7-seater, any good????

SimplyRed · Post by **SimplyRed** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:55 pm

After much persuasion I have mamaged to lure my old man into a BMW again, he has had many BMW's but only saloons.

So he should be picking up an E70 7-seater sometime this week, narrowed it down to about 3 cars.

The 7-seat option looks fantastic and so useful but I cant help but think that it must takle the edge off the driving experience surely????

Even if the 7 people are a very average 80kg's each with very mimal baggage, thats still the equivalent of a Smart Car or original MINI in board!!! I havent even taken into account any luggage or the cost of the extra 2 seats themselves.

I have driven a 7-seat Shogun that when loaded up just become horrible to drive, stopping distances become ridiculous, cornering becomes a very leany experience, discs get cooked, almost dangerous to drive at anything other than snails pace. I remember turning off a motorway exit at the same speed as normal and the whole thing went wobbly.

Can anyone confirm that this is or isnst the case?

Anyone have any experience of driving with 7-adults on board.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:49 pm

I would not put an adult in the rear pair. There's not much room. Luggage will be on the roof too. Not driven one fully laden, but when I looked at a 7-sweater, the rear pair looked to me like kiddies seats.

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 7:23 pm

I've got a 7 seater and can confirm, you're not going to put anyone much more than 5ft in the back

It's really a 5+2.

I did a journey recently with the car fully loaded in that config and couldn't tell the difference. With the rear seats up, there is virtually no boot space left other than for a couple of medium sized sports bags.

For me, I just thought there would be occasions when it would be really handy. If you need 7 seats regularly, I would look elsewhere.

Sanj · Post by **Sanj** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:52 pm

Never an adult passenger option in the back and heard the 7 seat options add some additional stability/bigger brakes option. Don't quote me on that but it was designed that way....

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:03 am

I should add, for a short journey you can get an adult in there. The second row seats can move forward a little and then you can make the seat back a little more upright to create more room for the third row. I'm 5'11" and I can get in there, but it would be for short journeys only!

I'm glad I chose to add it to the spec, but I had a good play at the dealers first so knew exactly what I was buying.

SimplyRed · Post by **SimplyRed** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:21 am

For long daytime journeys I reckon the kids would love it, for me personally the first thing that came to mind was less family orientated.....

.....when we have boys night out, we take it in turns to drive so others can drink, with this I'd only have to drive one in every seven nights out!!!

carsonr6 · Post by **carsonr6** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 11:05 am

I almost broke the missus' legs when she got in the back at the dealer.

Minda · Post by **Minda** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:09 pm

lol, would agree the 5+2 comment, have had 7 a few times but the smallest always end up in the back.

SimplyRed · Post by **SimplyRed** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:36 am

[quote=""Sanj""]Never an adult passenger option in the back and heard the 7 seat options add some additional stability/bigger brakes option. Don't quote me on that but it was designed that way....[/quote]

Hi Sanj,

I saw in another post of yours that you wrote that the 7-seater option adds 300lb. (136 kilos)

Is that a fact? Clearly that cant be just the weight of the 2 seats and mechanism etc. Thats got to include some serious extra reinforcement somewhere.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:26 am

It may change the rear suspension hardware to a bigger version and there would need to be reinforcement in both the floor and rear crush zones for additional protection in the event of a collision would be my guess.

Sanj · Post by **Sanj** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:26 pm

When mentioned to sales guy he wasn't surprised and said similar to X5Sport - not just the seats but additional support too.

Still a big weight added, hence mentioning fuel figures must be affected.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 3:14 pm

I just had a vision of a wee small lass driving with two er 'large' adults in Row 3 and no other passengers and the front wheels nearly airborne...

Now that could make for some interesting driving characteristics!

highintensity · Post by **highintensity** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 6:32 am

Are there any sources of leg room measurements for the three rows? Perhaps in comparison with other 7 seater cars/SUVs? If a standard economy airline seat has 30-31 inches of leg room, it would become easier to visualise how much room there actually is back there.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:08 am

I've had a look at both the brochure and Owners Manual and no figures are quoted. Searching on line hasn't found anything of much use either, other than persons of much over 5' will be very cramped even if you move the second row forward to give a little more room.

5wany · Post by **5wany** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:01 pm

Ok for people upto 5'2" over that gets a bit cramped.

Had my X since Dec 2011 used the seats twice, a good point is the second row move horizontally / slide and have a reclining function when 3rd option taken.

Its an expensive option at @1500 bucks but I aim to keep my X for a while and didn't want to be forced to sell if the family grew.

+ it adds prob Â£500 to resale values or so I'm told.

You also get a fan / air vent on/off switch on the centre consol of 3rd row.

XSeries-forum

XSeries-forum

7-seater, any good????

7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????

Re: 7-seater, any good????