VOTY 2020//Luxury Sedan of the Year – BMW 7 Series
The luxury sedan class is a segment that has long been held in high regard by many in the automotive community. It houses many of the most aspirational nameplates. Many brands will deliver their best equipment and technologies in luxury sedans and it’s always exciting to see. This year, it was not a new model but a facelift that caught our attention – the BMW 740Le.
The New BMW 740Le xDrive Pure Excellence sets a new benchmark in riding comfort and driving experience, thanks to the advanced chassis design. It incorporates an intelligent mix of aluminium, high-strength steel and a body structure benefitting from magnesium and carbon reinforcements (Carbon Core).
The new BMW 7-Series arrives as standard with Dakota leather upholstery, available in five different colours. A choice of six colour variants is offered for the optional Exclusive Nappa leather upholstery with extended appointments (standard for the BMW M760Li xDrive), while Exclusive Nappa leather with extended quilting is now available as a further option. The extensive, three-dimensional surface structure which is found on the front and rear seat cushions and backrests, the armrests integrated in the door trim and the centre console gives the interior an expressive and harmonious feel.
Whether you’re sitting in the rear or in the driver’s seat there’s something to enjoy. With the facelift, BMW give us a plug-in hybrid with a 3-litre 6-cylinder petrol motor. This really delivers where the previous model could not. Yes, it may cost the company some corporate sales, with much more expensive annual road tax rates, but the fans should be happy with this return to form in the 7 family.
BMW 7 Series Specifications
Engine: 6-cylinder Twin Scroll Turbo Petrol, Electric Motor
Capacity: 2998cc
Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic Transmission
Max Output: 282bhp @ 5000rpm (113hp electric)
Max Torque: 450Nm @ 1500rpm (265Nm electric)
0-100km/h: 5.1 seconds
Top Speed: 250km/h
Price: RM594,800
About the VOTY Awards 2020
The Vehicle of the Year (VOTY) Awards is sponsored by Allianz Malaysia Berhad and is judged by Daniel Sherman Fernandez, Ross Hadi, Amirul Mukminin and Subhash Nair from Drive Safe and Fast (dsf.my) and GohedGostan.com.
The selection process is simple and clean. All cars launched in Malaysia within 13 months of our cutoff date are eligible for entry. We contact all car brands officially operating in Malaysia and ask them for test cars for each of our judges. There’s no participation fee, no tables to buy, no package deals — nothing. Any judge who drives an eligible car gets to vote for it. A simple majority is all it takes for a vehicle to win in a given category.
The categories are kept as consistent as possible from year-to-year with some modifications when a certain category is not adequately represented or is over-represented in that particular year. You can view the categories over the years by looking through our “VOTY” tab on the dsf.my page.
Our title sponsor Allianz recognises the integrity of our team and all players involved in deciding on winners and leaves all decisions to us regarding the winners. We hope our readers appreciate the efforts of all parties involved and provide us with feedback on how we can further improve on this.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to postpone our VOTY awards presentation and have instead decided to stream it LIVE on facebook and youtube. This would make VOTY the first automotive awards show to be streamed live in ASEAN as far as we can tell.
About the Author
Subhash Nair Written work on dsf.my. @subhashtag on instagram. Autophiles Malaysia on Youtube.
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