[Wild Blue]

Every BMW model has seen "de-contenting" over the last 2+ years, where features and options have been temporarily or permanently removed. This is due to multiple factors, and is also widespread in the automotive industry, not unique just to the BMW brand. But as I got asked about this in another discussion, it was shocking to list out what content has been removed specifically on the X7.

Likely not an exhaustive list, the reasons for this reduction in content include but are not limited to:

1. BMW executives directing a 25% reduction in production cost, while not saying anything about a reduction in consumer price, presumably looking to increasing production cost margin
2. Huge global supply chain problems, in part due to COVID impact on global logistical operations
3. Global microchip production industry crippled by multiple manufacturing factory fires
4. Lower popularity of certain paid options

Since MY2020, the content which has been temporarily or permanently removed at times has included the following features and options. As the status of each has continuously changed, it's not even certain what the current status is of any of these items. Many have been restored. Some seem to be gone for good. Some statuses specific to certain regional markets. More de-content may come. What happens as the LCI rolls out is still to be seen.

• Crystal deletion from volume knob
• B&W audio (and even HK audio)
• 3rd row black plastic trim that does not match 1st and 2nd row
• Apple Car Play
• Android Audio
• Wireless phone charger
• Heated and cooled cupholders
• Acoustic Glass (this may have been X5)
• Dynamic Handling Package
• Executive Package
• Luxury Seating Package
• Dashboard touchscreen
• Elements of the automated driving systems
• Change of retractable sunroof cover material from alcantara leather to cloth
• Elimination of iDrive internal hard disk storage drive
• Gesture Control
• Night Vision
• Ambient Air
• Full Merino Leather Interior colors
• Rear System Entertainment
• Laser headlights
• Display Key
• Rear 2nd row door puddle lights removed
• Removal of touchpad capability from top of iDrive rotary control knob
• Rear cargo shelves (used when 3rd row up) now all canvas material, no more alcantara option
• Front dash color climate control screen replaced with black and white version, even w/Cold Weather Package
• LED Panoramic Sunroof
• Massage Seats
• Tow Hitch

That's a pretty huge list of temporary and permanent content removal over the last 2+ years, going BACKWARDS in features and options. And this is on BMW's flagship SUV--other models have sadly lost even more stuff. Add anything else you guys have observed or can think of, and I'll add it to this first post to make a relatively comprehensive list.

[Wild Blue]

Listing all this out, makes me even more appreciative I got my MY2021 M50i when I did, before the de-contenting really started to get bad. I only lost a few of the more minor items on that list, and still got a vehicle that's almost perfect for me.

[PinkNinja400Guy]

A couple more:

- Rear doors no longer have puddle lights. This is intentional decontenting by BMW, not a chip shortage thing.

- In addition to the roof sunshades, the trunk rear shelf cover thingy is also cloth instead of alcantara now.

- iDrive rotary controller doesn't have a touchpad built into the top surface. This is a chip shortage one. I've read here that some cars had this listed on the build sheet but did actually have the touchpad when built. But there's no $$$ credit if your car doesn't have it.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by PinkNinja400Guy

A couple more:

- Rear doors no longer have puddle lights. This is intentional decontenting by BMW, not a chip shortage thing.

- In addition to the roof sunshades, the trunk rear shelf cover thingy is also cloth instead of alcantara now.

- iDrive rotary controller doesn't have a touchpad built into the top surface. This is a chip shortage one. I've read here that some cars had this listed on the build sheet but did actually have the touchpad when built. But there's no $$$ credit if your car doesn't have it.

Serious? Geez. Yeah, that's why I knew you all could add to that list. I thought about the rear shelf, but don't think I knew about the other two. Added to 1st post.

[PinkNinja400Guy]

I'd also be careful with the word "decontenting." It already has a specific meaning: removing features from a car, or making the car worse, to make production cheaper.

This is commonly done by certain manufacturers. A generation of a car model runs for a number of years. When they release a new gen of a car, they'll make the car really well at first. It'll get great reviews from the automotive media, and establish a good reputation for that generation/model. Then over the next few years, they'll gradually cheapen it... use cheaper plastics, put in less sound deadening, etc. Of course, the MSRP doesn't go down when they do that...

I'd classify these missing features into three main buckets:

- Decontenting. Like the rear door puddle lights... they used to be standard, then BMW intentionally removed them. The door molds don't have the cutout for the lights anymore, from what I read here. This is a basic feature that even a high trim Toyota or Honda would have. Shameful. The glass volume knob is the other one.

- Temporary chip shortage limitations. Like the touchscreen - BMW tried their best to get as many touchscreens as they could, and put them into as many cars as they could. If your car doesn't have a touchscreen... yeah, you're still stuck without one, but blaming BMW is... well, in my opinion, it's not BMW's fault. Technically they could have waited to get more, but it's not really practical for a business to do that. The cost of storing thousands of 99% finished cars, and then going back and putting the screen into them, would have been incredible. More practical to just give a $100 credit. This is very different from decontenting; BMW itself is one of the victims here (but obviously not as much as the buyer who got the incomplete car). Though BMW should also be giving a credit for the smaller deletions like the non-touch iDrive controller. HK audio and IAS on the 40i are the other big examples for this category, now that the supply issues are resolved these is once again available on the 40. The Executive Package and Luxury Seating Package are also a few recent examples of this.

- Intentional option removal. This is things like night vision, ambient air, full merino leather colors. A fully loaded X7 now is not as fully loaded as a fully loaded 2020 X7. But this is different from the other two situations. You're not getting less for your money (decontenting), or having to play the lottery for whether your car is going to be missing basic features (chip shortage). You're unable to get buy of the features you could have purchased... some people will care (I wish I could have gotten night vision on my 22), but some people wouldn't have gotten those features anyway so it's irrelevant to them.

Then there are a few that blur the line. Alcantara headliner and cargo cover being the most notable one. In the big thread about this, there were at least a few people with 2022 builds who had them in Alcantara. Maybe BMW intentionally decontented this shortly after 2022 production started, which is why a few Alantara 2022s slipped through. Or maybe they just ran out shortly after 2022 production started - there *was* an Alcantara shortage, after all. Are there *any* recent build X7s with Alcantara? That would clarify. And not giving a credit for this is really scummy on BMW's part. So from a moral perspective, this belongs in the same category as intentional decontenting, regardless of whether there are supply shortages or not.

[CruiseControl]

Oh boy. My MY2020 40i MSport has just about all of those options including DHP, Sky Lounge LED roof, soft close doors and B&W sound.

My lease is up in October and I'm really considering keeping this one.

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

• Extended Merino Leather Interior colors

Not sure if this is what you are referring to, but they reduced the number of full merino leather colors as well. Right now it's only the ivory/night blue that gets you full leather in the US, in MY2020, you had a choice of extended or full for ivory, black and coffee too.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by PinkNinja400Guy

I'd also be careful with the word "decontenting." It already has a specific meaning: removing features from a car, or making the car worse, to make production cheaper.

Agreed, there is a myriad of issues going on, and I'm not even going to try to become sufficently an expert on each issue to say with authority what the root causes are of each item. I would think there are very few people even deep inside BMW that could say for sure what caused what. It's quite eye-opening, though, to see all the items that have removed, for the various reasons.

Originally Posted by unfoundnemo

Not sure if this is what you are referring to, but they reduced the number of full merino leather colors as well. Right now it's only the ivory/night blue that gets you full leather in the US, in MY2020, you had a choice of extended or full for ivory, black and coffee too.

Ah, yes, you're right. Fixed in 1st post. I myself wanted to get a full leather interior in black on my MY2021, but they removed all colors except the original blue and ivory. LCI will be bringing back some.

[MystroX5]

Originally Posted by CruiseControl

Oh boy. My MY2020 40i MSport has just about all of those options including DHP, Sky Lounge LED roof, soft close doors and B&W sound.

My lease is up in October and I'm really considering keeping this one.

I would as it’s a white elephant.

Truly fully optioned builds were extremely rare in the best of production times and totally unavailable for the next few years at least.

I have looked at all top luxury manufacturers and what they are producing in build specs and it’s savage how comprised the vehicles are delivered in. I have looked at over (15) S-Class vehicles on the lot and everyone has highly compromised builds with credits on the window sticker for basic items that were not included.

[FrankBattle]

I have a slightly different, maybe unpopular take on .. deletions(?).

First, I'd be pissed if I specifically paid for something and then a business decides to not give me what I paid for, and without notification.

I also know that across many industries, especially lately, businesses are adjusting costs in a number of ways: raising prices, reducing inventories, longer agreements, or implementing take or pay contracts. For the automotive industry, a lot of what they need are caught in the stranglehold of supply chain issues, much of which is driven by pent up demand after 1-2 years of a pandemic-fueled pullback.

I am a first time BMW owner. The bit that I look forward to the most is the feel of the car (an M50i X7) on the road. It will come with luxury accoutrements. I will admit that I am a tad disappointed not to have touchpad capability, but I get it. And I damn well better have better have the HK radio as it is still listed as standard on the M50i. But if I don't, I will live. It would actually give me a chance to install something custom in it's place, if it ends up being deleted.

Most importantly, and speaking solely for myself, this feels like a first world problem. I cannot wait for my vehicle and don't care much if a few things are missing. I'll leave appropriate feedback if so, but I'll love the car still.

As an aside, Tesla raising its prices by thousands for arguably the same vehicles with the same features doesn't seem to affect its sales that much. BMW is not unique at all.

[PinkNinja400Guy]

I was just poking around the configurator and noticed that it now also shows the 2nd row trim as being black plastic instead of wood. Unless you get the Individual finishes, for those the configurator still shows wood on the 2nd row.

I wonder if we'll be seeing that soon from recent builds.

[x7bmw23]

Originally Posted by CruiseControl

Oh boy. My MY2020 40i MSport has just about all of those options including DHP, Sky Lounge LED roof, soft close doors and B&W sound.

My lease is up in October and I'm really considering keeping this one.

Same here 2021 MY. Might be a keeper. Especially since I'm already significantly on pace to go over 3 year mileage

[thorfrid]

Anybody did inventory of "missing" equipments on X7 LCI ?
I'm still wondering if it is a good idea to order a X7 M60i

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by thorfrid

Anybody did inventory of "missing" equipments on X7 LCI ?
I'm still wondering if it is a good idea to order a X7 M60i

We just don't know yet, since they're not in production. Unknown what little finishing features we'll find, like the crystal volume knob that suddenly got deleted in MY2021. All you can do is rely upon the ordering guides and press releases. I don't think an M60i order will overall be a mistake.

[xlover]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

We just don't know yet, since they're not in production. Unknown what little finishing features we'll find, like the crystal volume knob that suddenly got deleted in MY2021. All you can do is rely upon the ordering guides and press releases. I don't think an M60i order will overall be a mistake.

An interesting use of the comprehensive list you put together will be tracking it over the next couple years as supply chain and chip shortages abate and see what comes back and what doesn't.

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by x7bmw23

Same here 2021 MY. Might be a keeper. Especially since I'm already significantly on pace to go over 3 year mileage

I wouldn't worry about mileage on a lease right now with the market the way it is regardless. You should still have a decent chunk of positive equity when you hit your 3 year mark so you could always trade it rather than handing it in.

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

• Wireless phone charger

Maybe worth noting that when this did start to come back, it was a different part. My 2022 has it rotated, so I lost the little storage tray to the right of the charger (my wife used to keep her phone there often).

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by unfoundnemo

Maybe worth noting that when this did start to come back, it was a different part. My 2022 has it rotated, so I lost the little storage tray to the right of the charger (my wife used to keep her phone there often).

A little odd. My 2021 came with the horizontal wireless phone charge pad. I also have heated and cooled cupholders

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

A little odd. My 2021 came with the horizontal wireless phone charge pad. I also have heated and cooled cupholders

Ah, it looks like that's the difference then. My 2022 has them with it horizontal and my 2020 didn't with it vertical. I see a mention of it on the G05 forums as well. That's annoying, it was a good spot for my phone too cool down after it overheated while charging too

[Phasers]

Just picked up my new '22 X7 and here's another one for the list:

• Climate Control Temperature Displays (both in Dash and in Second row) are Black & White (orange at night) instead of full color LCD displays

This is in addition to these items already on the list:

• Crystal deletion from volume knob
• Removal of touchpad capability from top of iDrive rotary control knob
• 3rd row black plastic trim that does not match 1st and 2nd row
• Change of retractable sunroof cover material from alcantara leather to cloth

That being said, I did actually get the following items on my xDrive40i which I ordered:

• Harman Kardon Sound System (What a difference vs base!)
• Wireless phone charger & Wi-Fi HotSpot
• Apple Car Play
• Android Audio
• Privacy Glass (pretty sure it's standard on X7)
• Luxury Seating Package
• Dashboard touchscreen
• iDrive internal hard disk storage drive (I can jump forward and backwards on SiriusXM, so I assume it's there)
• Gesture Control (I disabled it, can't stand it)
• Display Key

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by Phasers

Just picked up my new '22 X7 and here's another one for the list:

• Climate Control Temperature Displays (both in Dash and in Second row) are Black & White (orange at night) instead of full color LCD displays

Do you have the cold weather package?

On the online configurator, it says under CWP (under the 5-zone automatic climate control sub-section): "Features five different airflow intensity levels, separate adjustment panels in all rows and the benefits of a control panel with full-color display in the front."

Is the display supposed to be full color on non-CWP X7s? I'm not sure, maybe someone else can confirm that.

Edit: I just looked at a Youtube video (Doug Demuro's review of the X7 from 2019), his review unit had CWP and the second row display is non-color (at 13:20). So I don't think the 2nd row ever gets a color display on any X7.

Edit 2: the G07 technical info document (one of the pinned posts on this forum) also shows a black-and-white front display on page 17.

[roxxor]

Originally Posted by Phasers

Just picked up my new '22 X7 and here's another one for the list:

• Climate Control Temperature Displays (both in Dash and in Second row) are Black & White (orange at night) instead of full color LCD displays

Did you order the Cold Weather Package with the 5 Zone Climate Control? I know some recent X5 orders who didn’t order the upgraded climate control option (4 Zone in their case) were receiving the cheaper display vs. the full color one. I wonder if that’s the same case now with the X7.