A somewhat less honorable way to stand out is to at first purposely hold back and then impressively show huge improvement. Has BMW done just that with its 7-series? Even though the new, fifth-generation 7-series follows suit as the technology pacesetter by adding a bunch of high-tech features including active suspension damping, rear-wheel steering, night vision with pedestrian detection, lane-change warning, and side-view cameras, the biggest news is BMW’s backpedaling from some of the previous 7’s, uh, “breakthroughs.” More below...

Last time around, BMW rethought the whole business of ergonomics and moved the shifter from the center console to a somewhat confusing lever on the column. It’s now been moved back. The seat controls on the previous 7 were moved to the center console and operated in a way that made them about 10 times more difficult to use. For ’09 they’re back on the outboard side of the seat and operate conventionally, just as on every other BMW.