Full-size luxury sedans like the 2019 BMW 7-Series are rolling first-class cabins, loaded with tech, draped in leather, paneled in wood—and that’s just the front seats.

The rear seats can be similarly opulent, and that’s probably the point.

For its standard and optional features, widescreen infotainment system, good warranty, and customization options, the 2019 7-Series would get a perfect 10—we take back a point for extra-cost Apple CarPlay after the first year and land at a 9. (Read more about how we rate cars.)

Next year’s 7-Series promises considerable advancements in features and tech but if the money’s burning a hole in your pocket, BMW has ways to take it now.

The base 740i costs about $84,000 and includes leather upholstery, 18-inch wheels, a moonroof, power-adjustable heated front seats, four-zone climate control, active safety features (that we cover above), premium audio, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a 10.1-inch touchscreen for infotainment, and power features.

At the top, the 2019 BMW M760i xDrive costs more than $157,000 and includes 20-inch wheels, performance goodies like rear-wheel steering and aerodynamic packages, and a hulking V-12 planted under the hood. It’s a scream.

We’d steer more toward serene with our options.

BMW offers a driver assistance package that can reduce driver fatigue in stop-and-go traffic and on long drives for $1,700. Check.

A $3,900 rear-seat luxury package offers a table in back for climate controls and infotainment, heated and cooled rear seats with massagers, and heated armrests. Check. (For $5,750 more on 750i versions, BMW can have the rear seats recline and add a footrest.)

And so on. The 7-Series coddles riders with options all the way up to softer Merino leather for $4,000, premium audio from Bowers & Wilkins for $3,400, even remote-controlled parking that can shimmy the big sedan in and out of tight spaces. The 7-Series doesn’t blink past $100,000 and few cars can match its opulence. BMW's standard warranty covers three years of maintenance, and includes a 4-year/50,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty that's better than most of its rivals.

But even at six figures, BMW does something no other automaker does: Ask owners to pay for Apple CarPlay every year, after the first year. BMW’s insistence on making owners “subscribe” to smartphone compatibility for $80 each year in a six-figure luxury sedan is a bridge too far for us.

BMW iDrive

Perhaps more than any other vehicle BMW makes, the 7-Series integrates every aspect of its iDrive infotainment system into the car’s tasks. The system is full of useful (and not-so-useful) redundancies, including a clickwheel controller, touchscreen, gesture controls, and steering wheel-mounted controls—and that’s just to change the radio station.

When equipped, in back the BMW 7-Series offers a touchscreen 7.0-inch tablet computer that also can control many of the car’s functions.

The system, and its included redundancies, isn’t one of our favorites from any automaker but it is one of the most comprehensive. BMW’s aligned with Microsoft for Outlook calendar integration and email, and the automaker’s updated mobile app is thorough and can notify others of the car’s arrival at a destination—even find an empty parking spot on the street.

It’s worth learning to understand all that it can do, even if we think it’s less intuitive that some rivals’ systems.

Review continues below