rodybmw

I like the Truffle Brown Interior which is only available on the X5 in the US. However, since it is available on the E60 in Europe I am going to try to special order it and see what BMW NA will do. I have seen this interior in pictures of European E60's, but in those photos (with flash) it looks like a slightly darker version of the Beige interior. So I got an X5 Truffle Brown leather sample from my salesman and for a referance I placed it on the beige seats of an E60. Here are some pictures. In some of the picture that I am posting here it looks sort of Gray, but in person there is no gray in it. It just looks like a medium cocoa brown. What do you guys think of the color?

rodybmw

jckrauskopf

Please let us know what you find out about special order. I think there are many of us that would like to do the same. Perhaps we should find out how many....

rodybmw

Unfortunately I will not be ready to order until the 2005 Model year pricing comes out sometime around July 2004. Initially I was going to wait for the NAV and HUD to be available sometime between March and June, but then I decided I might as well wait for September prodiuction so that I would get the 2005 model year. At that time Bluetooth would probably be available and BMW may change/add some options or colors. So, I would not be able to post my success or failure in going for the special order until August or September. Maybe others would have tried it by then and would post their experiences for us.

rodybmw

jckrauskopf

I was thinking the same thing. When I suggested to my dealer waiting for MY '05, he said, "BMW often delays the 2nd model-year till Nov." Anyone have any data on this?

Guest

there will be no colours changes in 05 models.

ZeZe

I ordered my 1998 540i in September 1997 and picked it up on October 17th. The '98 E39 was its second model year.

I can't believe BMW would delay an opportunity to raise prices by putting off the introduction of the next model year's production.

Guest

Truffle Brown Leather (aka FBTE) can be ordered through the dealer as a BMW Individual option. The pricing has to be determined by BMW Individual and the dealer.

jckrauskopf

Francois, is that you? You list the color code as FBTE which per my German brochure is the leather/cloth combination. Is the same true for FCTE which is all leather?

rodybmw

Here in the U.S. we are not supposed to be able to order through BMW Individual as it is not officially available to U.S. customers. Also the FBTE Truffle Brown that you mentioned is the cloth-leather combination. The one I am interested in is LCTE which is the Truffle Brown in Dakota Leather.

BMW of North America occasionally does let people change interior colors to ones that are available in Europe at no-cost (as long as the two are the same cost option in Europe and it's available on Euro version of the same model car). They even have been known to let people switch the type of upholstry at no-cost (again as long as it costs the same for BMW). For example I was able to get a European cloth interior instead of Leatherette for free on a 1997 528i.

So BMW NA has done it in the past (sometimes for free), but the problem is that they are very inconsistant at it. Sometimes they will do it for free, sometimes they charge for it, and sometimes they just refuse alltogether.

rodybmw

rodybmw

I can't find "FCTE" in my European E60 brochure. It has "LCTE" for Truffle Brown Dakota Leather and "FBTE" for the leather-cloth combo. Do you have the code "FCTE" in your brochure? Or was it just a typo in your post? I want to make sure that I have the right code. The X5 leather sample also had "LCTE" printed on the back, which is the same code as in my Euro E60 brochure. But since my brochure is a preliminary one I want to make sure it does not have a different code than other brochures.

rodybmw