One Of The Worst Cars For Retirees Has One Major Drawback

Unless you have the retirement savings of a top net worth individual, the price alone is a good reason to avoid buying a new BMW 7 Series. Starting at $98,475, Bankrate's car calculator estimates a BMW 7 Series sedan would cost someone a $1,000 down payment and $1,817.23 a month to pay the car loan off over 60 months. Since financial experts at GOBankingRates advise that consumers should avoid spending over 10% of their earnings on car payments each month, you'd need somewhere around $218,068 a year in retirement benefits to afford a BMW 7 Series. That is far more than the average net worth of someone who can afford a new Audi A6 luxury car.

But let's say you are a retiree who has access to that kind of money. If you aren't tech savvy or an ultra-focused driver, experts say you should still steer clear of the BMW 7.

Michael T. Gibson, an Orlando-based car accident attorney, told GOBankingRates that the iDrive system's "layered menus" and the car's multipronged controls can "turn simple tasks like turning on the AC or the radio into eyes-off-road scavenger hunts." That can cause distracted driving, which can be a huge problem for a senior citizen driver who might be experiencing slowed reactions and creeping problems with their hearing or vision.

The BMW 7's complex technology could also confuse some retired drivers. The 2023 BMW 7, for example, has nearly 70 inches of screens in its interior, an electrically controlled steering gear selector, and an electric parking brake — and that's just a few of its tech features. Later models haven't gotten any less complicated, so learning the ins-and-outs of any recent BMW 7's controls can take a while. 

The reliance on high tech can also lead toward breakdowns. As Alan Gelfand, owner of the South Florida repair shop German Car Depot, warned GOBankingRates, "BMW's move toward complex electronics with iDrive, active roll stabilization and electronically controlled damping increases the number of points of failure."

It costs $15,991 on average to maintain and repair a BMW of any model in its first 10 years of service, which CarEdge reports is $4,007 higher than the average for other luxury brands. But a car's value can also depreciate very quickly after purchase — iSeeCars reports a BMW 7's resale value depreciates 66.4% after five years. In comparison, the average large luxury vehicle drops by 60.1% in that time while the average sedan falls by 42.8%. Still, iSeeCars reports depreciation tends to slow down after five years, so retirees may want to find out if buying a used luxury car is worth it.