[Mick_87]

Hey everyone!
I traded my 2022 X7 40i for a 2024 40i LCI. After having it for a little over a month, I thought I’d post my review with pluses + gripes. I know some of these are mentioned thru out but didn’t really see a combined list so for those looking to trade up or on the fence… here you go! This would be my 8th BMW so clearly I’m a die hard fan. As much as some of the gripes bother me, the reality is that there is no substitute for BMW and what I can say is that I think BMW does generally iterate on previous models to improve in ways other cars simply dont. If you are a driver who just needs to get somewhere and doesn’t care about quality, go for a Toyota or Mazda

Gripes
Yes… starting with the gripes. If I were to summarize - it’s tech and cost cutting.

1. No comfort access pads on back door handles i do miss being able to unlock and lock using the back door handles. IMO this is cost cutting. Can’t think of why you’d delete something like this for practical purposes. All my X5s and the previous X7 had this and my husbands Audi has it too. One of those features you didn’t know you needed until it was gone.

2. Lock/Unlock Button on interior driver/pass door panels another cost cutting - on my 2022 X7, these were brushed aluminum. When I traded up from an X5 to X7, I remember feeling the upgrade here, where buttons which were black plastic are brushed aluminum. This feels like a bit of a downgrade. Again, can’t think of a practical reason.

3. Seat Cooling dependent on climate control being on This is super annoying. I think this was an unintended miss in technical requirements. When seat cooling was controlled by a button, the rest of the climate control system need not be on to use. With all controls in iDrive, you now need to turn on climate control/a/c in order to use the seat cooling or seat/wheel heating. Super annoying because I don’t always want the climate control on when using those functions.

4. Simultaneous adjustment of climate control not possible On one trip, my husband was adjusting the temp on his side and got cut off when I adjusted mine. If I recall, when there were buttons this was not a problem.

5. Rear camera toggle no longer possible I am very curious if this is a glitch for me personally or if its working “as designed”.. on my 2022 and ALL previous BMWs, I could toggle between front and rear parking view without having to also change gears (between D and R). I’ve found that even when i tap the camera on the top of the car, the camera is pinned to either the front (if in D) or rear (if in R). Super annoying when I want to double check the rear view but don’t need to go in Reverse. The icon on top of the car’s image even makes it look like you can select, since the icon is a front and rear facing camera. I’ve found you can only change between front and rear by changing the gear.

6. Random Loss of HUD and instrument panel content I’m trying to nail down when this happens specifically (if not randomly) but I’ve found on ~5-6 times in the last month I will randomly lose the content in my HUD and instrument panel. So for example, if I had map view in the instrument and directional view in HUD, it’ll randomly disappear and only show the speed. The last time it happened, I simply changed from Comfort to Sport mode. This is restored when i turn off, lock and re-start the car but nonetheless annoying. Seems like an iDrive bug that I hope makes its way to an OTA update as I’ve read the other posts about similar issues.

7. Resolved - CarPlay Connectivity like other posters, I had an issue staying connected to CarPlay. I recently applied the latest OTA update and have not seen it since (fingers crossed)

8. 22” Spec’d with Summer Tires Only If you want the M-Sport Package, be prepared to also have a winter-friendly tire option lined up. Thanks to this forum, I was able to find one (yay). FWIW - I ordered tires of the same exact size in a non-RFT spec and will likely purchase the “Modern Spare” spare tire kit, which appears to be the best spare option on the market (includes the jack and shim for M-Sport brakes). Also note the considerably rougher ride with 22” summer tires!! Who knew 1” made such a difference? Ride is much rougher on these 22s - my All Season DWS get installed next week. I think both non-RFT and all season will soften the ride a bit. Fingers crossed. P-Zeros wear out after 7K miles, cost way too much and RFTs are terrible with pothole ridden roads. So TAKE NOTE!

9. Ambient Lighting On the one hand, BMW FINALLY gave us more color options… but configurability remains limited. For example, it would be nice to have one color for your X7 chevron pattern and another for the doors/floors mood lighting. Kinda had that before (i.e. blue/white), however, I admittedly never used those.

10. Removed adaptive mode Am I to assume comfort is the new adaptive? I don’t know. But I am curious what that means for the adaptive air suspension… does it still automatically lower at speeds above 80?

11. Sensafin aka “vegan leather” I think we call it vegan leather so we don’t feel so bad spending almost $100K on a car without leather. I’ve never customized my build and always go with whatever inventory the dealers have (carefully researched of course). By and large, even the M60’s are spec’d this way (sensfin). Yes, i notice the difference. There’s a feel you cannot describe along with the smell that distinguishes leather. Having said that, it’s comfortable and the best example of pleather out there.

Pluses

1. HK Sound System is back In 2022, we had the chip shortage which meant my X7 came with the BMW Hi-Fi system. I am no audiophile, but whoever built the Hi-Fi system needs fired. It’s TERRIBLE. So glad I can drive with the sunroof open AND listen to a podcast again.

2. Comfort access via iPhone wallet it can be annoying if you dont have the keys but you have your phone and you’re just going to the garage to get something, but the new wallet card working like a key (no need to make contact to open) is a slam dunk.

3. iDrive display lotta car reviews on the X7 make mention of the loss of buttons. I think BMW executed nearly flawlessly on the combined display (see above for gripes). The new font for the displays is a bit more causal (think Arial vs. Calibri) but it takes the experience to the present day.

4. Power When I traded up to the 2022 X7 I was going from a 19 X5 50i, so the power was a definite trade-off. The 2024 packs more power and there’s a noticeable difference. Also, have yet to try the SPRINT mode but I don’t recall that being a feature previously.

Pics:

[Kalvis]

Nice review! Thanks!

Will check your point 5.

Never had issues mentioned in points 6 and 7.

On 11. Sensafin for now looks nice and hopefully in longterm will be better than leather. On 2021 X7 had Individual leather but wanted something different on new car so i selected Silverstone sensafin interior and Skypergray exterior.

Comfort access with iPhone and iWatch. Its nice thing as no need to carry key any more but if you want to leave car with family inside its closes when walking away Then you need to open it thru Wallet key.
With physical key this was solved just by leaving key in car.
Tried same with iPhone but still closes probably because i have enabled it also on iWatch. Haven't tried to leave both of them in car to solve this problem

Digital key is nice. Using it regularly when handing car for cleaning/washing - enabling digital key on they iPhone.

Yes power is more direct thanks to electrical motor and 40 more HPs + it has sports exhaust now.

Copying also my thoughts on switch from 2021 X7 40i to 2024 X7 40i from other thread:

Biggest disappointments with '24 MY X7:

- lack of comfort access on back doors.
I had before setup that only driver doors opens when approaching but now not able to put my things on back seat before made me change setting on facelift X7 opening all doors when approaching.

- lack of physical programable buttons.
There are assignable sw buttons but they are not directly accessible - you need to swipe from top of screen and then select function.

Hope BMW one day will implement back direct buttons on UI top layer and will have steering wheel with touch surface which can be programable by user.

- lack of distance control buttons on steering wheel.
There is still space for this buttons so i dont understand why BMW have removed them. Probably because new steering wheels do not have them.

- sound on doors side is more noticeable than with pre LCI car.
Current car has Pirelli summer tires on 22" wheels but previous had 22" with Continental. Not sure its because of Pirelli tires or BMW "saved" on door/window audio insulation but noise level is higher.

- rougher ride. Both cars had 22" wheels with RFT tires and DHP/IAS only difference LCI has Pirelli but previous X7 Continental.

- no possibility to set temperature when seat and steering wheel heating or cooling starts. Hope this comes back with future sw updates.

- when switching from previous to new X7 i was not able to migrate window down positions so need to do this again from scratch which is annoying. Does anybody else also had same issue or its just my case? Dealer was not able to comment if it should be like this or not.

- ambient lighting now has just "solid" colours. Before it was possible to have colour + white lines which i was using.


Just 1,5 weeks ago got ID 8,5 07/2023.67 OTA and now there are more direct access buttons on quick select "pages" like last calls but they are not assignable.

I think quick select UI must have one "page" which has this assignable buttons so they are programable by user and directly accessible.

Other than that all is great!

P.S and if you want your X7 to stand out and get smarter look go for "crystal/swarovski" lights.

Have them on my car which makes it one and only for now seen with this option in our part of world.

[Bimmerfun82]

I agree with your gripes. Some of them can be worked around like comfort access with phone unlock. We ordered ours with full leather- worth the wait for sure. And in spite of the gripes, we love the LCI. Btw, what is sprint mode?

[Kalvis]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

I agree with your gripes. Some of them can be worked around like comfort access with phone unlock. We ordered ours with full leather- worth the wait for sure. And in spite of the gripes, we love the LCI. Btw, what is sprint mode?

No, there is no way around lack of comfort access on back doors. you can configure to open just driver or all doors. I was using open just driver doors and if i want to put something on back seat i just touch back door handle to open it. Now its not possible. Open all doors is nowadays not what people want due to safety reasons in city's.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by Kalvis

No, there is no way around lack of comfort access on back doors. you can configure to open just driver or all doors. I was using open just driver doors and if i want to put something on back seat i just touch back door handle to open it. Now its not possible. Open all doors is nowadays not what people want due to safety reasons in city's.

Didn’t consider safety. Yes, that’s a huge problem.

[EWL5]

Nice summary! Lack of buttons will be an ongoing saga for sure! As BMW and others take control away from us, it's only a matter of time before they start charging for convenience or force you to upgrade for features (not unlike phone manufacturers!).

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by EWL5

As BMW and others take control away from us, it's only a matter of time before they start charging for convenience or force you to upgrade for features (not unlike phone manufacturers!).

They're already doing this, Highway Assistant on the new models only works for 8 years before the feature will be disabled. It says this in a little disclaimer popup in the bmwusa.com product page and vehicle configurator.

[chitownx7]

Originally Posted by PinkNinja400Guy

They're already doing this, Highway Assistant on the new models only works for 8 years before the feature will be disabled. It says this in a little disclaimer popup in the bmwusa.com product page and vehicle configurator.

does it get disabled or is that the free map update/service period and you need to start paying for it after that? I'm trying to remember what I read, or did they just include that to have an out in case the technology completely changes by then and they don't want to support a legacy service? I feel like it's a little different with how complicated it is to support vs a subscription for something that's already built into the car

[Paultattoo]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

I agree with your gripes. Some of them can be worked around like comfort access with phone unlock. We ordered ours with full leather- worth the wait for sure. And in spite of the gripes, we love the LCI. Btw, what is sprint mode?

Btw, what is sprint mode?

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by chitownx7

does it get disabled or is that the free map update/service period and you need to start paying for it after that? I'm trying to remember what I read, or did they just include that to have an out in case the technology completely changes by then and they don't want to support a legacy service? I feel like it's a little different with how complicated it is to support vs a subscription for something that's already built into the car

A person here was saying that it's the second case - to give them an out - but personally I don't trust BMW to keep it working. The wording on the website is very clear that the feature will be disabled after 8 years.

BMW isn't Tesla; they have the standard automaker mentality of not wanting to support existing products. As we could see with iDrive 8 vs 8.5 on the 2023/24 models, 8.5 gets actually usable climate controls but BMW isn't bothering to port that back to ID8 even though it would be relatively simple and would be a huge enhancement to those existing cars. Many such cases of this type of behavior from other automakers and from BMW. Iirc the 2019 X7 had a similar thing with the tesla-style view in the instrument cluster when you have cruise control & lanekeeping turned on. The 2019 models didn't launch with it, that feature was added later on with ID7 software updates. 2020+ models had the view, and even though the updated software on 2019 could do it (you could enable it with coding), BMW never officially enabled it on the 2019 cars.

If they say that it's going to be disabled after 8 years - that means it's going to be disabled after 8 years. IMO it would be unwise to expect otherwise.

[Mick_87]

Originally Posted by Paultattoo

Btw, what is sprint mode?

Hold down the left hand paddle at stop and you’ll see it change to SPRINT which gives you an extra bump in acceleration.

Read about it in the Car and Driver review and mind blown.

[Mick_87]

Originally Posted by Kalvis

Nice review! Thanks!

Will check your point 5.

Never had issues mentioned in points 6 and 7.

On 11. Sensafin for now looks nice and hopefully in longterm will be better than leather. On 2021 X7 had Individual leather but wanted something different on new car so i selected Silverstone sensafin interior and Skypergray exterior.

Comfort access with iPhone and iWatch. Its nice thing as no need to carry key any more but if you want to leave car with family inside its closes when walking away Then you need to open it thru Wallet key.
With physical key this was solved just by leaving key in car.
Tried same with iPhone but still closes probably because i have enabled it also on iWatch. Haven't tried to leave both of them in car to solve this problem

Digital key is nice. Using it regularly when handing car for cleaning/washing - enabling digital key on they iPhone.

Yes power is more direct thanks to electrical motor and 40 more HPs + it has sports exhaust now.

Copying also my thoughts on switch from 2021 X7 40i to 2024 X7 40i from other thread:

Biggest disappointments with '24 MY X7:

- lack of comfort access on back doors.
I had before setup that only driver doors opens when approaching but now not able to put my things on back seat before made me change setting on facelift X7 opening all doors when approaching.

- lack of physical programable buttons.
There are assignable sw buttons but they are not directly accessible - you need to swipe from top of screen and then select function.

Hope BMW one day will implement back direct buttons on UI top layer and will have steering wheel with touch surface which can be programable by user.

- lack of distance control buttons on steering wheel.
There is still space for this buttons so i dont understand why BMW have removed them. Probably because new steering wheels do not have them.

- sound on doors side is more noticeable than with pre LCI car.
Current car has Pirelli summer tires on 22" wheels but previous had 22" with Continental. Not sure its because of Pirelli tires or BMW "saved" on door/window audio insulation but noise level is higher.

- rougher ride. Both cars had 22" wheels with RFT tires and DHP/IAS only difference LCI has Pirelli but previous X7 Continental.

- no possibility to set temperature when seat and steering wheel heating or cooling starts. Hope this comes back with future sw updates.

- when switching from previous to new X7 i was not able to migrate window down positions so need to do this again from scratch which is annoying. Does anybody else also had same issue or its just my case? Dealer was not able to comment if it should be like this or not.

- ambient lighting now has just "solid" colours. Before it was possible to have colour + white lines which i was using.


Just 1,5 weeks ago got ID 8,5 07/2023.67 OTA and now there are more direct access buttons on quick select "pages" like last calls but they are not assignable.

I think quick select UI must have one "page" which has this assignable buttons so they are programable by user and directly accessible.

Other than that all is great!

P.S and if you want your X7 to stand out and get smarter look go for "crystal/swarovski" lights.

Have them on my car which makes it one and only for now seen with this option in our part of world.

What are crystal/swarovski lights?

Also we basically posted the same review! I hope BMW is listening

[Kalvis]

Originally Posted by Mick_87

What are crystal/swarovski lights?

Also we basically posted the same review! I hope BMW is listening

Yes, i also hope they read and improve as we are not the only ones

3DN – BMW Iconic Glow Crystal headlights 2100 euro option is to which i was referring.

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by Kalvis

Yes, i also hope they read and improve as we are not the only ones

3DN – BMW Iconic Glow Crystal headlights 2100 euro option is to which i was referring.

It's a $2100 option in the US but I think someone mentioned it was more than $5000 to replace if damaged, etc!

[Kalvis]

Originally Posted by Kalvis

Nice review! Thanks!

Will check your point 5.

Never had issues mentioned in points 6 and 7.

On 11. Sensafin for now looks nice and hopefully in longterm will be better than leather. On 2021 X7 had Individual leather but wanted something different on new car so i selected Silverstone sensafin interior and Skypergray exterior.

Comfort access with iPhone and iWatch. Its nice thing as no need to carry key any more but if you want to leave car with family inside its closes when walking away Then you need to open it thru Wallet key.
With physical key this was solved just by leaving key in car.
Tried same with iPhone but still closes probably because i have enabled it also on iWatch. Haven't tried to leave both of them in car to solve this problem

Digital key is nice. Using it regularly when handing car for cleaning/washing - enabling digital key on they iPhone.

Yes power is more direct thanks to electrical motor and 40 more HPs + it has sports exhaust now.

Copying also my thoughts on switch from 2021 X7 40i to 2024 X7 40i from other thread:

Biggest disappointments with '24 MY X7:

- lack of comfort access on back doors.
I had before setup that only driver doors opens when approaching but now not able to put my things on back seat before made me change setting on facelift X7 opening all doors when approaching.

- lack of physical programable buttons.
There are assignable sw buttons but they are not directly accessible - you need to swipe from top of screen and then select function.

Hope BMW one day will implement back direct buttons on UI top layer and will have steering wheel with touch surface which can be programable by user.

- lack of distance control buttons on steering wheel.
There is still space for this buttons so i dont understand why BMW have removed them. Probably because new steering wheels do not have them.

- sound on doors side is more noticeable than with pre LCI car.
Current car has Pirelli summer tires on 22" wheels but previous had 22" with Continental. Not sure its because of Pirelli tires or BMW "saved" on door/window audio insulation but noise level is higher.

- rougher ride. Both cars had 22" wheels with RFT tires and DHP/IAS only difference LCI has Pirelli but previous X7 Continental.

- no possibility to set temperature when seat and steering wheel heating or cooling starts. Hope this comes back with future sw updates.

- when switching from previous to new X7 i was not able to migrate window down positions so need to do this again from scratch which is annoying. Does anybody else also had same issue or its just my case? Dealer was not able to comment if it should be like this or not.

- ambient lighting now has just "solid" colours. Before it was possible to have colour + white lines which i was using.


Just 1,5 weeks ago got ID 8,5 07/2023.67 OTA and now there are more direct access buttons on quick select "pages" like last calls but they are not assignable.

I think quick select UI must have one "page" which has this assignable buttons so they are programable by user and directly accessible.

Other than that all is great!

P.S and if you want your X7 to stand out and get smarter look go for "crystal/swarovski" lights.

Have them on my car which makes it one and only for now seen with this option in our part of world.

UPDATE:
- no alcantara "curtain" when closing roof! Just some black synthetic material!

- annoying dark shadow line when driving when dark. This has been reported by other users.

- its hard to tell exactly, but impression is that lights are much worse than on pre LCI X7!

- also light adaptive change is not so visible than it was in pre LCI so probably this is reason why they do not provide so good visibility!

- was driving with wife and daughter to ski. Outside was ~ -5-7C and back side windows was covered with moisture all the way! They were not able to see outside. Even on my driver window was little bit of moisture closer to back doors! Will check this again but seems it confirms other user findings that LCI climate system is not on pair with pre LCI!

Shame on BMW to make good car worse on so many basic points! I think they are just greedy too much!

[Kalvis]

Originally Posted by Kalvis

UPDATE:
- no alcantara "curtain" when closing roof! Just some black synthetic material!

- annoying dark shadow line when driving when dark. This has been reported by other users.

- its hard to tell exactly, but impression is that lights are much worse than on pre LCI X7!

- also light adaptive change is not so visible than it was in pre LCI so probably this is reason why they do not provide so good visibility!

- was driving with wife and daughter to ski. Outside was ~ -5-7C and back side windows was covered with moisture all the way! They were not able to see outside. Even on my driver window was little bit of moisture closer to back doors! Will check this again but seems it confirms other user findings that LCI climate system is not on pair with pre LCI!

Shame on BMW to make good car worse on so many basic points! I think they are just greedy too much!

Unfortunately i can confirm that LCI X7 has not sufficient sound/temperature isolation/sealing in doors!

This means more noise and in cold weather (now we have just -5C) your legs below knees are cold.

This certainly was not a case for pre LCI model!

Not a way to go BMW for top line model! Hope BMW reading reviews this!

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by Kalvis

Unfortunately i can confirm that LCI X7 has not sufficient sound/temperature isolation/sealing in doors!

This means more noise and in cold weather (now we have just -5C) your legs below knees are cold.

This certainly was not a case for pre LCI model!

Not a way to go BMW for top line model! Hope BMW reading reviews this!

-5C is 23F, which is definitely a possibility where I'm at. I was looking for reasons to second guess my GLS purchase but now I have to pray the other shoe doesn't drop!

[poponoknow]

I picked up my 2024 40i a week ago and your #5 “Rear camera toggle no longer possible” is bugging me as well. Why are there 2 cameras on the roof and 2 on the hood with an A next to them when in parking assistance mode? Tapping each gives an audible response but nothing changes on the camera screen.

I also wish there was a way to set the wide angle panorama view as the default backup camera, it provides so much more visibility to the left and right. Is there a reason why they removed the panorama view button that was between the stability control and parking assistance buttons with the LCI?