Porsche will allow you to cover everything in leather or alcantara plus do deviated stitching lol. No hard plastics anywhere - unfortunately its not cheap.

I sat in a bunch of new cars at NY auto show and most had really cheap interior plastics especially all the EVs. The only make that was impressive was Genesis.

You would think BMW would take some lessons from Rolls Royce and offer more luxurious interiors instead they are putting fake leather on even their higher priced models like 5 Series and X5. I guess fake wood is next. I remember the days when ppl would laugh at this type of stuff but now ppl just accept cost cutting.

 

X7 is not really a flagship imo - its X5 plus.
The interiors are identical and you really don’t get additional luxury features / materials as you would going from 5er to 7series.

The XM should have been the flagship but its a complete mess of a design and execution.

 

All the money is going into safety tech/engineering. People like you and me (even though I can't afford cars like a 7-series brand new lol) may value top-notch interior materials, the majority of customers would gladly settle on imitation leather and hard plastics as long as there is apple carplay and adjustable steering, or whatever it is. Just the way things are now.

 

$3,500 for that particular wood trim all over the interior. You can’t get wood on the wheel at all with that trim.

 

OK...that's a little more reasonable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SW17LS

You can’t get wood on the wheel at all with that trim.

And, as for wood on the steering wheel, I like the look of it, but not the feel....too hard and unyielding. it's hard to beat a good leather or vinyl grip.

 

I like the wood on the wheel.

 

Even with its hard and unyielding feel? Like I said, it's hard to beat a nice leather or vinyl grip. That's one reason why you don't see wood-rim wheels in most modern racing cars.

 

The X7 came out well before the XM and while I agree maybe calling it the flagship was reaching a bit, it was the largest and most luxurious SUV they had for a while with more luxurious features than the X5. I just would’ve expected more especially when you option full merino leather vs extended merino leather.

Real question, in the X5 could you get full merino leather, night vision, ambient air, rear seat entertainment, crystal controls, massaging seats, soft close doors etc?

 

The A8 has always been a very restrained and conservative car no matter which generation were talking about relative to contemporaries. I'm not surprised at all some think it's plain when they haven't driven one

 

Its not a racing car, it’s a luxury car lol. I like the look of the wood wheel and I like the feel of it as it slides through my hands. I’ve been driving cars with wood wheels for 25 years, I would miss it for sure.

XM has a lot of cheap plastic inside. I thought the interior was extremely disappointing. The new 7 is MUCH nicer inside.

Real question, in the X5 could you get full merino leather, night vision, ambient air, rear seat entertainment, crystal controls, massaging seats, soft close doors etc?[/QUOTE]

Im pretty sure you can get everything on the X5 you can get on the X7.

 

Except totally out drive them.....

 

I don’t agree with that, at least not in the current iterations. These chassis are superior to the D5 A8. That car rides very well and it’s very quiet, but it doesn’t feel nearly as well balanced nor does it have the surprising handling capability the 222 or 223 S Classes have or the G12 7 (inhavent driven the G70 yet)

 

I had no idea, learn something new every day. That’s pretty luxurious for a mid level SUV (except for the fact that there is no carpet on the side of the footwell).

 

Haha, there’s always a trade off. Same with the GLE vs GLS. Those vehicles have hard plastic lower door panels that are bit nearly as nice as the padded materials in those areas on the X5 and X7

 

Disagree on that fully these days. The W223 S-class and G70 7-series surpass the D5 A8 in all areas in my experience.

I enjoyed the sporting personality of the D4 but then it’s ride quality didn’t match the W222 S-class. That was actually my favorite large Audi to date. I very nearly bought a S8 at one point.