New 335is - speedometer ??

Just a quick question.....I have a 2012 335is and it seems the speedometer reads faster than I'm really going. The car came from Germany, do they calibrate them differently?

No, they're all like that. Mine reads about 3-5 mph fast, depending on speed.

Yes, dialed in that way from Germany...It's called saving your ass when you don't see the speed trap ahead! Though most of us do our best to negate it....

Across the fleet what it does is save BMW tens of millions in warranty claims and prematurely depreciates your car as it actually has 4-8% less mileage than is on your odometer.

Originally Posted by GVFlyer

Across the fleet what it does is save BMW tens of millions in warranty claims and prematurely depreciates your car as it actually has 4-8% less mileage than is on your odometer.

wrong.

Originally Posted by GVFlyer

Across the fleet what it does is save BMW tens of millions in warranty claims and prematurely depreciates your car as it actually has 4-8% less mileage than is on your odometer.

AS B-737 said, not true at all. While the speedometer must not read low - and seems to vary from about 1 to 5% high, the BMW odometer is usually spot on.

Tom

your car knows exactly how fast and how far its going...
search the forums...

you can have it coded out in a few minutes.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=516696

Originally Posted by B-737

wrong.

It was right with Honda and Nissan.

http://blogs.automotive.com/honda-ho...tion-1172.html

http://blogs.automotive.com/nissan-s...ings-1177.html

Originally Posted by GVFlyer

It was right with Honda and Nissan.

Except we're not talking about them.

BMW published a Service Information Bulletin on the subject over 15 years ago and it's still in effect. You can find it here on the forums with a little searching. The speedometer gauge may read -0 up to +10% + 4km/h (2.4 mi/h) of true speed. Plenty of them are far more accurate than that (I've been lucky, mine have all been ~1%).

Originally Posted by BMW SIB 62 02 96

NOTE: The amount of speedometer advance has no effect on recording
of accumulated mileage in the odometer display. The odometer records
total mileage digitally and does not incorporate any "advance"
tolerances.

I sometimes wonder whether the people who get worked up over this (not including you in that group) ever notice how much the accuracy varies over time—suggesting the advance really isn't such a bad idea in the first place. For example, as I said my speedo is almost dead-on (just under 1% high)—but only on new-ish summer tires. On a spent set of winters it's closer to 4% high, because the tires are significantly smaller. Both sets are BMW-recommended sizes per the owner's manual. Where it gets interesting is that 3% difference does affect the odometer, because it's a mechanical change not a display artifact.

Hmm, maybe I should sue Michelin & Bridgestone, to cover the mileage lost from my warranty coverage because their tires changed diameter as they wore out.

Originally Posted by Zeichen311

Except we're not talking about them.

BMW published a Service Information Bulletin on the subject over 15 years ago and it's still in effect. You can find it here on the forums with a little searching. The speedometer gauge may read -0 up to +10% + 4km/h (2.4 mi/h) of true speed. Plenty of them are far more accurate than that (I've been lucky, mine have all been ~1%).

I sometimes wonder whether the people who get worked up over this (not including you in that group) ever notice how much the accuracy varies over time—suggesting the advance really isn't such a bad idea in the first place. For example, as I said my speedo is almost dead-on (just under 1% high)—but only on new-ish summer tires. On a spent set of winters it's closer to 4% high, because the tires are significantly smaller. Both sets are BMW-recommended sizes per the owner's manual. Where it gets interesting is that 3% difference does affect the odometer, because it's a mechanical change not a display artifact.

Hmm, maybe I should sue Michelin & Bridgestone, to cover the mileage lost from my warranty coverage because their tires changed diameter as they wore out.

Interesting post. Let me know how the class action suit with Michelin and Bridgestone goes.

Originally Posted by Smoothg8r

Just a quick question.....I have a 2012 335is and it seems the speedometer reads faster than I'm really going. The car came from Germany, do they calibrate them differently?

It's a European Union regulation that the speedometer can never display a speed lower than the car is driving, so they can read up to 10% higher. There are more complete descriptions available by searching, but this is completely normal in a BMW.