BMW 740Ld xDrive: review

A 7 Series BMW is a nice thing to have. It’s the executive express that won’t rattle the tea cups. But, until now, only those who live in countries where it is considerably more inclement far more of the time have been able to add four-wheel drive to the list of nice things to have. Not any longer.

Finally, the UK gets a 7 Series with all-wheel drive. You can have this combination in the 730d but not the stretched version. But if you want all-wheel drive and a longer wheelbase you have to go for the 740Ld. So we did.

Why would you choose such a thing? Because you want to go off-roading? Because you want to drive it so hard into the turn that the traction control is chittering wildly to get power to all four wheels? That seems unlikely. You want it because for much of the time you won’t need it. And if you do need it, you want it to just work and not make some song and dance about it. No shoving levers to lock the diffs here, thank you very much.

So we have a luxurious saloon, which is best at wafting down the highways. It wafts even better than previously now thanks to the 3.0-litre straight-six turbocharged diesel gaining more power and torque. Those figures are up to 316bhp and a highly impressive 501lb ft respectively.

There’s not a major difference but it means the weight is whirred around with even less sense of strain or effort than previously. Handling remains serene, and there doesn’t seem to be any negative payoff in fitting an all-wheel drive system with its additional weight and complexity.

Possibly you’d find it would scrabble less in a tight turn but, really, who’s going to do that? Anyway, in normal use the power goes to the rear wheels all the time so it feels like a normal 7 Series. But it’s like the diver’s watch – you’re only ever going to wear it in the shower, but you still want to know it works 20 fathoms down.

When roads get really tricky, with ice or snow or torrential rain, and you have to negotiate a tricky set of bends or steep climbs, then the xDrive comes into its own. Efficiently, quietly, without any fuss, you just keep going. Remember last time it snowed heavily and the bottom of every hill was full of abandoned BMWs? Well they won’t be joined by this model.

The fortunate owner, who will probably be in the opulent rear, won’t even have to break off reading the FT or Skyping his mistress. He will just maintain his stately progress, unaffected by what is going on outside in the beastly real world.

It’s not a ridiculous amount to upgrade to the xDrive, and, really, it’s a nice thing to have.

BMW 740Ld xDrive

Location: Surrey

On sale: Now

Price: £76,010

Engine: Straight-six, 2993cc, turbocharged, diesel

Power: 316bhp at 4000rpm

Torque: 501lb ft at 1750rpm

Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic

Kerb weight: 1910kg

Top speed: 155mph

0-62mph: 5.3sec

Economy: 54.3mpg

CO2/tax band: 137g/km, 25%