Jason Woosey, in WUPPERTAL, GERMANY – The BMW X7 is certainly large and in-charge, not to mention luxurious, but as far as a certain German tuner called Manhart Performance is concerned, the seven-seat Beemer simply isn’t rough enough.
Enter the Manhart MHX7 650 Dirt Edition 2, which the company says was inspired by armoured military vehicles. While it’s not actually armoured, the Dirt Edition does feature a more sinister look as well as improved off-road ability thanks to the ground clearance having been raised by some 40mm.
This, Manhart says, allows for some ‘heavy-duty’ wheel and tyre combinations. On that note, the vehicle in the pictures is equipped with 20-inch Manhart ‘Black Rhino’ rims, featuring a beadlock design and shod with Coarse-tread Maxxis Bighorn MT-764 tyres.
Thanks to the modifications, Manhart says the vehicle can easily navigate through very stony or muddy terrain.
On the aesthetic front, the entire body of the X7 Dirt Edition 2 was wrapped in a custom design foil with matte black brushed surfaces and 3D rivet look.
But it doesn’t just look meaner, the Dirt Edition also gets a more powerful engine, with Manhart having tuned the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 to produce 478kW and 920Nm, up from the standard car’s 390kW and 750Nm.
To achieve this, the tuner not only tinkered with the software, but also installed an HJS downpipe and a stainless steel exhaust system with valve control.
“The BMW X7 is a true battleship: a 5.15-meter-long, 2.5-tonne boxy castle on wheels. Manhart Performance demonstrates that this noble luxury SUV can also be designed in a martial military look and prepared for rough off-road missions with the MHX7 650 Dirt Edition 2 shown here,” Manhart said.