Last Friday, BMW announced that it was releasing a limited series of 15 760Li Sedans in the United States to commemorate 25 years since the company built its first V-12 engine L series cars. By Monday afternoon, all had been snapped up at an eye-watering price of US$159,695 each.
The “V-12 25 Years Edition” 760Li is decked out in BMW Individual Champagne Full Merino Leather and black piping, while the black floor mats and rear footrests are trimmed in Champagne color. The door sills, headrests and iDrive controllers all carry “V-12 25 Years Edition” badges and the special editions also have such extras as a Rear Seat Entertainment with iDrive control; A, B and C pillars in black leather and BMW Individual Piano Black Wood trim.
Under the bonnet, the “V-12 25 Years Edition” is still a 760Li. With a curb weight of 5015 pounds (2274.77 kg) and a V-12 48-valve 6-liter engine with twin turbochargers and direct injection that blow out 535 bhp (399 kW) and 550 foot-pounds (745 Nm) of torque, it isn’t surprising to learn that the 760Li has an eight-speed gearbox and that it’s the biggest, most powerful and most expensive car that BMW makes. It does 0 to 60 mph (100 kph) in 4.5 seconds and has a limited top speed of 130 mph (209 kph) – or 155 mph (249 kph) for the M Sport package. Delimited, it can would reach a top speed of 188 mph (302 km).
Inside, the 760Li has an array of mod cons like massage seats, rear seat televisions, side and top view cameras on the mirrors and front bumper for more visibility, a Heads Up display and ventilated seats. It also has a multi-link aluminum double-wishbone front suspension and integral-V aluminum multi-link rear suspension that go with the traction, steering and roll control and stabilizing systems.
All this is very luxurious, but to show that the BMW engineers are slightly mad, the 760Li has a Sport button that speeds up gear changes and throttle response and the traction control can be turned off. It strikes us as a bit like building a Rolls Royce for drag racers, but perhaps there be bankers and stockbrokers out there who want a bit of tire smoke to go with their commute.
Source: BMW
Those prices people are talking about overseas are hard to believe, but the price and demand thing even works here in the U.S. I could buy an older 700 series BMW when I lived in L.A. for 2 or 3 thousand. Here in little Akron, OH where there aren't hundreds of them available, the exact same used car might run $10k. I should buy them in LA and bring them here to sell.