[Paultattoo]

Ametrin red with Coffee Vernasca Leather. I prefer to call it red with brown interior. Lol

Every option except the off road package. The dealer sat with me in the car for over an hour. Even after reading everything on this blog and watching tons of videos. Still wasn't able to remember everything. There really is a lot of stuff going on. But I love that so I am happy.

First off, the self-driving will take a bit to get used to. I am coming out of a 2018 Q7 so I am used to how this works. But the X7 does seem to do it better with less wandering. The first quirk I found was that sometimes the X must see a swerve in the lane that is not there. My Q used to do it in one spot every time. A few blocks from home, the wheel would turn hard left for no reason but always in the same spot. Every day, every time in that one spot. The X took a few sudden swerves for no reason about 6 times today. To the point of kind of scary. Interestingly enough, the X did not sway in the one spot that the Q did every time.

The lane change in auto pilot is swift and accurate. It will take some getting used to, but I like it.

The auto start stop works fine and I would not code it off if I could. I liked it in the Q7 also. I had it once in a Mercedes and it sucked. I would turn it off as soon as I started the car. But in the Q and the X7 you do not even know it's there.

There is so much going on in the touch screen I still haven't figured it all out yet but I have enough stuff set that it's awesome. Still need to get used to the gesture controls. Or shut them off. I'm Italian and I talk with my hands. Sometimes the X will think I am telling it to do something. Kind of funny showing my son some of the features and him wanting to try it. You must wait for one of you to get your hands out of the way before someone else tries it. I don't love it, yet. I don't hate it, yet. Time will tell. I haven't figured out how to make my own gestures yet. Or how to rename the Hey BMW word to something I like.

Hey BMW. That worked great! Fast enough too. My son wanted Five Guys so I said "Hey BMW, navigate to the nearest Five Guys". In seconds, I had a list of every Five Guys around in order from closest to farthest. Turned out pretty handy too. The closest Five Guys was temporally closed. Back in the X and repeat. No problem.

The APP started the car. It also allowed me to lock and unlock too. I set it up with Alexa because it asked me to. Very simple. In the house, I told Alexa to unlock the BMW. Alexa asked for my four digit pin. I said it and the car unlocked. Nice.

Controlling the extra buttons on the seat control isn't easy. The extra features like tilting the top of the seat are hard to get. But having memory on both seats is nice.

In the rear, the passenger can control both sun shades and the moon roof! Who knew?

I do not have a spare. Inside that compartment, is a little door in the floor. I opened it and found the corner of the battery with the negative post available. Don't know how I would get a jump with just the neg but it's there. The shade for the third row is in there. I don't use it so I took both of them out and stored them where I stored the one from the Q7. But getting that thing out is a pain in the butt. You have to remove the flimsy covers in the sides of the trunk. And then you have to put them back on. Kind of dumb but I don't use them so no big deal. But if you do plan on putting it on and taking it off a lot, you will be sorry. Poor design.

I did get two pillows and a cargo net. Storing them with the sunshades. Don't see a need, for me.

I took my OWL CAMERA out of the Q7 and put it in the BMW no problem. So easy and it started right up and worked. I love this dash camera for its simplicity and ability to send the videos to my phone or to look in with my phone any time I want. In some of my other posts you can see a worker at Hoffman Estates Illinois stealing out of my Q7. Caught red handed.

With the APP I was able to look around the car from inside the house and inside Five Guys. Pretty cool. It is not live. When you open the APP and select that feature you're stuck on the last thing it seen. When you refresh the screen, you just get a snap shot, not a live view. Just an FYI if you didn't know.

Auto start isn't auto start. It's climatize. In the settings inside the car, you set what you would like to happen when the temp is under and over a set degree. I used 45 and 60. Turn on heat and warm seat or turn on AC and cool seat. From the APP, you select CLIMATIZE NOW and the car starts.

The X ran great. It's hard to describe. The X feels a lot lighter and more nimble than the Q7, but also feels a lot more solid. The Q7 was great but it always felt 'heavy'. The BMW drives like it weighs half as much if that makes sense. Plus it goes like a rocket! I know I have the 6 cyl and I am the last guy to give a rats butt about speed, but I was always going 20 over the limit and I have the drive set to ECO mode. I tried out sport mode for a second but have not had a ticket on over 30 years and want to keep it that way. My son said I was scaring him because I was driving so fast. I wasn't really; it's just that the X hugs the road so hard it feels like you are racing. Very enjoyable let me say!

I do wish that there was some more storage around the shifter. For the little things you grab all the time. I did buy a couple of storage boxes that fit next to the seats and another one that goes into the arm rest. The arm rest box is for an X5 but it fits perfect. I got the links from you fine folks and I will list the links at the end of this.

The color is strange but the few people that have seen it so far have loved it.

I also got a pretty light trim for the inside because I was just tired of everything being black for so long. Still love black but wanted a change to see how I like it over the next two years. That's all I keep cars for anyway.

One weird thing when you get a new car. Muscle memory. The buttons for the rear windows are right where the buttons for the front windows were in the Q7. So without looking I kept rolling down the rear window instead of the front. Lol No big deal and in a week or so everything will be normal.

I still have a lot to learn but so far so good. Very happy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...UTF8&psc=1

https://owlcam.com/

I'll post some pictures I took today in the comments.
Thank you

[Paultattoo]

Some pictures.

[unotaz]

For the auto engine start, you can do it remotely through your key fob. When the car is locked, hit lock three times consecutively and it will start the engine remotely.

[mpop302]

In n out > five guys

[Wild Blue]

Gotta go to work, so I'll read your review later today. But Love your license plate, and surprised the DMV let you have it!

[Paultattoo]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

Gotta go to work, so I'll read your review later today. But Love your license plate, and surprised the DMV let you have it!

Me too...

[explorer84]

Can you talk a bit more about the Driving Assistant Professional package capabilities? I see that you said the car is having difficulty staying in the lane. I read a post in another thread and the poster said lane centering issue was fixed in firmware update released towards end of December. It appears the lane centering is not fixed. Do you agree?

I currently drive Tesla Model X. Autopilot and intuitive UI are the 2 features that are holding me from switching to X7.

Thank you.

[Paultattoo]

Originally Posted by explorer84

Can you talk a bit more about the Driving Assistant Professional package capabilities? I see that you said the car is having difficulty staying in the lane. I read a post in another thread and the poster said lane centering issue was fixed in firmware update released towards end of December. It appears the lane centering is not fixed. Do you agree?

I currently drive Tesla Model X. Autopilot and intuitive UI are the 2 features that are holding me from switching to X7.

Thank you.

Oh I'm sorry if it came out that way. The lane keeping is fantastic. I just had a few hiccups when the wheel pulled left or right suddenly. It's why you keep your eyes on the road I guess. Or maybe the car is still learning?

My Q7 always wanted to hug the left side of the lane and curves were useless.

I have not been stuck in traffic yet so I don't know about the traffic jam assist but I'm looking forward to trying that.

Can you tell me something about the Tesla? Everything I've read says the X7 has a better system. But then I talk to non Tesla owners who are fans. They want me to believe the Tesla drives itself. I mean program the destination into the nav system and then take a nap. Does the Tesla drive itself? Like make turns and stop at red lights? I find that hard to believe and would like to hear it from an actual owner.

[760Lifan]

Great first review so far!

48 hours from now, I'll be at the dealership, picking mine up.

[Paultattoo]

Originally Posted by 760Lifan

Great first review so far!

48 hours from now, I'll be at the dealership, picking mine up.

And you got the 50! That thing is going to get you lots of tickets buddy. My straight 6 flies and the ride is so smooth I caught myself going twenty over the limit EVERY time I looked at the speedo.

I thought the term "handles like it's on rails" was cliché until yesterday. And I'm coming from a loaded all wheel steering Q7.

I left one thing out of my quicky review. The only thing my Q7 did better was acknowledge a stopped car in front of me and apply the brakes to a stop. If the X7 is cruise control alone on the road and comes up in stopped traffic it didn't seem to notice or give a crap if there was stopped cars ahead and would have plowed right through them. At one light I tried to trust it to see when it would stop. 😂 I ended up slamming on the brakes and swerving into the next lane to avoid rear ending someone.

[760Lifan]

Originally Posted by Paultattoo

And you got the 50! That thing is going to get you lots of tickets buddy.

Nah, so far I haven't gotten a single ticket in my life - and that's with a previous 760Li and M5 in my garage...

[explorer84]

Originally Posted by Paultattoo

Oh I'm sorry if it came out that way. The lane keeping is fantastic. I just had a few hiccups when the wheel pulled left or right suddenly. It's why you keep your eyes on the road I guess. Or maybe the car is still learning?

My Q7 always wanted to hug the left side of the lane and curves were useless.

I have not been stuck in traffic yet so I don't know about the traffic jam assist but I'm looking forward to trying that.

Can you tell me something about the Tesla? Everything I've read says the X7 has a better system. But then I talk to non Tesla owners who are fans. They want me to believe the Tesla drives itself. I mean program the destination into the nav system and then take a nap. Does the Tesla drive itself? Like make turns and stop at red lights? I find that hard to believe and would like to hear it from an actual owner.

Thanks for your response.

Autopilot in Tesla is simply great on Highway and does very good job on internal streets as well. It handles curves, missing lane markings and other corner cases very well. It is not a level 5 and may not get to level 5 for many many years. But it is a solid level 2 plus in my opinion. Driver is required to keep a hand on the wheel and apply torque every 20 seconds or so. Tesla doesn't have driver monitoring camera.

Surrounding cars and objects are rendered in instrument cluster. This gives confidence as driver sees what the car sees.

I drove Model X for 17000 miles in 17 months and saw the Autopilot improve with every firmware update. Tesla pushes firmware updates every 4-8 weeks or so. I can say Tesla drives itself 90-95% of the time on a highway.

My previous car was 535i. I test drove X7 in last month and really loved the driving dynamics, ride height, Apple car play and interior quality. The demo car I drove had 20 miles. It had driving assistant professional package. One thing I noticed right off the bat was it was having difficulty staying in center of a lane. Automatic lane changing worked 2 out of 6 times. The instrument cluster had too many icons and it looked cluttered. Obviously I am comparing the UI with Tesla.

Minus the UI and driving assistant professional package, the car was worth the sticker price. Really well designed and built.

[Paultattoo]

Originally Posted by explorer84

Thanks for your response.

Autopilot in Tesla is simply great on Highway and does very good job on internal streets as well. It handles curves, missing lane markings and other corner cases very well. It is not a level 5 and may not get to level 5 for many many years. But it is a solid level 2 plus in my opinion. Driver is required to keep a hand on the wheel and apply torque every 20 seconds or so. Tesla doesn't have driver monitoring camera.

Surrounding cars and objects are rendered in instrument cluster. This gives confidence as driver sees what the car sees.

I drove Model X for 17000 miles in 17 months and saw the Autopilot improve with every firmware update. Tesla pushes firmware updates every 4-8 weeks or so. I can say Tesla drives itself 90-95% of the time on a highway.

My previous car was 535i. I test drove X7 in last month and really loved the driving dynamics, ride height, Apple car play and interior quality. The demo car I drove had 20 miles. It had driving assistant professional package. One thing I noticed right off the bat was it was having difficulty staying in center of a lane. Automatic lane changing worked 2 out of 6 times. The instrument cluster had too many icons and it looked cluttered. Obviously I am comparing the UI with Tesla.

Minus the UI and driving assistant professional package, the car was worth the sticker price. Really well designed and built.

Thank you. That's what I thought. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in traffic for once. I chose the X7 for the traffic jam assist where, supposedly, you can take your hands off the wheel indefinitely as long as you're looking at the road.

[Redrex]

I can attest that the traffic jam assist works very well. At freeway speeds though, the steering wheel will fight with you a bit if you try to take over steering; the review in Car&Driver is pretty spot-on in its assessment.

[FishOuttaWater]

Dammit Man! That's a sweet looking ride you have there. Congratulations. Your license plate is awesome. Surprised some bureaucratic bass turd didn't catch it and disqualify it. Good job.

[Paultattoo]

Originally Posted by FishOuttaWater

Dammit Man! That's a sweet looking ride you have there. Congratulations. Your license plate is awesome. Surprised some bureaucratic bass turd didn't catch it and disqualify it. Good job.

I don't post pictures of it to often for just that reason. Shhhhhh

[explorer84]

Originally Posted by Paultattoo

And you got the 50! That thing is going to get you lots of tickets buddy. My straight 6 flies and the ride is so smooth I caught myself going twenty over the limit EVERY time I looked at the speedo.

I thought the term "handles like it's on rails" was cliché until yesterday. And I'm coming from a loaded all wheel steering Q7.

I left one thing out of my quicky review. The only thing my Q7 did better was acknowledge a stopped car in front of me and apply the brakes to a stop. If the X7 is cruise control alone on the road and comes up in stopped traffic it didn't seem to notice or give a crap if there was stopped cars ahead and would have plowed right through them. At one light I tried to trust it to see when it would stop. 😂 I ended up slamming on the brakes and swerving into the next lane to avoid rear ending someone.

Ohh.. this doesn't sound good.

Tesla used to do this back in 2018. Autopilot started responding to stopped cars sometime in early 2019.

[stein_325i]

Congrats and welcome to Bimmerpost! A nicely spec'd X7 you have there, Ametrin's pretty rare to see in public or even on the forums.

Enjoy your new car!

[jcarlilesiu]

As far as the cruise control not stopping for stopped cars.

I believe this is just a limitation of how far forward the car is looking. Now that I have Active Road Conditions turned on, the X7 doesn't really "see" the car in front of you until you are a couple hundred feet from it.

If you are going 70 and stopped traffic is ahead, it isn't going to see that stopped traffic in time to actually stop.

[Paultattoo]

Replying to the Tesla guy.
Just noticed today that when in cruise control you do get the traffic in the display screen. Three lanes with animated cars where they are in real time with movement.

[explorer84]

Originally Posted by Paultattoo

Replying to the Tesla guy.
Just noticed today that when in cruise control you do get the traffic in the display screen. Three lanes with animated cars where they are in real time with movement.

Great.

I read BMW will update their hardware to EyeQ5, Lidar and more cameras in first quarter of next year. This will make BMW Level 3 autonomous. Aptiv and Mobileye will be responsible for this.

Currently tier1 ZF1 is responsible for the active driving assistant features.

[like2short]

Originally Posted by explorer84

Great.

I read BMW will update their hardware to EyeQ5, Lidar and more cameras in first quarter of next year. This will make BMW Level 3 autonomous. Aptiv and Mobileye will be responsible for this.

Currently tier1 ZF1 is responsible for the active driving assistant features.

Eye q5 will ship with Inext in 2021. X7 probably does not get until LCI with 8/22 production:

Eye q5 Tier 1 will be Aptiv and Magna (for the Lidar)

Current system is made by ZF with Eye q4. Zf
also supplies Nissan.