South African 330xi? News to me...

3088 Views 21 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Ack, Apr 3, 2002

pres330xi

Discussion Starter · Mar 26, 2002

So I finally hunted down my elusive salesman to get my production code. I ordered a few months ago, but told him I wanted delivery for May 1st. I was pleasantly surprised to track my car via Owner's Circle and find it "en route." Then I began to be suspicious...

En Route already? Hmmmm. I then checked the production venue via E46Fanatics FAQ, only to discover there is no "P" listed. On to an .ORG search... Apparently P is a new production code for South Africa. Since when were 330xi's ever produced in SA? I thought only 325's were produced there. This also explains why my salesman insisted that I couldn't Euro-Deliver my 330xi...

At the risk of sparking an old (but perhaps not tired) debate, I'm curious as to any first hand/ word-of-mouth experiences with SA builds that were either trouble-free or trouble-ridden.... Thoughts, comments? I admit I'm a bit disappointed. After reading a few articles on the X5 and the Z3 most initial quality problems of all BMW models, I decided production location did, indeed matter. Accordingly, I am a bit worried about my newborn... I'd love to hear some feedback.

Thanks
Pres330xi
SG/Black 'ette, SP, CWP, Bi-Xe, Moonroof, 5sp

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jm8571

· #21 · Mar 27, 2002

Plan Codes...

Not to sound too skeptical of the 'secret decoder ring' for the VIN on e46fanatics.com, BUT..

I am unsure if the information is up to date or was ever correct. In my case, I have an 'N' in the VIN. That would be South Africa, right? Except my car is shipping out of Bremerhaven, Germany. Intresting, huh. Ok well I did some research and some people have said that all SA cars are shipped to Germany for a final inspection. Others say that vehicles ship directly from SA. So which is it? Also my car will be delivered in about 9 weeks according to the latest BMWUSA guestimate. SA cars are notorious for being very slow to delivery, taking 3-4 typically.

So, if this were a murder trial, IMHO, there would be enough contradictory evidence to place reasonable doubt on the e46fanatics VIN faq. I won't know where my car was produced until it arrives.

If someone does know the VIN decode conclusively, please, let me know.

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Ack

· #22 · Apr 3, 2002 (Edited)

This is from the BMW Car Club of Norway http://www.bmwccn.no/nor/kapittel2/tekdata/tekdata_vin.asp
it breaks down the VIN # into all of its parts. It doesn't have anything concerning the SA plant build code.

Also check out this site http://www.autobaza.pl/autobaza/page.cgi?lang=1
it will allow you to enter your VIN and get the specifics. When I entered mine (J) - it showed Regensburg (which corresponds to the Norway site).

Hope this helps

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