understand why the captain's chairs can't fold flat. Engineering failure as far as I'm concerned.
Access to the 3rd row is pretty good. The bench seat slides forward (really slowly - that will be fun when you have passengers standing out in the rain waiting to get into your car) and then tilts up to give a pretty big opening. I got into the 3rd row much easier than 75% of the 3-row SUVs I've ever climbed into. I think that you might even be able to keep a baby seat on the second row and still be able to get into the 3rd row as long as you don't recline the seat beyond the "standard" recline position. I'll need to test this out.
Don't ask me any questions about the tech as I didn't even try any of it out. I did have to shut down the auto-lane correction immediately as it didn't care for the apex hitting I was doing on my test drive
This is really the least important thing for my wife and I as we know the X7 can do 10 times more than we'll ever ask of it.
At least you can still use a simple button to change fan and temperature settings. Everything else you actually need is on the steering column or easily accessed via iDrive.
I didn't get to spend as much time with the X7 as I would have liked (wife and 1 year old were with me), but I left being very impressed and can absolutely see us adding one to our garage once we can get one for a fair price (~12-14% off MSRP (including loyalty/rebates/etc) as we've done with every other one of our BMWs). It only took 6 months for the G05 to get to these levels, so I imagine the X7 will get there pretty quickly too, especially with the new GLS (and possibly even the Lincoln Aviator) arriving shortly. From the spy pictures, the new GLS will almost certainly be the better looking of the two though. Judging by the pricing on the 2020 GLE, the GLS might cost a lot more for the same equipment level, so that may push demand for the X7. We'll have to wait and see.
And for the record, the new grilles certainly do suck. If they were 2-3 inches shorter, they would look good - still aggressive, but not ridiculous. They are disproportionate to the rest of the design. If you get a dark color and then black out the grilles it won't be too bad though. It's a shame, as the rest of the X7 is nicely proportioned and classically handsome to my eyes. It certainly isn't anything special to look at, but there is only so much you can do with a 3-row SUV without sacrificing practicality.
If anyone has any questions, put them up and I'll try to answer them.