BMW 7 Series E65/E66

The E65/E66 is the BMW 7 Series generation our specification records cover for US model years 2002–2008. Across that run EPA certified 23 versions of it for sale in America, under 6 trim names. It was sold as a sedan.

Dimensions are the figures the panel above does not carry. The E65/E66 measures 198.0 in · 5,029 mm to 203.5 in · 5,169 mm long, sits on a wheelbase of 117.7 in · 2,990 mm to 122.8 in · 3,119 mm and weighs 4,376 lb · 1,985 kg to 4,905 lb · 2,225 kg. Length and wheelbase come from Transport Canada, which measures every vehicle sold in North America; curb weight from the same source.

The generation did not stand still: the strongest version rose from 328 hp in 2002 to 438 hp in 2008. An E65/E66 from the first model year and one from the last are not the same proposition, which is worth remembering when a listing gives only the chassis code.

Set against the E38 that preceded it, the E65/E66 is 1.9 inches longer at the shortest version and 231 lb · 105 kg heavier at the lightest. Both figures are taken from the lightest and shortest version we hold for each, so they compare like with like rather than setting a base car against a loaded one.

Every version we hold under this code is rear-wheel drive. That matters on the used market more than it looks: which axles are driven changes the weight, the service list and the price, and the badge does not always say which you are looking at.

This archive holds 5 original US brochures covering the E65/E66, with the text of each one searchable. They are the source of the figures no government record collects — torque, acceleration and the equipment lists — and they are what BMW told American buyers at the time rather than what is said about the car now.

Gaps are left as gaps. We do not hold curb weight for 2 of the 23 and horsepower for 3, because Transport Canada does not publish a weight for every model and EPA began recording certified output usefully only in the late 1990s. A dash on this site means the figure is not in a source we can name, never that it is roughly the same as the row above.