E65/66 Pre-Facelift vs Facelift

[cafee]

Hi all,Is there any way to differentiate the E65/E66 pre-facelift vs facelift as most exterior parts can be changed.Is there any way to tell if the car is originally facelifted or the conversion done by owner?Sorry for this noob question.I am looking for a facelifted 730/735.Thanks

 

[Eggie86]

I'm not too familiar with E65s, but from what I can find thru Wikipedia, facelifted models came in 2005. So, those earlier 7s, especially from 02 onwards would definitely be the pre-facelift models.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_E66

Like you said, the most apparent changes were mainly cosmetic, especially the front and rear lights.

 

[j0shua]

It's in the internals - hardest thing to change, so ppl nearly never alter these. Conversion will have old style in dash cd-player without any buttons under the cd-player power/volume button, and a plain plastic idrive knob. Official facelifts will have two new buttons under the cd-player power/volume button, and a idrive knob with a leather middle, as well as two menu buttons behind the knob. That's how you tell the difference even if outside is completely similar. BMW sold facelift conversion packages that only altered the exterior, not the interior.

 

[cafee]

Thank you for the feedback - Now I know what to look out for !

 

[j0shua]

Pics > Words.

Pre-Facelift on left, Facelift on right. Note the new Mode and AM/FM buttons under the CD slot on the Facelift model.

Facelift iDrive knob with leather insert and the new menu/diamond button behind it. The pre-facelift is just a plain plastic knob.

 

[phas3r]

after the facelift the 735 is replaced by 740