[uberboosted]

Hi everybody. I'm trying to buy a used 540i, and I've been lurking here for a while to educate myself. I intend to take it to Stage 2+.

I want a 2019 or 2020, but I'm unclear on whether there are any 2020 models with a car build date of 6/20 or later, which I understand is the cutoff date for having to send your DME abroad to be unlocked. I want to avoid the expense and downtime involved in doing this, and I'm seeing conflicting information... one website says that 2021 models and later are affected, while another advises checking 2020 models for build date. Depending where I buy, I may not have the opportunity to do this before I own the car.

Has anyone here seen a definitive answer of whether 2020 models may have been built after 6/20? TIA!

[weinerbarn]

Originally Posted by uberboosted

Hi everybody. I'm trying to buy a used 540i, and I've been lurking here for a while to educate myself. I intend to take it to Stage 2+.

I want a 2019 or 2020, but I'm unclear on whether there are any 2020 models with a car build date of 6/20 or later, which I understand is the cutoff date for having to send your DME abroad to be unlocked. I want to avoid the expense and downtime involved in doing this, and I'm seeing conflicting information... one website says that 2021 models and later are affected, while another advises checking 2020 models for build date. Depending where I buy, I may not have the opportunity to do this before I own the car.

Has anyone here seen a definitive answer of whether 2020 models may have been built after 6/20? TIA!

The easiest method when shopping cars is to enter the VIN on a site like mdecoder and it will tell you the production date. Yes, there are 2020 model year vehicles with 6/20 build dates. My daughter has a 2020 M340i with build date of 06/24/2020.

[uberboosted]

Originally Posted by weinerbarn

The easiest method when shopping cars is to enter the VIN on a site like mdecoder and it will tell you the production date. Yes, there are 2020 model year vehicles with 6/20 build dates. My daughter has a 2020 M340i with build date of 06/24/2020.

OMG why didn't I think of that? Thanks.

I just ran one that I'm looking at, and the build date is Feb 20, so all good there. I'm not really concerned about the DME flash date (the car is at a dealer, so it could be recent). That's a relatively easy fix.