It has been 40 years since the first BMW 7-Series was revealed to the public. I would never have thought that the 7-Series is that old! Even so, I can clearly remember the last five generations. To be honest, you don’t miss a lot when it comes to the first few generations. The BMW 7-Series started to look good in the mid-1990s! In the 2000s, it looked like a spaceship.
Anyway, despite the 40 years of excitement, the 7-Series did not manage to witness the most important events of the world like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. To be fair, the S-Class is literally everywhere on this planet. Wherever you go, you will always find an S-Class.
Perhaps the brightness of the S-Class overshadowed the 7-Series. Actually, this is something quite normal. This segment was created by Mercedes-Benz and we expect to see a market dominated by the S-Class.
I can’t ignore the fact that the 7-Series brought dynamism into this market. The early versions of the S-Class are dull. They are just heavy and boring-looking objects. As the BMW transferred its sportive characteristics to the 7-Series, the market changed.
Unlike the S-Class, the 7-Series was, and always will be, more appealing to the younger audience, even though we have never seen a BMW M7 with a loud exhaust. BMW never went along this path of making the 7-Series a massive sport cars, unlike the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Even if you manage to find a 1998 7-Series with a good maintenance record, it will not look outdated, and that’s important!
In recent years, the 7-Series brought new technologies to the market including composite materials and serious weight reduction. Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that the Rolls-Royce Ghost, and the Wraith are based on the previous generations of the BMW 7-Series.
Photo credit / BMW