Bimmer's big diesel is surprisingly quick for such a comfy couch - CNET
The 740Ld xDrive's excellent torque, stable and comfortable ride, and reasonable highway efficiency make it well suited for long-distance cruises. There's no getting around the fact that the BMW 7 Series is a big luxury sedan (hunk of metal), but the one quietly appeared in the Car Tech garage is somehow even larger. It's packed to the gills with comfort and amenities, but BMW's big diesel 7 Series surprised me with its ability to handle corners like a much smaller sport sedan. Diesel power The big Bimmer is powered by a 3. 0-liter twin-turbocharged diesel engine in an inline six-cylinder configuration. At a stated 26 mpg combined (which breaks out to 31 mpg highway and 23 mpg city) the 740Ld isn't a fuel sipper, but it is the most fuel-efficient variant of the 7 Series long wheelbase chassis -- beating the ActiveHybrid 7 by 1 mpg across the board. Like most turbo-diesels, the 7's 3. 0L (codenamed N57) boasts modest power, but big torque. Torque gets sent through an excellent eight-speed automatic transmission manufactured by ZF, which is the only gearbox available for the 7 Series, before being split between the four contact patches by BMW's xDrive all-wheel. Source: www.cnet.com
