BMW M760Li V12 "The ultimate Get Away car"
Some cars are just superlative. Not many, but they do exist. And the BMW M760Li is definitely one of them, combining the best of the 7 Series with the best of the BMW M range. As if that weren’t enough, with that rarest of BMW engines: the 6-litre V12. The soundtrack is angelic and it performs like a beast. Contrast and exaggeration. Exuberance and irrationality. A car that deserves all the best adjectives you can come up with. A car that gets noticed and gets a reaction.
So... what is this monster from Munich really like?
We were lucky to have a loan of mostly likely the only one registered in Spain for a few days.
When we came face-to-face, we met a gargantuan colossus, clad in intriguing deep bronze matte accented with glazed chrome trim. A muscular look, yet restrained, the perfect reflection of its personality.
Sitting in, one notices that the seats seem to have a different consistency than one usually finds, giving one the impression of being in a lounge, where latest in technology integrates with the warmth of sumptuous materials. The cabin is spacious, elegant and modern. Comfort doesn’t even begin to describe it. As on other occasions, one wonders which are actually the premium seats, the first-class section, as it were. The back seats have certainly nothing to envy the First Class section of one of the more sophisticated airlines, but when the engine begins to purr you realise that the real fun is behind the wheel. And a V12 engine that gets over 600bhp is not something you get to try every day.
Enzo Ferrari is said to have discovered V12 engines when he first saw the Packards, from then on deciding that, in the future, all his own cars would have them. I’m not Enzo Ferrari, obviously, but I do share his weakness for the same kind of mechanics and soundtrack. I actually think there is nothing better!
The M760Li is obviously a big, solid car, but its colossal torque makes it agile and light to the touch. When sport mode is engaged, there is some inertia, but much less than you would expect. In reality, the chassis and suspension make the mighty BMW drive almost like a sports car.
As the BMW flagship, the M760Li houses a raft of all the latest developments in comfort and technology. So much that you would nearly need to take a course to get to the bottom of its info-entertainment options.
Does it have an Achilles’ heel? Consumption, not that that’s something anybody with the money to buy this car should ever have to worry about. Ours chugged well over 20 litres in just 100 km. However, when it can go from 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds, some things become secondary. Like the little cars you see disappearing in your rear-view mirror.
For many years, Hollywood used the the BMW 7 Series to portray the favourite car of the Mafia and other bad guys. It would seem that BMW is trying to recover its tough-guy image, by producing the ultimate get-away car. It’s totally the car I want outside if I ever decide to rob a bank. No cop or secret agent is ever going to try to get in the way of this ballistic missile.
A car beyond all comparison, its closest competitor in size, concept, performance and price range probably being the Mercedes Benz S63 AMG. Which we also got a taste of, so read on to find out!
