SpareRadar BMW E90 3 Series GCC spec check

BMW E90 3 Series: reading the VIN

Three body chassis under one generation, and the decoder keeps them separate because the parts do.

Is a BMW E90 3 Series GCC spec?
The honest answer, before anything else on this page.

GCC specification is decided per vehicle, not per model. Two cars of the same model and the same year, built in the same factory in the same week, can go to different markets. So no page can tell you whether yours is a Gulf car, and this one does not try. What it can do is show you exactly what your own VIN encodes and where that stops.

The literal 0 at position 10 proves the car was not built for the American market. It says nothing about which market it was built for, because every rest-of-world BMW carries it.

What this decoder reads from a BMW E90 3 Series VIN
Specific to this model, not to the brand.

This generation is carried as three separate chassis codes rather than one, and that is the right call: E90 is the saloon, E91 the Touring and E92 the coupe, and BMW issued different type codes for each. Together they are 166 codes, the largest single generation in the table. The E91 Touring alone carries 24 engine families, which is the densest engine spread anywhere in this catalogue and reflects how many small variants BMW ran in Europe in this period. The 335d and the xDrive diesels in these rows are cars the American filings largely do not describe.

Codes this decoder resolves
166 type codes are carried for this chassis, aggregated here by model, body and engine. The decoder matches the full four-character code at positions 4 to 7, never a prefix, because type codes are reused across generations and a prefix match would confidently name the wrong car.
Type codesModelChassisBodyEngineBuilt
2 type codes316iE90SedanN432004-2008
4 type codes316iE90SedanN45/N432004-2008
2 type codes318dE90SedanM47D/N47D2004-2008
2 type codes318dE90SedanN47D2004-2008
4 type codes318iE90SedanN43B2004-2008
5 type codes318iE90SedanN46B2004-2008
4 type codes320dE90SedanM47D2004-2008
5 type codes320dE90SedanN47D2004-2008
2 type codes320iE90SedanN43B2004-2008
2 type codes320siE90SedanN45B20O02005-2006
1 type code323iE90SedanN52B252004-2008
2 type codes325dE90SedanM57D30U22006-2008
8 type codes325iE90SedanN52B/N53B2004-2008
5 type codes325xiE90SedanN52B/N53B2004-2008
5 type codes328iE90SedanN51B/N52B2006-2008
2 type codes328xiE90SedanN51B/N52B2006-2008
3 type codes330dE90SedanM57D30O22004-2008
6 type codes330iE90SedanN52B/N53B2004-2008
1 type code330xdE90SedanM57D30O22004-2008
3 type codes330xiE90SedanN52B/N53B2004-2008
2 type codes335dE90SedanM57D30T22006-2008
2 type codes335xiE90SedanN54B30O02006-2008
2 type codes318dE91WagonM47D20U22005-2007
2 type codes318dE91WagonN47D20U02007-2008
2 type codes318iE91WagonN43B20U02007-2008
2 type codes318iE91WagonN46B20U12005-2007
2 type codes318iE91WagonN46B20U22007
2 type codes320dE91WagonM47D20O22004-2007
2 type codes320dE91WagonN47D20O02007-2008
2 type codes320iE91WagonN43B20O02007-2008
2 type codes320iE91WagonN46B20O12004-2007
2 type codes320iE91WagonN46B20O22007-2008
2 type codes323iE91WagonN52B25U02005-2007
1 type code323i ULE91WagonN52B25U12006-2008
2 type codes325dE91WagonM57D30U22006-2008
2 type codes325iE91WagonN52B25O02004-2007
2 type codes325iE91WagonN52B25O12006-2008
2 type codes325iE91WagonN53B30U02007-2008
1 type code325ixE91WagonN52B25O12006-2008
1 type code325xiE91WagonN52B25O02005-2007
1 type code325xiE91WagonN52B30U02005-2006
1 type code325xiE91WagonN53B30U02007-2008
1 type code328iE91WagonN52B30M12004-2008
1 type code328xiE91WagonN52B30M12006-2008
2 type codes330dE91WagonM57D30O22004-2008
2 type codes330iE91WagonN52B30O02004-2007
2 type codes330iE91WagonN52B30O12006-2008
2 type codes330iE91WagonN53B30O02007-2008
1 type code330xdE91WagonM57D30O22004-2008
1 type code330xiE91WagonN52B30O02004-2007
1 type code330xiE91WagonN53B30O02007-2008
2 type codes335dE91WagonM57D30T22006-2008
2 type codes335iE91WagonN54B30O02006-2008
1 type code335xiE91WagonN54B30O02006-2008
2 type codes316iE92CoupeN43B16O02007-2010
2 type codes320dE92CoupeN47D20O02005-2010
2 type codes320iE92CoupeN43B20O02006-2010
2 type codes320iE92CoupeN46B20O22006-2010
1 type code320xdE92CoupeN47D20O02008-2010
1 type code323iE92CoupeN52B25U12006-2009
2 type codes325dE92CoupeM57D30U22006-2010
2 type codes325iE92CoupeN52B25O12005-2010
2 type codes325iE92CoupeN53B30U02005-2010
1 type code325xiE92CoupeN52B25O12005-2010
1 type code325xiE92CoupeN53B30U02007-2010
1 type code328iE92CoupeN51B30M12005-2010
1 type code328iE92CoupeN52B30M12005-2010
1 type code328xiE92CoupeN51B30M12005-2010
1 type code328xiE92CoupeN52B30M12006-2010
2 type codes330dE92CoupeM57D30O22005-2008
2 type codes330dE92CoupeN57D30O02008-2010
1 type code330d xDriveE92CoupeN57D30O02008-2010
2 type codes330iE92CoupeN52B30O12005-2010
2 type codes330iE92CoupeN53B30O02005-2010
1 type code330xdE92CoupeM57D30O22005-2008
1 type code330xiE92CoupeN52B30O12005-2007
1 type code330xiE92CoupeN53B30O02007-2010
2 type codes335dE92CoupeM57D30T22005-2010
3 type codes335iE92CoupeN54B30O02005-2010
2 type codes335xiE92CoupeN54B30O02007-2010
How a BMW VIN is laid out
Summary. The full explanation of each position is on the BMW page.
4 to 7
The BMW type code, or Typschluessel
9
A genuine check digit
10
The literal digit 0 on a rest-of-world BMW
11
Plant
What the VIN cannot tell you here
Stated because a decoder that never says this is not worth trusting.
  • No model year. Position 10 is the literal 0 on a rest-of-world BMW.
  • The E93 convertible is not in the table.
  • The type codes have never been independently verified against real VINs.

A VIN describes how a vehicle was built. It cannot describe where it was shipped, and no decoder anywhere changes that. The free GCC spec check reads your VIN, gives a verdict with a certainty score and the evidence behind it, and lists the physical and documentary checks that settle what the VIN cannot, starting with the GSO conformity lookup. The full VIN decoder returns every attribute the decode resolves, and the BMW page explains the scheme above position by position.

Common questions

Does a BMW E90 3 Series VIN show the model year?

Not on a rest-of-world car. Position 10 is the literal digit 0, which is not part of the model-year alphabet at all, so there is no year in the VIN. The decoder shows the type code's production window instead, clearly labelled as a range for the variant rather than a year for your car.

Other BMW models