But the VIN decoder says.... (i -vs- is (again...))

[1and1]

So, I've searched around a bit on the deal about 135i vs 135is, and am comfortable with the simplest way to tell being that, simply, if you don't have 135is badges on your trunk it's not a 135is.

Cool- got it. No worries.

My question is about what VIN decoders are calling an i compared to an is, or maybe more accurate to ask, why would a VIN decoder call it an is when it's sporting only the i on the trunk?

I shopped far & wide before purchasing mine. I've read dozens of carfax reports and many many many dozens of VIN's using http://bimmer.work/ and there are more than a few that have the model listed as a 135is. Heck, mine is listed as a 135is in that system.

So, my question is why do they do that?

[MT135]

My '09 comes up as the same 135is, always wondered why.

[ChrisAW1M]

While I can't tell you why they did that, I can tell you that the 135is was a model year 2013 car only. Some cars in earlier years for some reason show 135is in the vin decoders though, as I imagine bmw hadn't even contemplated making a 135is specific model at that point.

The 135is was a US-only, final homage to the 135. But, just so you know, even a 2013 135is doesn't show up as a 135is in that model line on a vin decoder. It'll actually show 135i. The thing to look for aside from the actual badging on the exterior and interior would be the following line item:

"7MF Edition Sport" which indicates it's a 135is. Used to say "P7MFA EDITION SPORT" but that may have changed recently.

Other things will be listed on the vin decoder as well like the 313 wheels and perhaps the black leather with blue contrast stitching, if that particular 135is had that particular option.

[Dat Aus]

In other markets, the iS badge has historically denoted a car that has the sport pack. For example, with the E36, (In Australia and Europe) the 318iS was just a 318i that was optioned with the sport pack. I think the E36 was the last model to have it. At least that's how I understand it. I could be wrong.

It may have something to do with that.

[ShocknAwe]

Eh, I wouldn't overly concern yourself. Nothing special about the -is anyway other than the blue stitching. Everything else is just BMWP stuff. 2013 only.

Not like the 335is, where they brought the N54 back and used a more robust clutch assembly in the 6MT.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Eh, I wouldn't overly concern yourself. Nothing special about the -is anyway other than the blue stitching. Everything else is just BMWP stuff. 2013 only.

Not like the 335is, where they brought the N54 back and used a more robust clutch assembly in the 6MT.

I sort of disagree. I own a 135i coupe and a 135is convertible, both from 2013. Although there is no doubt that you could recreate the effect of a 135is, starting out with a 135i and modifying it, you would forever have a modded car. The 135is was sold by BMW as what it is, and will always have more value (if one can even say that) than a car that started out as something else and was modded.

This is not to say that either of them (135i and 135is) will have any value whatsoever in 10 years.

[Jozy]

all 135i are 135is (meaning they all come with the sport package) - m sport seats, m sport suspension

don't read too much into the "s" designation.

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by champignon

I sort of disagree. I own a 135i coupe and a 135is convertible, both from 2013. Although there is no doubt that you could recreate the effect of a 135is, starting out with a 135i and modifying it, you would forever have a modded car. The 135is was sold by BMW as what it is, and will always have more value (if one can even say that) than a car that started out as something else and was modded.

This is not to say that either of them (135i and 135is) will have any value whatsoever in 10 years.

True to an extent. But If you had only bmwperf parts installed at your dealer, thats just additional options, not a modified car.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by Jozy

all 135i are 135is (meaning they all come with the sport package) - m sport seats, m sport suspension

don't read too much into the "s" designation.

Although all 135i cars sold in the USA did come with the sports suspension, they did not all come with the sports seats, and most did not come with the M sports steering wheel. They also did not come with the badging that one sees on M Sports models. I don't know what configurations were sold where you live.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

True to an extent. But If you had only bmwperf parts installed at your dealer, thats just additional options, not a modified car.

True, but the 135is was sold as a model with all those parts. It will always be regarded as a 135is, not as a 135i. The Monroney Label (side sticker) defines one car as a 135i, and another as a 135is. A 135i to which you add those parts is still a 135i, but with options or mods.

To what extent the resale marketplace will be interested in either of these as vintage or collectible cars is yet to be determined. What sort of premium will be given, if any, to the 135is vs. the 135i is also to be determined. At the moment, I believe that online used car pricing engines such as NADA and KBB do give a higher resale value to the 135is, however how long that will last, and of what magnitude, will again take time to know.

[smrtypants44]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

True to an extent. But If you had only bmwperf parts installed at your dealer, thats just additional options, not a modified car.

Plus the -IS parts were not installed at the factory anyways. The -IS stuff (pp, exhaust) were port installed after it came here.

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by champignon

True, but the 135is was sold as a model with all those parts. It will always be regarded as a 135is, not as a 135i. The Monroney Label (side sticker) defines one car as a 135i, and another as a 135is. A 135i to which you add those parts is still a 135i, but with options or mods.

To what extent the resale marketplace will be interested in either of these as vintage or collectible cars is yet to be determined. What sort of premium will be given, if any, to the 135is vs. the 135i is also to be determined. At the moment, I believe that online used car pricing engines such as NADA and KBB do give a higher resale value to the 135is, however how long that will last, and of what magnitude, will again take time to know.

Agreed. No parts you can and will ever officially make a car anything other than what it was designated as on its original bill of sale.

My point was more that it doesnt matter as long as you dont care about the -IS badge. BMWP parts dont hurt resale like typical aftermarket modding can.

I really dont understand what they did with the 135is. It should have been a N54 last hurrah, mated to N55 trans, 550i clutch, full BMWP kit, PPK2, Msport, and a hefty factory tune similar to the departed 1M power output.

Totally missed opportunity to make the ultimate 135i. It would have set the car apart as special and we would likely be seeing a different resale value marketplace for them today.

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

Plus the -IS parts were not installed at the factory anyways. The -IS stuff (pp, exhaust) were port installed after it came here.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Agreed. No parts you can and will ever officially make a car anything other than what it was designated as on its original bill of sale.

My point was more that it doesnt matter as long as you dont care about the -IS badge. BMWP parts dont hurt resale like typical aftermarket modding can.

I really dont understand what they did with the 135is. It should have been a N54 last hurrah, mated to N55 trans, 550i clutch, full BMWP kit, PPK2, Msport, and a hefty factory tune similar to the departed 1M power output.

Totally missed opportunity to make the ultimate 135i. It would have set the car apart as special and we would likely be seeing a different resale value marketplace for them today.

When in doubt, you will never go very far wrong if you assume that virtually every production decision that BMW makes (in recent memory) was marketing and accounting based.

By the time that the 135is was being offered for sale, BMW was nearly done or finished designing what they hoped and expected to replace it with, which was the M235i. The 135is was presumably their way of maintaining interest in the brand at the tail end of the E82/E88 platform's life in the USA, but they did not want it to overshadow the M235i, which was soon to appear.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

Plus the -IS parts were not installed at the factory anyways. The -IS stuff (pp, exhaust) were port installed after it came here.

Are we certain about this? I'm asking this because some of the components would have been much easier to install in Leipzig than at the US ports. My understanding is/was that Canada did not get the 135is, but they got an M-Sport model which had some of the performance parts that went into the 135is.

I'm not that familiar with the Canadian version, but if it got the exhaust and the 313 wheels, then wouldn't have made a lot more sense to send the same thing over to the US, and then add the few other badges, the PPK, and whatever else was in there that differentiated it?

I'm asking this because internet enthusiast forums have a tendency to become self-contained echo chambers, and frequently non-facts get repeated over and over again to the point where they become accepted and "common knowledge."

My experience/knowledge of port installed accessories is of things like floor mats, trunk mats, Homelink Mirrors (where the wiring connector in the roof is already present), First Aid Kits, Emergency Kits, and the like.

If you think about it, what sense would it make to send a car over to the USA either with a different exhaust system or no exhaust system, then to take a German-made, or at the least German-designed, exhaust and install it in a US port, when you could just as easily and probably way more efficiently do that in the factory. Ditto with the wheels -- I can't imagine that they would ship a car with no wheels on it, up on blocks, then put wheels on in the USA, or for that matter put some other wheels on in Germany then replace them in the US?

I am probably wrong about all of this, however the idea of it simply makes no sense, at least to me.

Addendum: Just taking this a bit further, it is my understanding that the additional parts going into the 135is, in comparison to the 135i, cost considerably more in total than the price difference between the two models. In addition, the exhaust and the PPK with the added cooling both amount to significant "surgery" on the car, even if the parts used are genuine OEM performance parts. Does it really make any difference whether BMW installed those parts in Leipzig, or in their owned facility at a US Port? BMW does have manufacturing facilities all over the world, including in the USA. Is a vehicle manufactured in the US plant any less a BMW than one assembled in Germany? If BMW is actually doing things like installing exhaust systems and performance packs with cooling systems in their port facilities, doesn't that make the port facility basically a mini-manufacturing facility? I can see where if the cars were being sent to the dealers and the dealers were adding these parts in their shop, where this would be a point worthy of distinction, however if BMW is doing something in one or another of their owned facilities, with their own employees, and subsequently the car is then transported to the selling dealers, what difference does any of this make, where they do this work? It should totally be determined by the amount of work involved, whether it was within the scope of capability of their dealer base, or whether it required a BMW facility.

The more I think about this, given that we are not talking about minor accessories, I think this is a "distinction without a difference" when it comes to the performance parts installed on the 135is vs. the 135i. Car companies regularly sell different models and model variations in different countries. Exactly where the manufacturer happens to put something on a car, whether it is in one of their main factories or in another facility with at least limited manufacturing/assembling capability, it is still the genuine article. The fact that BMW chose not to sell the 135is in other markets than the USA in no way diminishes the fact that they made it and sold it here. And perhaps to the dismay of some who own a 135i and would prefer to own a 135is, they ARE different models, sold at different prices, and that is just a FACT.

[Hankdoll]

Originally Posted by champignon

If you think about it, what sense would it make to send a car over to the USA either with a different exhaust system or no exhaust system, then to take a German-made, or at the least German-designed, exhaust and install it in a US port, when you could just as easily and probably way more efficiently do that in the factory. Ditto with the wheels -- I can't imagine that they would ship a car with no wheels on it, up on blocks, then put wheels on in the USA, or for that matter put some other wheels on in Germany then replace them in the US?

I am probably wrong about all of this, however the idea of it simply makes no sense, at least to me.

And don't forget shipping without seats for those with blue stitching. I wouldn't put it past BMW, just seems inefficient to do it all at port.

[1and1]

As a reference point, the following are the only things I see on my VIN list that would be considered "sport" related items. I think it's entirely possible we would find these items in common on any VIN that shows as an "is", and lacking any one of them would result in a 135i instead of a 135is


704 M Sport Suspension
481 Sport Seats F Driver/front Passenger
7XA M Leath.steering Wheel W.paddles/multi
840 High Speed Synchronisation

[gregthegr8]

While the 135i vs 135is is a tired subject not worth debating or getting into 3 years after the fact, we do know for a fact what was done at the port for the "is-ification" of the IS cars. It isn't speculation or conjecture either, as there were pictures posted of the actual process sent by a tech at Pt. Hueneme working on a member's 135is.

The cars came to the US as a normal 135i with m-sport package, but would have the 313 wheels and special interior if spec'd with the blue contrast stitched black leather. The port then put on the performance exhaust, PPK 2 (software and additional hardware), and the IS-specific badges on the exterior or interior. I'm not sure about the black side mirrors or not. Nor do I have a clue what they did with the perfectly good stock 135 exhaust, but again, we have pictures of the stock 135 exhaust on a 135is at the port during the transformation. The is-ification of the cars also added about a week of extra time the cars spent at the port.

But, the 135is is basically just a great bargain/value package of tons of their performance parts catalog. They threw on like $5k or more worth of stuff and it only retailed for a few thousand more. Would have been better if they threw the full catalog of performance parts on there too though, including the performance suspension and perhaps CF diffuser.

Most importantly though, it came with fancy blue-edged floormats to match the blue stitching, if you got that interior. That was the only real reason to get one.

[Downeaster1]

If anyone is curious, the actual cause of the issue is a software glitch that was written into the VIN generation software in 2006. This issue affects The E82's, E9X's and F10's specifically (although they all have different timelines). I've seen many DCS sheets with E9X's being labeled as 328is' when we all know those we not a thing on that platform. Upon further research, options or software (stored locally on the car) have nothing to do with this mis-lable.

[1and1]

Well now, that's an interesting tidbit...

Any reference material you can cite for that? I'd love to read more about it

[Downeaster1]

Originally Posted by 1and1

Well now, that's an interesting tidbit...
Any reference material you can cite for that? I'd love to read more about it

I just heard it from a BMW AG rep last year at training. I haven't seen any print material on it though so take that for what it's worth.

[PopsnBurbles]

135is is basically a standard 135i w/ M-sport except for the following...
- 2013 US model only = so only N55 6MT/DCT
- has PPK2, PE, and 18 inch style 313 wheels (313s have M badge instead of BMW Performance writing) as standard
- Gloss black mirror caps IF your car isn't black...they're already black otherwise
- has 135is trunk lid badge and a 135is badge on the dashboad's passenger side. This is what you're paying for lol.
- OPTIONAL: Black leather with Royal Blue stitching interior with Royal Blue leather piping on floor mats.

Optional interior aside, your car is likely to not be an 'is' (FWIW) if your car didn't come standard with these options. So yeah, the "s" is whatever it's worth for you.

Side note: The optional interior was available outside of the US in "M-sport edition" cars and other "special" cars.

EDIT: In the VIN decoder, you'll need to check for N55, USA, 2013, 135i, 2NF ('M' 313s), AND 7MF (Edition Sport). If you want to look for the optional interior, look for LWNL interior code and that's the black w/ blue stitch.

[Jozy]

Originally Posted by champignon

Although all 135i cars sold in the USA did come with the sports suspension, they did not all come with the sports seats, and most did not come with the M sports steering wheel. They also did not come with the badging that one sees on M Sports models. I don't know what configurations were sold where you live.

Probably like always, different for the Canadian and US market.

All our Euro 135i since manufacture in 2008 are labelled 135is when you run it even on Rheingold. When you run on a vin decoder it says "Model 135is - EUR"

They will have sport seats, sports steering wheel with paddles (not m sport) and M sport suspension but will not have the m sport pack stuff like the shadowline trim etc. They will also have the grey "BMW" brembo 6 pot f 4 pot r brakes and the m sport body kit (no fog lights).

edit: are you sure there are non sport seats 135i's?