Car of the Year Awards 2025: Luxury Car of the Year
Saloons and SUVs both compete in this class, with the best examples combining sumptuous materials with fantastic refinement and ride comfort worthy of a magic carpet...
BMW X7 xDrive40i M Sport (Ultimate Pack)
On TV’S Grand Designs, it’s pretty rare to see folk building anything modest. The majority of houses featured on the show tend to be big, extravagant and beautifully constructed, these being values that logically align with the idea of a luxury home. The BMW X7, then, is the metal embodiment of the kind of houses on which Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud delivers his animated verdicts.
An SUV as the best luxury car? Well, yes. Its height means you get a great view of your surroundings, as well as bringing high ceilings and masses of interior space – all the better for entertaining guests. The X7 has seating for seven, none of whom will have to suffer cramped quarters; even six-footers in the rearmost row will have head room to spare, so they won’t turn down your offer of accommodation. Not least when they get to share in the X7’s superb interior appointments.
The artisans who built this rolling edifice have made a real statement when it comes to quality. There are no wobbly architraves here; everything is perfectly solid to the touch, while real metal trims add visual interest. Only the likes of the much pricier Bentley Bentayga show up the X7 with materials of an even higher standard.
Every grand design tends to pack the latest technology, and so does the X7. The living area is dominated by a curved 14.9in screen (adjoined by a 12.3in panel for the driver) to inform and entertain, and ambient lighting sets the mood. And if your mortgage allows, the optional Ultimate Pack makes this premium property even more cosseting.
With this £16,450 addition, the seats in the front room gain a massage feature (on top of the standard heating and electric adjustment), and the heating extends to the steering wheel and armrests on the centre console and front doors, so you’ll be cosy even when it’s freezing outside. It also brings cupholders that can keep your Coke cold or your Horlicks hot, a panoramic roof for a view of the stars above, a Glastonbury-shaming sound system by Bowers & Wilkins, and five-zone climate control that affords even third-row occupants a say on their living environment.
On the technical front, the Ultimate Pack brings active anti-roll bars and upgraded air suspension, combining to give a more stable and luxurious ride than any Range Rover can offer, along with four-wheel steering that makes the X7 much less of a handful in a tight plot than you’d expect. And if you feel the urge to get away from your neighbours in a hurry, the X7 xDrive40i’s smooth engine can quietly propel you from 0-62mph in a swift 5.8sec. After all, power is quite a luxury.
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