YouTubers have the tendency to shoot videos of powerful sports cars going at full tilt on the Autobahn, but not in this case. It’s a big and heavy BMW 7 Series with a diesel engine, specifically an E65 in the 730d specification. A 2004 model, the fullsize luxury sedan has been extensively used throughout the years as the speedometer is showing over 503,000 kilometers (nearly 313,000 miles). It’s been well taken care of in the 18 years that have passed since it rolled off the assembly line.
Being an early example of the E65, it has the less powerful version of the M57 engine (codename M57D30TU). The turbodiesel inline-six with a 3.0-liter displacement was rated at 215 hp (160 kW) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) before the updated version arrived in 2005. The M57D30TU2 pushed the output to 228 hp (170 kW) and 520 Nm (384 lb-ft) to shave off two-tenths of a second from the sprint to 100 km/h (62 mph) by taking 7.8 seconds.
This generation of the 7 Series was the first BMW production car with the iDrive infotainment system. One would argue its infamous “Bangle Butt” hasn’t aged badly and it’ll be interesting to see what people will say in 20 years about the latest G70 with its quirky front fascia. The E65’s styling was totally different than the E38 it replaced, and while this particular car isn’t in mint condition, it doesn’t look half bad given its age and mileage.
We get to see the 730d being pushed to the maximum on an unrestricted section of the German highway. The driver managed to raise the speedometer’s needle all the way up to 240 km/h (149 mph), but the GPS-verified velocity was slightly lower, at 235 km/h (146 mph).
Lest we forget the E65 era also had a V8 diesel engine with plenty of more punch for the M67-powered 745d, but this inline-six provided more than adequate performance for the typical 7 Series customer.
Source: Petrolhead Number One / YouTube
