How does the generations with bmw cars work? Like for example “E30” or “F80”, i’ve noticed the closer to the beginning of the alphabet the older the model is but can someone explain it thoroughly to me.
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The product codes you are describing (a letter and two digit combination) are the way BMW use to describe the different chassis they produce.
Each code corresponds to one particular generation of a chassis – so an E46 vehicle is one built using the 3 series chassis between 1999 and 2005, which all shared the same chassis.
The previous generation of 3 series used a different chassis, so it was given a different product code (E36 to be exact), and when they decided to revise the chassis again in 2005 the new versions were given a new set of codes to denote the difference.
Obviously a base model 1999 3 series was a very different car from a 2004 M3, but the basic chassis underneath remained consistent, with different options (engines, interior, driveline, body kit, etc) to create the different models.
From the standpoint of an enthusiast, knowing the chassis codes just means you can specify an era of each BMW model, rather than having to be year specific.
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