Help with VIN Number please!

[Visionist]

So I've scoured the web for those BMW search engines which give you a car's spec and date of manufacture, etc, from the VIN Number. Here's the car I'm looking at:

http://www.autoscout24.it/Details.aspx? ... rc=st%7Cas

It's a 35i but running 35is power according to the owner, at least, the logbook says 250 Kilowatts he says. Doesn't seem too far-fetched as BMW are known to underrate the N54. Only a dyno can shed light, as well as twist figures, but anyway, I've asked him for the VIN (Codice Telaio we call it here; Chassis Code) and he's given me A006206C014

erm... that's a 1976 3 series according to the search engines!?

Can anybody help me out please? Cheers

[richiez4]

try checking another VIN number of a friends car or something to see if thats correct, it will let you know its a website problem or an incorrect VIN number.

[Maniac]

That's not a VIN code I recognise. Its the last 7 digits that are important and it usually starts with a letter. Get him to send you a photo of the VIN shown in the windscreen of the car.

In any event this whole thing about BMW making cars way more powerful is largely a wish on behalf of owners for most models, or a dyno that's not really that accurate. I took mine onto a well respected DYNO and it made just over 300 (of the 306 specced by BMW). Besides even if they did fake the figures, its hardly going to be 30 odd HP out.

Unless its been remapped or the homologating specification for your country is different from ours and allows more power on the 35i, then I'd not trust what you're being told by the seller.