3-ROW LUXURY SUV COMPARISON
Credit where credit is due: We applaud
BMW for making the expensive decision to
carry the ornate leather quilting through
all three rows of the X7’s cabin.BMW X7 is assembled in Spartanburg,
South Carolina. And even though the
Detroit Three have offshored production
of some models, the Lincoln Navigator
is made in Louisville, Kentucky, and the
Cadillac Escalade hails from Arlington,
Texas. So, yes, for American tastes comes
American assembly.
There’s a paradox of sorts with large
luxury three-row SUVs. Vehicles of this
size and class are compromised in some
fashion, whether that be in efficiency,
value, quality, drive experience, or price.
Yet the whole premise of luxury is that
there are no compromises. And with
an average as-tested price of $102,173,
there’d damn sure better be as few as
possible. (Schopenhauer would have a
field day with that equation.)
The winner of this test, then, is the
luxury SUV that makes the fewest
compromises. We’re looking for a vehicle
that’s comfortable, with effortless accel-
eration and a plush yet responsive ride.
We want a beautifully finished interior
that makes an even bigger impression
than its blingy sheetmetal. But given that
these are also family SUVs (not my family,
but someone’s), we’re also looking at inte-
rior space in each row and ensuring the
luxury themes carry through to all three,
not just the first one or two.
Here’s how our rankings shook out.4TH PLACE: 2020 BMW X7 xDrive40i
It’s never easy doing something new for
the first time. It took 11 Apollo missions to
land on the moon, and although the BMWX7 isn’t a moonshot, it is fairly obvious
this is the first time BMW has built some-
thing so big.
Out of the gate, the X7 ticks all the right
boxes to be considered a serious player
in the luxury three-row SUV segment.
Riding on BMW’s modular CLAR plat-
form, which is shared with everything
from the Toyota Supra to the BMW 8
Series, the X7 is about 8.5 inches longer
but slightly narrower than BMW’s smaller
(three-row optional) midsize X5.
Considering we’re focusing on luxury
and not performance, we opted for theBMW X7
46 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2021