BMW Explained For Normal People

This is a mushroom. And this is also a mushroom. One of them tastes amazing and the other, well, there's a reason I'm holding it with a glove. Now, if you've been picking mushrooms for 20 years, the difference might be obvious. But if you haven't, maybe don't just start eating you found on the ground.

BMWs are the same. To someone who knows them, an E46 330Ci with an M54B30 doesn't mean a lot. To everyone else, just some letters and numbers. And that's where people get into trouble because there are some amazing

BMWs out there. And some you really don't want to accidentally pick. That's why I'm about to cram like 5 to 10 years of absolute BMW loser knowledge into a single video. We're going to go through it all. What all the numbers and

letters mean, which ones are good, which ones are bad, what to expect, and how to take care of one once you've got it., everything you need to know about BMWs before you even start thinking about buying one. Starting with one thing every BMW loser should know.

Chassis codes. E46, F30, G20. This is how BMW people communicate because saying I drive a 3 Series is like saying I have an iPhone. Saying I drive a 2005 3 Series also doesn't mean because these two can

both be 2005. And that's why BMW losers use chassis codes. E46, for example, means the fourth generation 3 Series. It doesn't tell you the engine or body style. These two are both E46. And no, 46 has nothing to do with it being the fourth generation. It's just a

coincidence. And that's because these are not really chassis codes, but BMW's own internal naming system for projects. The E stands for Entwicklung, German for development. The 46 is just a project number. E46 means development

46, project 46, the 46 car BMW ever developed under this naming system. And generally, the higher the number, the newer the car. Now, BMW started using this two-digit in number system back in the '60s. The first one was the E3, then

the E9, E10, E12, E20, E21, and so on. But, don't try to find a car for every number because some projects never made it. E19, for example, was supposed to be this little roadster, but never happened. Changed their mind. how it is.

know how it is. Now, starting with the E60, BMW changed it up a bit. They gave a separate code to every body style of a certain generation. When number got to E99, which doesn't exist, they moved to the next letter, F. Why F? Because it comes after E. Doesn't mean anything. And this

is where they change it up again. Now, M cars got their own numbers. So, a regular 3 Series is an F30, the touring is F31, but M3 is F80. F32 4 Series?

F82. You see, BMW reserved the whole F80 to F99 range specifically for M cars. Then, they ran out of Fs, too, and moved to G. Same here. G20 is the 3 Series, G80 is the M3.

So, here's all you need to know. E is old BMW, F is newer, and G is current BMW. However, they still make some Fs, like the F71 Series, for example, because remember, these are project names, not release dates. Some projects

just take longer than others to make it to production. And now, for the brand new electric cars, they're using all these different numbers, but what? That's something you'll need to know in like 2036. Model designations. On the back of almost every BMW, there

are letters and numbers, sometimes words. You see, most people used to know what they meant, right? But, then BMW changed what they meant, and now nobody really tries to understand them anymore. And now, BMW changed it up again. And now, now,

now, nobody really knows what the is going on anymore. So, let's fix that. Let's take a simple 330i as an example. First number is the series. In this case, three series. Five means five series, seven means seven series. Now, within each series,

the number split into two types. Odd numbers are the normal models, even numbers are the sportier coupe-ish style versions of those odd ones. So, the six series, for example, is a coupe version of the five. The four series is a three series

coupe. They just renamed it in 2014 to keep the lineup logical. . Then you've got X, which are the SUV versions of normal models, and Z, which are small roadsters or coupes. Now, the last two numbers is where it gets confusing. Originally, they told you the

engine size, right? 330i meant three series, three-liter engine. 325 meant 2.5 liters, and 540i meant five series, four liters. There were occasional exceptions, but generally, that was the

system. But then, turbocharging came along, and BMW realized that they could take the engine with the same displacement and make different amounts of power from them. So, today, the last two numbers mean performance tier, power

level. A modern 320i has a two-liter four-cylinder. Still makes sense the old way, accidentally though. A 330i also has a two-liter four-cylinder. Same engine, but modified a bit to make more power. The M340i now gets a three-liter straight six, which makes

even more power. And that's why it's called 40, because it makes more power than 30. And then you also have 50, 60, 70. Bigger number means bigger power. Now, the letters. I originally stood for injection. You

could have a carbureted 320 or a fuel injected 320i. And that was a big flex, by the way. If you had I at the end, that meant what that meant, right? Eventually, every petrol BMW had fuel injection, but they kept it anyway out

of habit. Now, I just means this one runs on gasoline. Although, now BMW is starting to remove the I from petrol models because I at the front means electric. Also, they have the series number now bigger than the power level numbers. looks weird, but when

you think about it, makes more sense than the old way because that's what it means. 740., and now you also know why it's pronounced 740,

not 740. Anyway, D means diesel. They're keeping that. E means plug-in hybrid. xDrive means all-wheel drive. And then you also have sDrive on some cars, which means not xDrive. And I don't even know why they came up

with that. Same goes for eDrive, but on their electric cars. And then we get to the strongest letter in the world. The most overused letter in the world. M

M stands for Motorsport. BMW Motorsport, which is a separate company from BMW founded in 1972 to run BMW's racing program. At first, that was the whole point. Build race

cars, go racing. And sometimes, BMW wanted to race a certain car, and the rule said they also had to build and sell a certain number of street-legal versions. Those are called homologation specials. The E30 M3 is probably the most famous

example. But eventually, BMW realized that people wanted to buy these cars even when they didn't just have to build them because of racing rules. And that's how BMW M became what it is today. BMW's performance division. Take BMW, make it insane,

and then sell it to regular people. But, there are now three different levels of M, and this is where beginners get cocky. First, M Sport. A 330i M Sport is not an M car. It's a

normal BMW with different bumpers, wheels suspension seats steering wheel, sometimes bigger brakes. Same idea as AMG line on a Mercedes or S line on an Audi. Looks and drives sportier, but still a 330i or 320d. And then you have these. The

internet calls them M lights. Officially, they're called M Performance models., the top spec version of a normal car. They're mostly called that because of marketing. Although, lately, these M lights have been getting ridiculous., you can get them with limited slip diffs and more

aggressive driving modes, more aggressive shifts, stuff like that. And like the new 350, looks like it was developed with BMW M department, like a little bit, right? So, I don't know. But still, it's not an

actual M car because an actual M car is a different animal. Like not only do they have different suspension, they have different suspension geometry. Like they have different subframes, control arms, steering knuckles, differential, different engine, cooling,