BMW used to be near the forefront of automotive electrification, especially back when the initial i3 was launched in 2011. However, they are now somewhat trying to play catchup with the issue of having to uphold their "Ultimate Driving Machine" slogan, while also having to build big, heavy, and comfortable luxury EVs. The upcoming i7 electric luxury sedan was spied running some last-minute testing laps around the Nurburgring to make slight adjustments before customer deliveries begin this fall, and it does not look all that great.

"Ultimate Driving Machine" huh?

A recent video from CarSpyMedia shows two un-camouflaged G70 7-series BMWs at least attempting to haul around the 'Ring. Since there were two of them and they both have different paint schemes, we believe at least one of them is powered by electricity.

From the angles in the video, you get a great sense of how not-at-home the i7 and 7-series are on track. As they belt around the green hell you can see the entire travel of the suspension as the massive bulk visually heaves from side to side.

This leaves one side looking like the suspension has collapsed altogether and the other side looking like it just got fitted with the suspension of a Baja 1000 off-road race truck. Of course, this would be down to the massively heavy lithium-ion batteries that are built into the i7 and result in a curb weight of about 5,917 pounds.

However, on the straights, the models appear to be moving rather quickly, until they have to brake for the corner, which they start doing quite early.

Judging an i7 by its track performance seems a bit unfair

The i7 and gasoline-powered 7-series are not meant to ever see the tarmac of a race track, but instead to drive effortlessly over countless miles of highway. Going off that, the i7 has an unofficial driving range of about 300 miles and a maximum charging power of 195 kilowatts on a DC fast charging station, which in turn fills up the 101.7 kWh of usable battery space. Two electric motors produce a combined maximum output of 536 horsepower and 549 pound-feet of torque.

In terms of pricing, the cheapest G70 7-series is the 740i which starts at $94,295. It's powered by a 48-volt hybrid assisted turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six that maxes out at 375 horsepower. That should be plenty of power as BMW claims a 0-60 mph time of about 5 seconds.

If you want the i7, you'll have to pay at least $120,295, where as the cheapest V-8 7-series, the 760i xDrive, starts at $114,995 and maxes out at 536 horsepower from a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 along with the same 48-volt hybrid system. BMW says that is good enough for a 0-60 mph time of 4.2 seconds.