New guy: two ///M wagons; looking to add LCI E70 35i as well

[RedshiftX5]

Hey everyone, check out this month's Roundel for an article about my two home-built ///M wagons. I've been around the BMW scene for many years and am looking at trading in a Honda CR-V my mom gave me (she no longer wants to drive) for an E70 35i.

I found a friend of a friend selling one which fits my color combo needs perfectly but I want to be sure it's not missing any "must have" options. I used the decoder at bmwvin.com and it looks to be fairly well optioned but is that entire list of options shown what the car comes with, or is that just a list of all possible 2012 options?

Besides comfort access and heated seats and maybe an oil cooler (someone told me this only came on sport package vehicles?) I don't have any major needs - my other vehicles are 2002 and 2003 so even a 2012 is a huge upgrade in features (although my M5 touring does have an NBT installed).

Chime in on the LCI 35i for me?

Thanks,
Brian

[tconrad]

Sport seats at a minimum or comfort seats are even better. The base seats are flatter than a pancake.


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[ard]

Hey Buddy, long time....

The vin decoder should be only opions that car has. Not all possible. Do keep in mind that a base USA car will still have 30+ "options' on the vin decoder. And then there is the fact that BMW bundles many singualr options into on order code or order option. Like 'sport package'. The order guide lists this, it will show up on the window sticker, but you wont see it on the vin decode, instead here are 7 singlur codes that make up that package

I may have a pdf of the 2012 E70X5 order guides. (Mine is a 2012) I'll check

[RedshiftX5]

Originally Posted by ard

Hey Buddy, long time....

The vin decoder should be only opions that car has. Not all possible. Do keep in mind that a base USA car will still have 30+ "options' on the vin decoder. And then there is the fact that BMW bundles many singualr options into on order code or order option. Like 'sport package'. The order guide lists this, it will show up on the window sticker, but you wont see it on the vin decode, instead here are 7 singlur codes that make up that package

I may have a pdf of the 2012 E70X5 order guides. (Mine is a 2012) I'll check

5UXZV4C56CL749992

[ard]

Didnt need the vin. Here is the order guide....

Ive got the D.

[RedshiftX5]

Originally Posted by ard

Didnt need the vin. Here is the order guide....

Ive got the D.

You like the D, I heard. (Sorry - couldn't resist!)

So, this one happens to be a 12XG meaning no sport package or sport seats. I take it that's bad.

The VIN decoder doesn't show the packages or codes the same as what's listed in the PDF you posted. Why does it have to be complicated?

[RedshiftX5]

I think I may get a diesel now. They’re out there in my pricing range but impossible to know who to trust as far as sellers go.

[ard]

The work on diesels, if you are paying dealers, can be eye watering. But you can hack it... a few pricey things, but the community is figuring out more as time moves on.

Id stick with private party- you can't trust anyone, but private guys have lass practice lying, so easier to get a feel for BS.

[95blkmax]

Originally Posted by RedshiftX5

I think I may get a diesel now. They’re out there in my pricing range but impossible to know who to trust as far as sellers go.

The diesels are great. Most of the "known issues" with them are emission equipment-related. I know NC does emissions testing so you may want to research what options you have as far as modding a diesel in an emissions-testing state. When I was looking at them, I was not concerned as the top of my to-do list was to remove the emissions stuff (pig piss injection, DPF, EGR all to the bin).

Other than that, the only other issue they have (non-emissions related) are Glow Plug module, and the Footwell module (common to all BMWs around that same time period, but in some platforms BMW extended the warranty on this to 8yrs/125k miles, VIN-specific).

[RedshiftX5]

I think we’re ok here in NC for gutting but I’ll verify.