New to BMW 740 from Lexus LS, what do I need to know?

Hi there,

My lease on my 09 Lexus LS is ending in a couple of months. I just drove the 2013 LS and somehow, I was underwhelmed. I like the quiet ride but it was pretty sluggish when accelerating and somehow I was missing that "wow" feeling I have had with Lexus in the past. Also, the color choices are minimal and pretty boring.

I am looking to lease a 740 BMW, preferrably a 2013 due to some of the enhancements. I was thinking of test driving it this weekend to see what has changes since last time I test drove a 7 series, about 3-4 years ago.

Any advice or thoughts? TIA, Katherine

Originally Posted by kath00

Hi there,

My lease on my 09 Lexus LS is ending in a couple of months. I just drove the 2013 LS and somehow, I was underwhelmed. I like the quiet ride but it was pretty sluggish when accelerating and somehow I was missing that "wow" feeling I have had with Lexus in the past. Also, the color choices are minimal and pretty boring.

I am looking to lease a 740 BMW, preferrably a 2013 due to some of the enhancements. I was thinking of test driving it this weekend to see what has changes since last time I test drove a 7 series, about 3-4 years ago.

Any advice or thoughts? TIA, Sarah

I LOVE my 7, the 740 is not fast, its .4 seconds slower to 60 than your LS(the pre-'13, not sure now), but it never feels slow. If you want something a bit faster than what you had, I'd go for the 750.

Its all personal taste, I agree with you on Lexus in general. You'll probably have less issues, and overall better reliability with the lexus, but the styling, even on the new one is a snoozer. The new GS looks like a fat, sharper IS, and the new LS looks like a fatter GS. Nothing to see here, move along...

If you have other vehicles I would just special order it the way you want, and wait for it. Its a fantastic car, I would just order different options next time.

Originally Posted by ChrisF02

I LOVE my 7, the 740 is not fast, its .4 seconds slower to 60 than your LS(the pre-'13, not sure now), but it never feels slow. If you want something a bit faster than what you had, I'd go for the 750.

Its all personal taste, I agree with you on Lexus in general. You'll probably have less issues, and overall better reliability with the lexus, but the styling, even on the new one is a snoozer. The new GS looks like a fat, sharper IS, and the new LS looks like a fatter GS. Nothing to see here, move along...

If you have other vehicles I would just special order it the way you want, and wait for it. Its a fantastic car, I would just order different options next time.

First off, you need your eyes checked if you think the new GS is similar to anything else in the Lexus lineup.



Secondly, pot meet kettle.

The new 5 series looks like a longer, fatter 3 series....and the 7 series is a longer, fatter 5?

There is far more differentiation in the Lexus lineup than BMW, especially the new GS (which btw, outhandles it's comparable 5 series).

Both Audi and BMW are on the 1 sausage, different size design trend now.

Originally Posted by ChrisF02

I LOVE my 7, the 740 is not fast, its .4 seconds slower to 60 than your LS(the pre-'13, not sure now), but it never feels slow. If you want something a bit faster than what you had, I'd go for the 750.

Its all personal taste, I agree with you on Lexus in general. You'll probably have less issues, and overall better reliability with the lexus, but the styling, even on the new one is a snoozer. The new GS looks like a fat, sharper IS, and the new LS looks like a fatter GS. Nothing to see here, move along...

If you have other vehicles I would just special order it the way you want, and wait for it. Its a fantastic car, I would just order different options next time.

Thank you! It's exactly what I did. I drove the 740 this morning and while it was not laggy at all, it was not faster than my LS. Then again, my LS drives really well. The dealership was not really offering me much of a discount on the 2013 as a preorder and none of the cars had the upgraded stereo that I really wanted (oh, and I fell in love with the saddle color seats, which apparently is harder to find than black or oyster).

So I hemmed and hawed and decided to go to another dealership in the afternoon and try the 750i after reading your response. I LOVED the way it drove. Or should I say, flew? Much to my surprise, I also really liked the new iDrive system and the wheel control much more than the 2013 LS's joystick. It also had wonderful integration features with smart phones and the fact that I could email it my destination from google maps was really a nice and useful feature.

I went ahead and preordered the 750i with the B&O sound system, the saddle seats and the executive package in the color combo I wanted. Dealership #2 worked well with me regarding my LS trade in (apparently I had a large amount of equity in the lease vehicle) so I ended up with what I think was a great deal.

Now the wait to get the car! UGH. They tell me about mid-December it should be here, if all goes well. I am VERY excited. This will be my first Beemer ever...

Katherine

Congratulations on your choice. The 750 is a distinctive vehicle, unlike an LS. I had an LS before, and never got the feel of a big powerful car like the 750 provides.

However, there are a few downsides.

First, the Run Flat Tires annoyed me. I swapped them for Continental all seasons, but now do not have a spare, only an emergency kit and a prayer. Not optimal.
Even someone on this forum who bought a Rolls Royce is annoyed at his run flats!

Second, the 2013s come with Automatic Start Stop (appropriately called ASS) that will annoy the hell out of you. There is no way to disable it. Imagine a 450 horsepower engine dying at every traffic light, and then roaring back to life. Extremely annoying.

The 740 Hybrid may have been a better option.

Please post pictures.

Hmmm, I was surprised when the sales guy told me the run flats mean no spare at all. The trunk is much smaller than my LS, which was the only downside of the 7 series compared to the LS so far that I have found.

He did show me a way to disable the feature you mention of the autooff thingy. That seemed completely inane to me to begin with (really, my a/c is gonna die in the middle of the road on a summer day?) so I was glad to see it could be turned off. I believe he said it was a small button under the engine on button that you use to start the car when you first get in. Maybe that's new for 2013? I just hope I don't have to push it each and every time I get in the vehicle. That would annoy me!

Anyone know if all the cool iphone integration features are now on the android as well? I know my DH sent me a link earlier today to the app that BWM made for the android but I don't know if it works well or at all at this point. Sales rep kept saying it was only for the iPhone but that they were working on an android version. Hope that means it's on it's way soon because I liked the things he described.

Just watched the excellent videos posted by someone else here of the making of a BMW. Very cool! That should be my car on the assembly line in a week or so.

https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/press...ocNo=PF0003424

Well, I just moved to BMW (again), having owned both Lexus and BMW in the past. This time it is the 750 2012 I got in May.

I owned a E38 740, E92 M3 in the past both for about 7 years. I am now on my second Lexus LX470; also had LS430, LS400, SC400 and LX450 in the past.

First off, I'll admit I moved to the 750 because I was able to get much better deal financially. To tell you the truth I wanted to get an LS600h, and did all I could to get a deal and buy one. But it was not meant to be, Lexus just could not care less about my business.

You will find that the BMW drives somewhat better - it feels lighter, a bit more nimble. Admittedly not by much. At the same time the steering is slower (sic!), the tech and engineering is not to the Lexus standards (with the exception of the HUD which is simply excellent). Naturally this board will tell differently, it is a BMW board after all. The 750 also not as comfortable and silent as the LS. But it looks a lot like LS (it is a good thing and attracted me to the 750 in the first place, first bimmer since the E38 that is not ugly), and still a very decent car, really pleasant to drive. The choice of different colours, especially interior colours is wider and more customizable. So all in all, you will not miss the LS too much.

Originally Posted by Cdnrockies

First off, you need your eyes checked if you think the new GS is similar to anything else in the Lexus lineup.]

Secondly, pot meet kettle.

The new 5 series looks like a longer, fatter 3 series....and the 7 series is a longer, fatter 5?

There is far more differentiation in the Lexus lineup than BMW, especially the new GS (which btw, outhandles it's comparable 5 series).

Both Audi and BMW are on the 1 sausage, different size design trend now.

Heh my eyes are fine..

I never said what BMW Audi nor Mercedes does is bad, I personally like it. I never have liked the look of any Lexus, LFA included. Something that reeks of Buick on their breath. Yuck.

Originally Posted by kath00

Hmmm, I was surprised when the sales guy told me the run flats mean no spare at all. The trunk is much smaller than my LS, which was the only downside of the 7 series compared to the LS so far that I have found.

He did show me a way to disable the feature you mention of the autooff thingy. That seemed completely inane to me to begin with (really, my a/c is gonna die in the middle of the road on a summer day?) so I was glad to see it could be turned off. I believe he said it was a small button under the engine on button that you use to start the car when you first get in. Maybe that's new for 2013? I just hope I don't have to push it each and every time I get in the vehicle. That would annoy me!

Anyone know if all the cool iphone integration features are now on the android as well? I know my DH sent me a link earlier today to the app that BWM made for the android but I don't know if it works well or at all at this point. Sales rep kept saying it was only for the iPhone but that they were working on an android version. Hope that means it's on it's way soon because I liked the things he described.

Just watched the excellent videos posted by someone else here of the making of a BMW. Very cool! That should be my car on the assembly line in a week or so.

https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/press...ocNo=PF0003424

With Start/Stop auto engine cut off...Your A/C will NOT cut off! It will keep running. It's just the engine that stops to "save" gas. I had this in my 2012 Activehybrid 7 Series. I personally found this feature annoying. There was a very noticeable lag, when would take your foot off the brake and switch to the gas pedal. You could put the car in Sport mode, and in the AH7, this would deactivate the auto Start/stop. Maybe Sport mode for the transmission will deactivate this feature as well, in the non Hybrid models too! Congrats!!!

Originally Posted by azbimmer

.

First, the Run Flat Tires annoyed me. I swapped them for Continental all seasons, but now do not have a spare, only an emergency kit and a prayer. Not optimal.
Even someone on this forum who bought a Rolls Royce is annoyed at his run flats!
.

Not a fan of Run on Flats in ANY car. My Rolls Royce dealer told me they were very upset that BMW strong armed Rolls Royce into putting these damned tires on ALL Rolls models....even the new 2013 Phantom II (Rolls' Flagship model and the dealer let us borrow for 3 days...Amazing!!!) now comes equipped with standard Run on Flats! Granted, the advanced Air Suspension system in my new Ghost makes the ride MUCH more forgiving and 'softer' than the 7 Series...but still the Run on Flats on many roads yield an annoying "bock, bock, bock" sound and many road imperfections are felt more than I would like in a Rolls Royce. BUT...the Rolls does everything else right, so I'll just have to deal with it. Also, besides from cheap ass Korean Nitto tires, there is NOT a single manufacturer besides my Goodyear Made in Germany Run on Flats that will fit car. I am kind of stuck with Run on Flats. BMW models have more choices, if you want to ditch the Run on Flats.

"He did show me a way to disable the feature you mention of the autooff thingy. That seemed completely inane to me to begin with (really, my a/c is gonna die in the middle of the road on a summer day?) so I was glad to see it could be turned off. I believe he said it was a small button under the engine on button that you use to start the car when you first get in. Maybe that's new for 2013? I just hope I don't have to push it each and every time I get in the vehicle. That would annoy me!"

Unfortunately, this is the case. You have to push override everytime you start it, just as you have to push Sport mode every time you start it.
Sometime, BMW defies logic.

BMW dealers now have the capability to reprogram the car to default the ASS system off. Great car, I hope you enjoy- I pick up my 750 this week...

Originally Posted by Emilner

BMW dealers now have the capability to reprogram the car to default the ASS system off. Great car, I hope you enjoy- I pick up my 750 this week...

Great to hear!!

Yes, the BMW dealership can program the car to have the ASS system off. Apparently they received too many complaints.

All of those new Lexus models look the same to me as well, and too much like Hyundais from the rear. Met some girl over the weekend who when walking to my car from the bar said "Is that a 5 or a 7? They look so similar now." I just shook my head. She was right though. All of the luxury companies seem to just be stretching their base models. Audi is definitely the worst in my opinion.

Edit: Actually, Mercedes models are very easy for me to distinguish from afar. Could be the extensive visual training I receive from seeing a million of the damn things every day since I live around where Shahs of Sunset was filmed.

I actually like the start stop...why run the engine if its not needed. If I want sport mode or I'm in stop and go traffic I can always disengage it. During nice weather, why sit at a traffic light with the windows down and have engine noise or suck exhaust fumes. However, this is my 3rd BMW with the feature, so I'm used to it.