Hot Take: The E65/66 is the best generation of 7-series

Yes you read that right, my hot take is that I believe the E65/66 generation of 7-series is the best. I know this is a wildly unpopular opinion, so please save your comments and pitchforks until the end. Out of the 7 generations of 7-series spanning half a century, what is it about the most notorious generation that leaves such a mark on me? I’ll do my best to explain why.

Picture this, it’s September 2001 at the Frankfurt auto show. You’re a successful businessperson who always prefers the finer things in life. Grey Poupon opposed to Gulden’s, champagne compared to sparkling wine, BMW to Mercedes. Your lease on your outgoing E38 is coming to an end and you’re excited for the unveiling of its successor, the E65/66. The covers come off and BAM! Suddenly, buying out your older E38 doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. This was in fact how it actually played out in real time. Sales of the E38 jumped at the end of its life due to the extreme negative reception of the E65/66. This is fascinating to me and very rare within the auto industry.

The 4th generation 7-series changed the landscape not only for BMW, but premium luxury sedans as a whole. To start, the design was extremely forward thinking. So much so that even 25 years after its release I would say it holds up extremely well. Chris Bangle (the lead designer at the time) made use of “flame surfacing” which is meant to mimic human and fabric forms, a polarizing difference for the conservative lines of the E38. The infamous “Bangle-Butt”, the name given to the long trunk, was also a result of this “flame surfacing”. This trend found its way onto now popular models such as the E60 5-series and the E85 Z4. Now, BMW understood just how polarizing this design was and severely tamed the design with the LCI (life-cycle impulse for all non-BMW people). While more polished, I find the pre-LCI oddly charming and continuously sway back and forth on which I prefer.

The drama doesn’t start and end on the exterior, the interior is equally as guilty. The main culprit being the iDrive. Yes, BMW’s famous infotainment found its genesis here in the E65/66. The world was introduced to a labyrinth of menus that were more confusing than Ikea furniture instructions and a little rotary knob to help control it all. This was unheard of in 2001 and frightened a lot of people. The tech revolution was beginning and many accused BMW of moving away from its driver focused roots. Even the dash was no longer angled towards the driver, a staple of all BMWs for decades before. More firsts include the removal of a metal key for an electric fob, moving the gear selector from the console to the column, and ditching the manual parking brake for an e-brake. All these changes were a lot for BMW loyalists and further cemented the negative connotation.

For all intents and purposes, I’ll only talk about the US models regarding power plants. The E65/66 was released in two flavors, the 745i/750i with the N62 V8, and the 760i with the N73 V12. The 4.4L N62 was good for 329hp in the 745i and was upgraded to 4.8L and 362hp in the 750i. The top of the line 760i, came with a 6L V12 capable of 439hp. Each trim was available in a long wheelbase option offering extra rear legroom, a trend started with the 2nd-generation E32. My favorite is the elusive LCI E65 760i with the V12 and a short wheelbase. Unfortunately, this is also the rarest with about 250 made for the US market, so finding one will prove to be tough.

Yet, despite all these firsts and controversies, I am enamored with the E65/66. Love it or hate it, I sincerely appreciate design risks and evolutionary design. I find the thought behind ideas and decisions fascinating for striving to push the envelope. The leap from the E38 to the E65/66 was monumental, perhaps the biggest in its 100+ year history, and helped propel BMW further into the modern era. This is accentuated with the state-of-the-art technological advancements (for the time). The E65/66 acted as a tech playground for BMW, challenging its competitors and setting up the future for all subsequent models across the range. The E65/66 continues to face scrutiny and this is reflected in its values as they can often be found for under $10k.

With all the odds stacked against it, it still stands out as my favorite. I am thankful for its contributions to the brand and for continuing to defy the adversity the community gives it. It’s fun and admirable to take risks and to be bold, especially in a world that’s dominated by copy and paste. I’m such a sucker for under-appreciated cars. If everyone collectively hates something, it not only entices me more but I start to love it as a result. Call it my personification of inanimate objects or whatever you may, but a dark horse is a great tee up for an underdog story. Shoutout to the E65/66!

Hot Take: The E65/66 is the best generation of 7-series

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