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Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

1 recommendation

Kearnstd to Lone Wolf

Premium Member

to Lone Wolf

Re: Theoretical Question

I do not know what all these E numbers mean with BMW.

as far as I am concerned they are meaningless. 1 series is a small car, 3 series is a sports coupe, 5 series is a mid sized luxury sedan, 7 series is the land yacht that is in the same market as things like the Cadillac DTS.

if someone tells me BMW E9, I will think they are telling me they parked their BMW in lot E9 at the mall.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed

MVM

99.999% of BMW owners know nothing about the E designation - unfortunately I am somewhat used to it... If you buy parts online it is a lot handier to know the E designation when looking up parts.

»www.pelicanparts.com/bmw ··· _faq.htm

Grimm
join:2011-05-23

Grimm

Member

That site is websensed for me, but am I right in guessing that it has something to do with the year?

Such as with Audi A4

B5 - 95-01
B6 - 02-05
B7 - 05.5-08
B8 - 09-Current

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed

MVM

quote:
What do they call my car an E something when its a 325i, 535i, etc..?

When you hear you car being referred to as an E classification, what they are referring to is the body style of a particular car. For instance, BMW has produced a 3 Series model from 1976 to 2003. Naturally, the body style changes over time, so to avoid confusion; they refer to the 1976-83 3 Series as an E21, the 1984-91 cars as E30, 1992-99 cars as E36, and the present models as the E46. Keep in mind that certain early cars do not have an E number. Heres a break down of the E numbers as well as the early designations
The link also has a break down of all of the model letters (is, Xi etc...) and also the engines codes.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

hmm interesting. Never knew the models related to engine size.(So Hypothetically in terms I can wrap my brain around, if my Impala where a BMW it would have been a 538i 5 series with a 3.8L fuel injected engine.)

Going to be honest I had always figured all luxury cars with numbers instead of names that the numbers where just made up by throwing a cat and mouse into a room of keyboards and seeing what came out. Never knew that the full sized BMW was a 740 because it had a 4l engine.
Bob4
Account deleted
join:2012-07-22
New Jersey

Bob4

Member

A 240Z had a 2.4 l engine. A 280Z had a 2.8 l engine. (Of course we called them 24 ounce and 28 ounce.)

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed to Kearnstd

MVM

to Kearnstd
Generally true - very recently they have gotten away from the displacement for the model numbers on some of the cars. I believe with the turbos it they are getting away from the displacement since the turbos can be added to make a lot of power with less displacement.

I want to say that the M135i has a 3 liter engine but makes the power of a 3.5 liter engine.

My 330 i is an injected, 3 series with a 3 liter engine.

Blogger
Jedi Poster
Premium Member
join:2012-10-18

Blogger to CylonRed

Premium Member

to CylonRed
said by CylonRed:

quote:
When you hear you car being referred to as an E classification, what they are referring to is the body style of a particular car. For instance, BMW has produced a 3 Series model from 1976 to 2003. Naturally, the body style changes over time, so to avoid confusion; they refer to the 1976-83 3 Series as an E21, the 1984-91 cars as E30, 1992-99 cars as E36, and the present models as the E46.designations

How about that!

I would have simply done something stupid in designation like E Series: 1976-83, or 1984-91, or 1992-99 and so on.

What could I have been thinking?

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed

MVM

quote:
I would have simply done something stupid in designation like E Series: 1976-83, or 1984-91, or 1992-99 and so on.
Could be this killer cold I have but I have yet to figure this part out...
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

1 edit

dave to Kearnstd

Premium Member

to Kearnstd
said by Kearnstd:

as far as I am concerned they are meaningless. 1 series is a small car, 3 series is a sports coupe, 5 series is a mid sized luxury sedan, 7 series is the land yacht that is in the same market as things like the Cadillac DTS.

But for people that care, 3-series is not very descriptive.

I have a 3-series.
CylonRed See Profile has a 3-series.

But he'll tell you they are completely different cars. I have an E90, he has an E46 (and he probably thinks an E90 is not a proper 3-series).

You could convey the same info by model year, but then you'd have to know stuff like when the model changed. (The switch from E46 to E90 was for the 2005 model year). And really, the year isn't as relevant. A guy that's interested enough to want to buy a (used) E46 likely is not so much concerned with the exact year as much as he wants that particular model. Yeah, there are year-to-year differences, but they're overshadowed by the complete body-style change.

Me, I don't care (but then, I drive an E90) but I pick up stuff from the gearheads now and then.