Best BMW VIN decoder I've seen yet

There are a few ways to pull this info, some free, some not, and most a PITA. But this one at BMW Russia is dead-nuts simple. Give'r a go...

http://www.rubmw.ru/vincode/eng/

Very detailed and dead nuts accurate for my car right down to the options an upholstery.

Thanks!

Thanks for posting. Just pulled mine up.

Complete description of car and options but horsepower is underrated unless the europeans use a different method for measuring: my '08 535i has 300 hp vs. 225 reported; my '03 Z4 3.0i has 225 hp vs. 170 reported and my '07 750i has 360 hp vs. 270 reported.

Nice that your production date is included too... since I always celebrate my cars' birthdays.

Originally Posted by GeorgeT

Complete description of car and options but horsepower is underrated unless the europeans use a different method for measuring: my '08 535i has 300 hp vs. 225 reported; my '03 Z4 3.0i has 225 hp vs. 170 reported and my '07 750i has 360 hp vs. 270 reported.

The European numbers are Kilowatts

Here is a converter site:
http://calculator-converter.com/conv...calculator.php

The discrepancies in engine output is because the the US market measures in hp and the European/Asia standard is in kilowatts (kW). The power conversion is approx 1 hp = 0.746 kW.

I was a bit confused myself when my dealership gave me a print out of my '00 M Roadster's description and options; the printout stated the engine output was around 179 instead of 240. But thank goodness I paid attention in high school physics many many years ago to realize the possible reason for the difference

Great to know what options were fitted at manufacture, especially when the vehicle went from the States to Japan and is now in Thailand! Downloaded a manual, but was wondering what of the options were fitted. Now I know. Thanks for the post.

Andrew

That is pretty cool!!

Great decoder! I noticed it stated that my car had "Hardtop-Preparation" Just how prepared would that be?

BK85

Great after I looked up both vehicles, Boris and Natasha called and want to know if I know where Moose and Squirrel are located.

:-)

Steve

Finally! Thanks for posting this! It is exactly what I've been looking for. It's nice that you only have to enter the serial number portion of the VIN and it gives you all the details. It's amazing to me that BMW doesn't make this information readily available to it's customers. No, instead we have to go to a Russian website to find it. Thanks again!

Thanks for posting. Great info. I'm saving my results as a pdf for future reference.

And thanks for the explanation of US horsepower vs EU kilowatts

It's interesting that it's a Russian domain name, however, the server is in Germany. Just a curiosity. This leads me to believe the info is coming directly from a BMW database in Germany. Nice

Might be a dumb question but what is Telematics access request,country-spec?

Originally Posted by BK85

Great decoder! I noticed it stated that my car had "Hardtop-Preparation" Just how prepared would that be?

BK85

Might mean that your car was originally ordered with the hardtop. Do you have a rear windscreen defog button in the back portion of the console?

I checked it out and it seems pretty accurate except that it showed my upholstery code as LSSW. I have the Extended Leather and that's code LTSW.

Can anyone tell me this means:

Drive: HECK

ETA: Never mind, now it shows the upholstery code correctly as VL WALKNAPPA/SCHWARZ (LTSW)

Originally Posted by SD Z4MR

Can anyone tell me this means:

Drive: HECK

I think it means you have rear wheel drive.

My 1997 M52 2.8 says "Special Motor" code S961A. wonder what that means? I think my car has an aluminum block which was unique to the Z3

Pulled mine up and it was right on. Thanks for sharing. I'm trying to find out if I can hook my iphone up to mine, if I need mods and what mods if I do need them. Mines a 2004 545i prod date 2/3/04 if anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it.

Originally Posted by amancuso

Might mean that your car was originally ordered with the hardtop. Do you have a rear windscreen defog button in the back portion of the console?

Nope.

Originally Posted by Blue57

Finally! Thanks for posting this! It is exactly what I've been looking for. It's nice that you only have to enter the serial number portion of the VIN and it gives you all the details. It's amazing to me that BMW doesn't make this information readily available to it's customers. No, instead we have to go to a Russian website to find it. Thanks again!

Dude, you know those Russians and their intel...

How long until I can use this vin site? My car went into production yesterday and my number isn't pulling up any results.

So does production date mean the date it was started or the date it was finished? Mine showed 09/11 as production date

Mine has this "Interior/outside mirror with auto dip"

Does everyone's show that too ? I know it doesn't dip, got me interested, can I get dipping ?

Originally Posted by rsutoratosu

Mine has this "Interior/outside mirror with auto dip"

Does everyone's show that too ? I know it doesn't dip, got me interested, can I get dipping ?

If it's like my E46, whether it auto-dips or not depends on where you have the switch set to control the side mirrors. I *think* you set it to control the passenger side mirror, and it will auto-dip. If you're already set that way, try the opposite.

Originally Posted by PhillyNate

Might be a dumb question but what is Telematics access request,country-spec?

Probably BMW Assist (here in the States)--would be my guess