BMW and M Power Owners

Soldato
Joined
11 Dec 2004
Posts
3,871
BMW friends how can I tell for sure if a car has m sport suspension?

My Dad has an F31 320d M Sport touring and we believed that it had M Sport suspension deleted. (It was delaer stock not a factory order)

Anyway he has always been happy with the ride of the car and is now looking to change. ASSUMING that his car has stadard suspension he thinks m sport may be too harsh. After test driving an m sport 420d he can't tell the difference in the ride

Which makes us wonder does the current car actually have m sport suspension after all?

I've put the last 7 chars of the VIN in to various online tools and none of them show m sport suspension deletion, not in plain English anyway.

And no the dealer has not been helpful in resolving this.
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2011
Posts
5,683
BMW friends how can I tell for sure if a car has m sport suspension?

My Dad has an F31 320d M Sport touring and we believed that it had M Sport suspension deleted. (It was delaer stock not a factory order)

Anyway he has always been happy with the ride of the car and is now looking to change. ASSUMING that his car has stadard suspension he thinks m sport may be too harsh. After test driving an m sport 420d he can't tell the difference in the ride

Which makes us wonder does the current car actually have m sport suspension after all?

I've put the last 7 chars of the VIN in to various online tools and none of them show m sport suspension deletion, not in plain English anyway.

And no the dealer has not been helpful in resolving this.

Put the reg in here:

http://www.enginecentre.com/

And then the VIN in here:

https://decoder.bvzine.com/

It'll say "M Sport Delete" or similar.

Ah voila!
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Dec 2004
Posts
3,871
This is what it pulls back, as I said I've tried a few other tools too. If it had m sport suspension deletion it would be here right? Or is the accuracy questionable?

L812A National version England / Ireland
P7ACA Sport Line
S1CAA Selection of COP relevant vehicles
S230A Extra package, EU-specific
S249A Multifunction f steering wheel
S255A Sports leather steering wheel
S258A Tire with run-flat functionality
S2A5A BMW LA wheel, Double Spoke 397
S2PAA Wheel bolt retainer
S2VBA Tire pressure display
S302A Alarm system
S3AAA Roof railing black
S3DZA Delete extra external lettering
S420A Sun protection glazing
S423A Floor mats, velours
S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
S430A Interior/outside mirror with auto dip
S431A Interior mirror with automatic-dip
S465A Through-loading system
S481A Sports seat
S4ATA Interior trim finishers black high-gloss
S4DNA Accent strips, korall-rot, matt
S507A Park Distance Control (PDC), rear
S520A Fog lights
S521A Rain sensor
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S544A Cruise control with brake function
S563A Light package
S575A Supplementary 12V sockets
S5DAA Passenger airbag deactivation
S606A Navigation system Business
S654A DAB tuner
S688A Harman/Kardon Surround Sound system
S698A Area-Code 2 for DVD
S6ACA Intelligent emergency SOS call
S6AEA Teleservices
S6NHA Hands-free with USB interface
S775A Headlining anthracite
S850A Dummy-SALAPA
S853A Language version English
S880A On-board vehicle literature English
S8KAA Dummy-SALAPA
S8S2A Coding alarm signal
S8S3A Automatic locking when driving off
S8SMA Car ident. number visible from outside
S8TGA Thiefproofing device
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2011
Posts
5,683
Took the car to the garage this week after limping the E39 to work and back for a couple of weeks and they've advised the gearbox needs replacing.

The fault is now on all the time from start up and as such, driving to work is a bit of a mission.

I've punched the details of the car into WeBuyAnyCar, faults included, and they're offering £700. The issue is the car is riddled with scratches, marks, alloys damage and rust (commensurate with its 17 years of use), I'm just wondering if it's worth my time taking it there and seeing what they knock it down to? I've only ever taken one car to WBAC and it was practically mint.

Or do I chuck it on eBay and hope for the best? I've got access to another car in the meantime.

So it's been on eBay three times and today marks the third let down from eBay.

Wouldn't mind but it's costing me a tenner every time.

First guy never came back to me, second guy has just had a stroke, and the third guy just messaged me to advise a flat bed was too expensive and he's pulling out of the sale.

Pulling my hair out with this car.
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Posts
25,812
Location
On the road....
So it's been on eBay three times and today marks the third let down from eBay.

Wouldn't mind but it's costing me a tenner every time.

First guy never came back to me, second guy has just had a stroke, and the third guy just messaged me to advise a flat bed was too expensive and he's pulling out of the sale.

Pulling my hair out with this car.
I thought you’d moved this on a while back :(

I Gave up on eBay ages ago for selling anything, I’ve had no problems with Gumtree mind you, sold three cars without issue and that was using the free ad service, you can pay to bump it higher up the listings but I’ve never bothered.

I’d cut & paste your eBay ad onto Gumtree and see if you get any bites.
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Posts
25,812
Location
On the road....
Has anyone had any experience with fitting ACS springs to a 3 series with M Sport Adaptive Suspension?
I’d expect different to OEM specification springs would play havoc with the adaptive electronics which are surely calibrated to react with standard equipment?

Change the springs on a non adaptive setup sure but I’m not sure I’d be messing with an adaptive setup....
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
^^that's one of those questions that just begs 'why?'.

Because BMW made a design decision that results in the X Drive models having inferior handling to the RWD models.

Out of the factory a 330d M Sport is a better handling car by a noticeable margin to a 335d M Sport.
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2011
Posts
5,683
I thought you’d moved this on a while back :(

I Gave up on eBay ages ago for selling anything, I’ve had no problems with Gumtree mind you, sold three cars without issue and that was using the free ad service, you can pay to bump it higher up the listings but I’ve never bothered.

I’d cut & paste your eBay ad onto Gumtree and see if you get any bites.

First one went for £700, second £680, and this one £500 - thanks, in no small part I assume, to it now being December... :(

Thanks for the tip - I might as well try it on Gumtree. I'm getting sick and tired of being messed about, just seems people like to bid for the hell of it. I did sell my runabout Fiesta the other day with no hassle mind you. But used BMW's do tend to attract a certain ilk of character, I've found.

I'm half thinking about taking it to get repaired and keeping it as a second car, can't imagine it'll lose much money in the coming years if I keep the miles off it (88,000 currently).

In other news, picked this M140i up the weekend:

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Besotted. However, the weather is crap, so fishtailing all over the place when much power is put down.
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2011
Posts
5,683
Those wheels :(

The ferrite grey finish looks so nice :(

Compromises, I'm afraid. Been looking for months, and one with Pro Nav, adaptive suspension, Estoril Blue, electric folding mirrors and HK are hard as nails to find. I really wanted Apple Car Play too, but resided that to stuff of dreams, but this has it. Along with adaptive LED's and heated seats, for good measure.

The wheels could be pink as far as I'm concerned, the other spec is on point.

The brand new MPSS she's shod with doesn't hurt, either. Although I appreciate that's built into the cost, somewhere.
 
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