The seats are supportive and comfortable, and swathed in beautiful leather. They adjust every which way (14 ways standard, 20 ways optional) and in some ways automatically: the headrests, for example, change height automatically according to the position of the seat. To adjust the seats, press one of the metaphoric buttons on the side of the center console telling the system what you want to adjust, then move a separate knob to adjust it. Optional Active Seat Ventilation cools the seats in the summer by blowing air through micro-perforations; leather trim in other areas of the car is perforated to complement this option.

The rear seats of the 745i are comfortable and roomy. Waterfall LED atmosphere lighting inside the C-pillars adds to the elegance of the rear seats. Rear Comfort Seats are available for the 745Li that offer 14-way power adjustments; the front passenger's seat can be adjusted from the right rear seat's power controls. Power rear and side sunshades are available. An rear-seat iDrive system controller will be available in later models.

When underway, the cabin is whisper quiet. The only sound we could hear while driving the 745i over San Antonio's busy freeways was the tires whacking over expansion joints or humming across grooved concrete. Sound is wonderfully deadened inside, making conversation easy and pleasant.

The quiet cabin provides a perfect environment for a superb stereo that delivers crisp highs, sharp bass, and clear mid-range tones. BMW's optional Logic 7 Premium Sound Package ($1800), developed by Harman Kardon's Lexicon, is truly sensational. Unless you have a state-of-the-art stereo at home, you'll hear things in your favorite songs you've barely noticed before, crisp snare drum beats, sparkling vocals. An in-dash CD player and a multi-disc CD changer are provided. It offers seven channels of sound with a multitude of speakers including a pair of subwoofers BMW ingeniously integrated into the chassis itself.

The 7 Series provides multiple compartments for storing things. The center console is split down the middle to create a pair of leather access lids. Ours was filled with CD storage, a cellular telephone and the owner's manual, and we couldn't help thinking it would be preferable to eliminate the CD storage and put the owner's manual someplace else. Likewise, much of the space in the elegantly designed glove box was taken up with the CD changer. I'd almost prefer putting the CD changer in the trunk or eliminating it altogether in favor of more storage. The single in-dash CD player doesn't add much to the otherwise beautiful 7 Series interior and the volume knob is on the small side, but it works well and sounds great.

Cellular telephones, an important part of our daily lives nowadays, are brilliantly integrated into the 7 Series. Simply pull your cellphone out of your jacket pocket or purse, plug it into the pre-wired coiled phone cord in the center console and the 7 Series will re-charge its battery. But here's where it gets better: press a small panel on the dash just to the right of the steering wheel and out pops a keypad that's easy to punch with your right hand; this keypad operates your phone. The 7 Series maintains a database of important numbers that are displayed on the dash. If you'd rather use voice commands, press a button and tell the 7 Series to phone home, or check your voicemail, or call the office.

BMW's voice-activated system works reasonably well for people willing to take the time to learn how to use it and program it. Our take on it is that we'd likely use it for a few key features, like calling home, checking voice mail, switching among two or three favorite radio stations. It'll do much more for those willing to invest some time in it, however. To use it, press the SVS button and give it a command. A key command to remember is "Options" because that will cause the system to call out a list of recognized commands you can use: "Radio on." The radio turns on. "106.7." It switches to FM 106.7. You can also tell it to play CD track number five. You can really impress someone with it even if you only set it up to do a few key functions.

What really separates the 7 Series from other cars is its embrace of technology. We thought the Mercedes-Benz S-Class was loaded with technology, but this new BMW takes it to new levels. It approaches the operation of a computer closer than any other major production car we've seen.

It takes a little familiarization to know how to start a BMW 7 Series sedan, release the parking brake, back out of the driveway, and take off. To start the car, insert the key, which isn't a traditional key, and press the start button next to the key slot. Press another button to release the electronically controlled parking brake. To shift into reverse, pull the small lever toward you, then snick it down into drive. The shifter works more like a switch or an electronic stalk than a mechanical shifter because it is, indeed, an electronic controller. You control the transmission electronically, "by wire," as there is no direct mechanical connection between the transmission selector stalk and the transmission. To shift into drive, stop, pull the little lever toward you and switch it down. It takes quite a bit of practice to do this as quickly as a traditional shifter as I found out while trying to make a quick Y-turn on a street in downtown San Antonio. But once mastered, it may end up being quicker and less troublesome than a traditional mechanical shifter, which often requires that the driver look down when shifting among reverse, neutral, and drive to ensure the proper gear is selected. To return to park, simply press a button on the end of the stalk and it shifts into park no matter what gear you were in before. Shut the engine off by pressing the start/stop button. Adjusting to this takes a little while, maybe a day, maybe longer. But we think the biggest hassle will be when the car is loaned to someone else. It's possible some owners will grow tired of explaining how to operate it to valets, parking lot attendants and car wash jockeys, not to mention spouses and anyone the car is loaned to. Teenagers and 20-somethings, on the other hand, will likely quickly figure it out as they adapt to technology much more quickly than those of us in our 40s and 50s.

This brings us to BMW's iDrive system, which takes automotive operation closer to that of a computer than we've ever gone before. BMW's iDrive system is controlled by a round silver knob on the center console. The knob can be pushed in one of eight directions to change modes, such as temperature, entertainment, navigation, communication. The knob is turned to select different options on the selected menu. Using the system takes a fair amount of practice and you'll probably need to do some reading to fully exploit it. In the meantime, it can raise frustration levels. For example, I never could figure out how to call up a map in spite of considerable effort. Some reading would solve this problem, but I would have been happier if the system was a little more intuitive.

A split screen in the upper center dash area displays all kinds of information depending on the mode selecting by the iDrive. It's an attractive display, which can be customized according to owner preferences. But it's not ideal: I found the temperature readout nearly impossible to read while wearing polarized sunglasses.

Many of the controls on this car simply do not operate in the traditional manner so there is a learning curve associated with them. For example, I struggled to operate the turn signals and windshield washer and wipers. I could get them to work, but initially I had trouble operating them elegantly. Say I wanted to signal a lane change, then turn off the signal, then turn it right back on to signal an actual turn. Turning it off momentarily signals the driver behind that I am performing two maneuvers in succession, so that the other driver doesn't think I simply neglected to cancel the signal after changing lanes. I had trouble with this in the BMW, often signaling the opposite direction when trying to cancel out the signal, until I learned that a light touch in either direction was what was needed to cancel it. It's difficult to figure this out when traveling a hundred miles per hour.

Optional Park Distance Control ($700), a feature superbly executed in BMW's X5, has been taken to a new level in the 7 Series with a graphic display. Sensors in the front and rear bumpers detect objects near the car and beep with increasing frequency as you get closer. A solid tone means you're almost touching. Different tones for the front and rear greatly assist the driver in parking in tight locations and can help the driver from accidentally backing over something, such as a child, that cannot be seen from inside the car. The 7 Series takes this a step further by displaying a pictograph of the car enveloped in color that graphically displays the distance and location of the offending object. It sounds like a gadget, but it is a practical feature that adds convenience to your everyday life and could someday prevent an annoying or even tragic accident.

Because the iDrive system eliminates so many switches and knobs, the dash of the 7 Series looks clean and elegant.