WHEN it comes to luxury there's no doubting BMW knows a thing or two, as most enthusiasts will tell you.

But with its new flagship 7-Series Saloon long wheelbase model the German luxury car maker has excelled itself.

The standard 7-Series Saloon is spacious but the long wheelbase model offers the ultimate in rear seat luxury, with an additional 140mm of legroom to allow those passengers in the back to really stretch out.

But it's not just about space. Rear seat passengers travelling in the car I sampled had the added luxury of individual Comfort seats, which meant electrical adjustment for the seat back angle and the seat itself. What's more the seats - just like those in the front - were heated.

Fine Nappa leather in ivory and black together with high gloss ash wood inserts all added to the executive image of this luxury limousine.

The new chassis on the car has been fine tuned for a greater degree of comfort and agility with the self-levelling air suspension on the back axle providing insulation from the road surface.

Under the bonnet was BMW's 3.0-litre TwinPower turbo straight-six diesel engine producing 258bhp, enough to propel the car along in silence with plenty of power to spare while always achieving sensible fuel consumption.

In fact, thanks in part to the super efficient eight-speed automatic gearbox and the stop/start system the 730Ld will average more than 50 miles per gallon, which for such a large car is pretty impressive.

Motorists who want more dynamic acceleration can use the gearshift in Sport and even change gear manually for more hands-on motoring.

The car also offers owners other choices. Using the Drive Performance Control you can switch from Eco Pro at one end - for more environmentally friendly driving - to Sport Plus at the other for really enthusiastic motoring. In between there are two Comfort settings and another Sport setting.

The control alters everything from accelerator and engine response to the behaviour of the power steering and the automatic gearbox.

In fact this car is packed with features for the gadget and gizmo freak, but by far my favourite was the head up display, which projects your speed readout into the windscreen.

It means you constantly know what speed you are doing without ever having to take your eyes off the road to look at the speedometer. It's a safety feature all cars should have.

Other features on board included surround view cameras as well as reversing cameras, self-closing doors, automatic boot opening and a rear seat entertainment system at £2,370 featuring two large DVD screens for passengers in the rear seats.

In fact in total the options came to almost £23,000. Which just shows, if you have the money BMW is certainly able to help you spend it.