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B4 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday February 20, 2002 BMW 745i takes automotive technology into the future Arriving in Canadian showrooms now is without doubt the most techni cally advanced sedan BMW has ever built, and it ju st might be the bench mark for the next generation of premi um luxury cars. We have come to expect BMW to break new ground in engineering and performance, but this time they have truly entered something I would like to call "intuitive" driving. The car is the BMW 745i and 745Li (long w heelbase) that bring d ri v e -b y -w ire dow n to earth. They aren't cheap at $95,700 and $102,200 respectively, but I doubt you can buy any car that takes automotive technology this ~ far into the j>m Robinson fu tu re . For instance, the gas pedal is now connected to a com puter as is the gear shift lever. Just one example o f the intuitive side of the car are the threedimensional taillights. They have the ability to adapt them selves to the needs o f the driver. Under normal braking, the outboard and centre (third) brake lights illuminate. But under hard breaking with the ABS activated the brake and third light go on along with the tail lights. If a bulb happens to be burned out, a nearby bulb (turn signal) is "commandeered" and will continue to Fill the breaking light function until the burned out bulb is replaced. But perhaps the tour de force is iDrive. It is a silvery rotary knob about the size o f a pickle ja r cap. Called the "Controller", it sits on the forward edge o f the front console. In addition to the normal hood over the primary instruments (speedo, tach. fuel, temp) there is a similarly sized hood in the centre of the instrument panel with a large LCD display that depicts what the driver wants to select with the Controller. Think o f the C ontroller as the nexus of a compass with north being communications; east being the navi gation system, south entertainment, and west climate control. At northnorthwest is the on-board computer; southeast is the help function; south-southwest is configurations such as languages, setting day/time; and north-northwest is BMW service. Now below each point on the compass is another set of commands. BM W 's product com m unication manager Dave Buchko said that if each function of the iDrive has a but ton on the dash, there would be some thing like 550 buttons to push. Sound com plicated? Well, it looks daunting on paper and it does take some practice. I approached it like my son's Nintendo controller, except that it had only one button. After a minute or two to get used to the eight main functions, w ell it's like exploring 'Luigi's Mansion' game, if you get my drift. Each click o f the Controller takes you to a different location. More than a toy, iDrive described by BMW as a way to help the driver tackle the massive amount o f informa tion coming at him/her. If I have a concern about iDrive it's the fact that most o f the people who can afford this car will find mastering iDrive a task. My nine-year-old son is a Nintendo veteran and is used, as my wife says, to doing six things at once. He'd have iDrive down in minutes. Now BMW is the first to point out the car drives norm ally w ithout ever touching the iDrive, it's merely to fine tune information for the drive and pas sengers. It's a love-it or hate-it thing, but I'm also sure it is the future. Here's another BMW 745 mind boggier. The iDrive can use voice con trol to activate 270 functions and sub functions in the telephone, navigation and notebook systems. It all works with a simple on/off button on the steering wheel - amazing! But wait the system talks back in an intuitive way. For instance, when the system says "CD 6 not inserted" the same message appears on the screen o f the centre LCD display. There is so much technically excit ing about this car I could fill pages of this newspaper. G o to the BMW web site at www.BMW.ca if you have a moment to learn more. Another bravura feature is called Active Cruise Control (ACC) and it allows the driver to let the car keep an appropriate distance between him/her self and the car ahead and automati cally adjusts the speed to the flow of traffic without the driver having to turn the cruise off and on again or worry about accel/decel stalks. The 745i replaces the 7401 and while they share the same basic 4.4litre. 32-valve V8, the version in the 745i is considered "new" because of Shown on a Texas backroad, the 2002 BM W 745i has a new shape th a t envelopes what m ust be the m ost technologi cally advanced sedan on sale anyw here. how much it has been improved. The old engine produced 282 hp and 324 lb/ft o f torque. The "new" engine with leading-edge engine m anagem ent, variable valve timing and variable valve lift pumps that up to 325 hp and 330 lb/ ft of torque. W hat's significant is not 15 per cent more power, but the 14 per cent increase in fuel economy. Incidentally, the new V8 creates the same horsepower as the V12 unit in the current 750i that will be replaced next year with a 6-litre V12 as the 760i. The transmission is the world's first six-speed automatic. It is connected by com puter to the tiny shifter that offers park, neutral, reverse and drive. If desired, the drive can downshift using one o f two buttons on the steering wheel. The driver can also use iDrive to select the Automatic Hold feature. This holds hydraulic pressure on the four wheel brakes anytime the car comes to a stop. This not only elim i nates "creep," it is handy on a hill. To disengage the function just press on the gas. Speaking o f brakes, the 2002 745i has the largest and most powerful brakes ever fitted to a BMW. The fronts are 13.7-inch diameter ventilat ed discs and the rears are 13.6-inch diameter ventilated discs. On top o f this the car bristles with the latest han dling/braking leading edge aids like electronic brake proportioning, dynamic brake control, ABS, traction control and pitch and yaw control. Considering the road-going prowess o f the car. BMW has also worked with Harmon Kardon to pro duce what both parties believe is the best automotive stereo system in the world. The base unit has 10 speakers with 180 watts o f power and a single CD player. The optional Harmon Kardon Logic 7 system must be expe rienced to be appreciated. I don't say this lightly. This is one car I have to spend more time with as I just had time to scratch the surface during a ride-anddrive through the rolling hills o f west Texas. C o-driver Benoit C harest o f Montreal couldn't stop expounding about the power. Push down the gas pedal and very far away you could hear the engine, but there was also a thump as the power as the torque pushed us back in our seats. Talk about a sledge hammer of an engine in a vel vet glove, this is it. With the gear selector in drive, the transmission was seamless in gear changes and that includes under full acceleration. Benoit is no slouch when it comes to flinging a car through its paces, but he kept coming back to how subtle the car was in terms o f performance. "Look at that," he exclaimed as we passed a .65 mph speed limit sign on the highway. "It feels like we're doing 50 but I'm doing 85. I better slow down now." It was true. On back roads where 35-40 mph was posted, the 745i took that without a shrug at 60 mpg or with out so much as a chirp from the tires. The almost magical ability to cling to the road is by design. The 745i com es with ED C-C (E lectronic D am per C ontrol Continuous) which is an active sus pension system . The "Continuous" part means the shocks adjust perma nently and infinitely to road condi tions and the driving dynamics o f the chassis/driver. For those who want a little more sport or more comfort in their lives, they can use iDrive and go to the Configuration Menu and dial in what they want, leave it there, or go back to Continuous. But when it came to hitting the brakes, the warnings we had from the BMW folk about their effectiveness came to the fore. Under full-force braking that engages the dynam ic brake control (applies m axim um force), it is quite possible to throw yourself forward from the seat. O f course the system is designed to do this progressively, but now 1 know what those race car drivers on TV are talking about when they discuss mod em brake technology. And while it is a larger car in every way from the 2001 7401 (i.e. the trunk is 18 cu. ft. compared to the 12 cu. ft.), it didn't feelbig. That no doubt is due to the shape o f the car which while having a lower co-efficient o f drag, has more glass and much improved sight lines from inside. As you can see from the above, the new 7-Series is not only a BMW, it is an expression o f how and why the once tiny Bavarian firm has risen to the highest ranks. BMW is the master o f combining leading edge technology with engineering and then clothing it in a package that is at once chic and discerning. Not only is the new 745i and 745 Li a continuation o f that line, but I believe it does raise the bar in the pre mium luxury class - and raises it sig nificantly. The BM W 745i has two instrum ent panels. T he one on the front has regular functions like speed and revs. The centre one holds the LCD screen operated by the silvery rotary knob seen at the front of the centre console. This is the iD rive system th a t controls some 550 functions. Canada's Sports Leader www.worldofgolftv.com ACURA accenture > C LU 3LI MORE G O LF