Not necessarily an X3-related question, but ....

[sv1cec]

I am planning to get a new (used) BMW next week, it's going to be either an X3 (3.0d, 2005, about 120,000 km) or an 320d, 330d (late 2005 or 2006), or a 530d.

My question is:

Since it is quite common for the sellers in the country I am buying from (Bulgaria) to alter the mileage shown on the dashboard, is there a way to check the real mileage of the car, using the well-known programs? If yes, which one and where do I check it?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[petebmwm]

theres a tamper dot near the odometer, milage is stored in the cluster, the lcm, and the dme, if theres a dot near the milage read out then its been tampered with.

[Quicksilver]

Since it is quite common for the sellers in the country you're buying from (Bulgaria) to alter the mileage
i wouldn't go thru the hassle. I would find a legitimate vehicle with accurate milage.

[E38flagship]

There is no way to alter the mileage of an x3 and a lot of 95+ bmws unless you change the cluster to another doing so as stated above gives you the tamper dot the mileage is stored in a few different places one being the LCM the other being the DME I doubt the people selling you the car have the know how to do anything more than swap a cluster. There are programs out there that you yourself can remove the tamper dot and get the proper mileage back on your dash, that being said do you normal bmw inspection just like you would, because it's not the amount of mileage on the car it's the maintaince that's been done... You could get a car with 100,000 miles and it could require more repair than a 180,000 mile car