BMW "e" numbers

iaind · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:19

For some reason I was pondering this on the way home from work today.

e46, e90 etc etc

Where on earth do they come from? There doesnt seem to be any logical progression to them through the model ranges that I can see.

I'm sure its either going to be the most obvious thing in the world or the nerdiest technical explanation ever, but either way I'd still like to know

peterattheboro · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:23

After a very quick google.

You won't find these numbers on your car, but the "E" numbers are widely used to identify BMW automobiles. These codes are used by BMW internally, and they are so useful, people outside of BMW discovered them and started using them, too.

The E stands for Entwicklung, the German word for Development. That's because the E codes are assigned by BMW at the beginning of model development.

Sometimes, vehicle designations are followed by a variant code. This code is a number separated from the "E" by a slash. For example, E36/7 is the code for the Z3 roadster.

Here is a table of "E" numbers BMW uses, including some of the older type codes for popular 60's and 70's models:

PMKeates · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:31

I heard that at the beginning of each development cycle, there's a competition to see how fast they can drive an ice cream van in the car park, and the speed converted to mph is used for the designation.

Fr0dders · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:33

i must admit

they want from e30 m3 to e36 m3 to e46 m3

then e90

eh ? wheres the sense in that. Would like to know this also.

iaind · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:39

Yes I was aware they were internal codes from development, but the progression of them doesnt seem to make much sense.

Are they chronological, so the bigger the number the newer the car?

shifty_uk · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:40

I believe this is what got my really confused with the BMW naming system, initially.

Fr0dders · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:43

iaind said:
Yes I was aware they were internal codes from development, but the progression of them doesnt seem to make much sense.

Are they chronological, so the bigger the number the newer the car?

roughly speaking yes.

e60 is the newest 5 series and e90/e92/e93 is the newest 3 series

e39 is the previous 5 series and e46 was the previous 3 series.

PMKeates · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:43

I'll speak with BMW tomorrow and ask.

iaind · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:45

MrLOL said:
roughly speaking yes.

e60 is the newest 5 series and e90/e92/e93 is the newest 3 series

e39 is the previous 5 series and e46 was the previous 3 series.

They're missing a few then, are 7x and 8x numbers unlucky or something

RossG · 13 Jul 2009 at 23:50

I've never understood how Merc's W and R numbers work either really.

PMKeates · 14 Jul 2009 at 00:15

iaind said:
They're missing a few then, are 7x and 8x numbers unlucky or something

E70 is the X5 and E80 is the 1 Series, for example.

RossG said:
I've never understood how Merc's W and R numbers work either really.

I'm pretty sure with Merc's it's to do with the body style.

Fido McNasty · 14 Jul 2009 at 01:27

PMKeates said:
I'll speak with BMW tomorrow and ask.

I never did thank you last week for popping up the shots of your car when I asked after the rare colour. So thank you PMKeates

wez130 · 14 Jul 2009 at 07:31

some will be missing because that particular model never made it into production maybe, i.e

E36 (3 series), E37 (Z3?) E38 (never passed design stage?), then E39 (5 series) then a few more that never got past design stage until E46 (previous 3 series), then X3, X5, Z4 + 6 series etc were produced in between which i don't know their E no.s without researching, now we're up to E92 aren't we with the current 3 series, i may actually be talking balls though as i don't really have a proper explanation

paradigm · 14 Jul 2009 at 07:36

wez130 said:
E38 (never passed design stage?)

E38 was the previous shape 7-series.

wez130 said:
now we're up to E92 aren't we with the current 3 series

E93. E90 = Saloon, E91 = Touring, E92 = Coupe, E93 = Convertible.

wez130 · 14 Jul 2009 at 07:42

as i said, i'm probably talking balls

iaind · 14 Jul 2009 at 08:04

Ah so it is a bit more logical than it first seemed.

Why they cant just call them "3 series mk3" like every other manufacturer I dont know

Personally I can never remember them, I always end up calling them "you know the new one? not that one, the one before that one?...No not the old one, the one in the middle... you know"

paradigm · 14 Jul 2009 at 08:06

iaind said:
Personally I can never remember them, I always end up calling them "you know the new one? not that one, the one before that one?...No not the old one, the one in the middle... you know"

I guess it just depends on what you know.

BMW E-numbers are something that I know, so wouldn't ever get confused. Try the same thing with Mercedes W numbers and I'd be completely lost.

[TW]Fox · 14 Jul 2009 at 08:20

Bigger number is not neccesarily better. Would anyone here want an E87 over an E60?

paradigm · 14 Jul 2009 at 08:27

[TW]Fox;14473044 said:
Bigger number is not neccesarily better. Would anyone here want an E87 over an E60?

That would depend on the cars in question. I'd rather a 135i Cabrio than a 520i SE.

kaiowas · 14 Jul 2009 at 08:58

iaind said:
Why they cant just call them "3 series mk3" like every other manufacturer I dont know

Just about every manufacturer has some sort of internal model designation system, BMW are far from unique in this and their system is pretty straight forward compared to Toyota's for example.