10 Things You Should Know About The New 2016 BMW 7-Series (G11/G12)

The all-new 2016 BMW 7-Series (G11/G12) is a technological tour de force. From day one, BMW has wanted to create a car for 5-Series or E-Class owners to upgrade to - but one that doesn't mean they should give up the driver's seat, and still, grow considerably in luxury real estate. Yes, this is a full size supremo sports sedan, and no, I'm not telling you how it drives or rides or whether it's comfortable yet (you'd have to wait until the car's official launch later this year for the full report), but I'm showing you 10 videos you should watch, especially if you're an engineer for Lexus, Infiniti, Hyundai Equus and Kia K9. Really. 

1. The kidney grilles open and shut like a breathing tarmac eating autobahn super cruising missile does. What this does is that when the car isn't in need of additional cooling, it will shut its grilles to allow for more aerodynamic air flow, reducing fuel consumption. There are no buttons to control the opening and closing of the grilles, so I actually had to wait and try my luck a few times. 

2. I can use the Display Key to switch on the climate control in my office and get the car to condition its in-car temperatures beforehand. Comes in handy for us Malaysians. 

3. It has Grand Theft Auto view, and you can switch views with a Jedi wave. 

4. It can steer all by itself but has a build-in counter measure in case people like myself want to exploit it. The thing is this, there are many cars out there now that has lane guidance control, where the car will gently steer the car to stay in between the lines. And there's also systems like Dynamic Cruise Control where the system allows you to 'lock' a distance with the car in front of you, be it that car was accelerating or decelerating, or even stopping to a complete halt. Now this is where car owners come in and exploit this by turning both 'on' and then leave the driving, and hence, the responsibility and accountability to the car by all by itself. This is ultimately, irresponsible. Hence BMW designed the 7-Series to detect whether your palms are holding the steering wheel - or not. Upon the third warning, (which in this video you can witness, pardon my voice, I had no idea what I'm saying at that point) the system shuts off the driving aids to return me to the wheel. 

5. It allows you to stand aside when the car parks itself into really tight spots. 

6. The entire control panel and cockpits are full of digital and physical sensory cluster mesh. The BMW adopts a very unique design ethos in the 7-Series, certain buttons you can push, but when you touch, it's something else. Even the LCD panels shown here, unlike the ones in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, it's an amalgamation of physical sculpting and digital info screening. 

7. The rear passenger's Touch Command Tablet has a kinetic sculpture-like presentation all by itself when you try to remove it or place it back. 

8. The 'Zamzung' tablet allows the rear passengers to control every single thing in the car except driving. Seat massage, windows, lighting choices, music, seat adjustments, entertainment screens etc, basically everything.  

9. It's like flying Business Class back there with a full anodized aluminium fold out tray that allows me to consume my caviar topped smoked lobster while I ponder deep into the abyss of why I'm not Patrick Grove.

10. With a push of a button, the Business Class seats transform into First Class seats called Executive Lounge. This will be the first thing I'd do repeatedly if I buy this car.  

Check out the in-car footage video when the 2016 BMW 7-Series (G11/G12) steers itself automatically into the parking bay. Brilliant.