Hey All:

Got my first e60 last week. It was advertised as a 2006, Carfax showed it as a 2006, the DMV shows it as a 2006, When I gave the VIN to my insurance (USAA) it showed up as a 2006. So I assume its a 2006. I went to the dealer to get a second key and when they bring it out it doesn't match. They brought out the push button start key. I told them that wasn't right they ask for the VIN so I gave it to them and they told me it was an 05. Sure enough the data plate on the care shows May of 2005. IS it possible I have a 2006 with the 2005 interior or did something go wrong somewhere. Granted I don't care whether its an 05 or 06 because I would love it either way and I got a great price. But if it is wrong the DMV owes me about 30 bux. What would you guys do about it?

Thanks

Cactus52

May 0f 2005 is the build date, not the model year.

//copy/pasting my response on the other forum for the same topic...

10th digit on your VIN is the MODEL YEAR of your vehicle. If it's '6', then, yours is a 2006 Model Year vehicle. However, the vehicle may have actually been manufactured sometime in 2005. When you are ordering parts (like keys), they will ask you for the 'manufactured date' usually noted as Month and Year. Very likely, your car is manufactured in 2005.

Yup - although my 550i LCI is a 2008 model year, it was built in 03/2007. Very normal - and generally they don't change parts significantly within a model year so you will have everything that would be in a 2006 model year.

My car is in a similar situation to yours.

The car has the blade style key - which doesn't match what is shown in the owners manual.

I know that the car is 2006 - but it is definitely early production 2006 with a build date in 2005.

From what I have read here, the early production cars for 2006 (built in 2005) might sometimes still have the blade style key.

My car has the 2006 designation in the VIN and has the N52B30 engine designation stamped into the head so I know it is definitely 2006.

One more thing, my car is orient blue - code 317 i think it is. According to sales brochures and owners manual info, this color wasn't available for 2006.

I suspect my car was a basic sport build for dealer distribution that rolled down the line while they were still spooling up full 2006 production. So, the powertrain etc is there... just some of the other bits might not match a full production 2006.

America has a strange idea regarding model years. They just seem to add 1 to whatever the year really is :whistle: