Pre LCI vs Post LCI E92 M3
Pre LCI vs Post LCI E92 M3
Author
Discussion

five50

Original Poster:

573 posts

209 months

Sunday 2nd February 2014
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Looking at getting into an E92 M3.
I read in a few places that people think that the post facelift cars drive better - e.g. Car Magazine thought their post facelift Competition Pack had much better steering feel than the original launch cars. Not sure how much was down to Competition Pack / tyres / geo or the LCI. Cant find much in the way of definitive forum gossip on this right now however.
Does anyone have any experience?
Also any thoughts on best place in lifecycle to buy right now? Low mile, DCT pre LCI cars that I'd consider start at mid 20's. However, you can get a 2010 in some cases a 2011 for £30k, which whilst a bigger amount almost seems better value on a per yr depreciation basis.
On the other hand, if you're paying £5k to get a better sat nav on the post LCI, maybe its not worth it.
Interested in any thoughts!

t8cmf

342 posts

183 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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I don't know how driving dynamics have changed over the years for a 2007 E92 M3 compared to a 2010 E92 M3. All I'll say is how different could it be with essentially the same technology throughout? I would be dubious if anybody claimed they could feel a difference, motoring journalist or not. The Competition Pack is different as I believe it is 10mm lower than an EDC equipped car so the dynamics will be different.

I have a 2007 E92 M3 and had no intention of carrying out any LCI updates. To be honest, I didn't even know what LCI updates were when I bought the car. I've now carried out a CIC retrofit and LCI rear lights retrofit. I only did them because they were relatively cheap (approx £1300 or so).

I would advise going for a 2009 onwards model as that will have the CIC fit as opposed to the very dated CCC system. Other than that go for whatever spec / budget will allow.

Baz Tench

5,648 posts

213 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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LCI, CIC, CCC?

Sorry, I've been left behind a bit. What are these abbreviations for?

jon-

16,534 posts

239 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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Life Cycle Improvement. It's the BMW term for a facelift / update during the lifecycle of the car.


DoubleSix

12,383 posts

199 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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It's actually 'Life Cycle Impulse' to give it it's correct corporate terminology wink

I believe the others are:

CCC = Car Communication Computer
CIC = Car Infotainment Computer

jon-

16,534 posts

239 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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Even worse hehe Are bigger updates LCW, for life cycle warp?

five50

Original Poster:

573 posts

209 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
LCI is BMW shorthand for facelift.
But on CIC / CCC I am now a bit lost - tho' I think that you are talking about Sat Nav?
Interested to know more.

t8cmf

342 posts

183 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
five50 said:
LCI is BMW shorthand for facelift.
But on CIC / CCC I am now a bit lost - tho' I think that you are talking about Sat Nav?
Interested to know more.
Sorry, I thought you may have known the abbreviations.

To expand on DoubleSix's post above, the CCC is the older DVD disc based Satnav system. The head unit has two slots, one for your music CD's and a second for your Satnav DVD disc. It also has the older style iDrive controller on the console with a single MENU button.

The CIC system which was introduced about 18mths after launch (I think) is a hard drive based system. It has just one slot purely for music CD's. The Satnav is hard drive based and you can load music onto the hard drive if you choose. It also has a new style iDrive controller with loads of buttons. A common upgrade is to replace CCC with CIC which is what I did. It needs to be coded as well.

The rear lights are replacing the older style filament units with the newer style LED type. Straight swap along with a little bit of coding.

Patrick Bateman

13,019 posts

197 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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I'll stick to saying facelift. What a load of marketing drivel.

ezakimak

1,871 posts

259 months

Tuesday 18th February 2014
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t8cmf said:
Sorry, I thought you may have known the abbreviations.

To expand on DoubleSix's post above, the CCC is the older DVD disc based Satnav system. The head unit has two slots, one for your music CD's and a second for your Satnav DVD disc. It also has the older style iDrive controller on the console with a single MENU button.

The CIC system which was introduced about 18mths after launch (I think) is a hard drive based system. It has just one slot purely for music CD's. The Satnav is hard drive based and you can load music onto the hard drive if you choose. It also has a new style iDrive controller with loads of buttons. A common upgrade is to replace CCC with CIC which is what I did. It needs to be coded as well.

The rear lights are replacing the older style filament units with the newer style LED type. Straight swap along with a little bit of coding.
Is there any threads or write ups on the CCC to CIC swap?
looking to upgrade an 07 build E91

ratty6464

637 posts

233 months

Wednesday 19th February 2014
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If you can afford it, go for the facelift competition pack.

Beware, some of the limited editions don't come with the comp pack.

gangzoom

8,102 posts

238 months

Wednesday 19th February 2014
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ezakimak said:
Is there any threads or write ups on the CCC to CIC swap?
looking to upgrade an 07 build E91
A quick search on Google will get you plenty of info...I've just upgraded my CCC to CIC, a big difference in terms of speed/functionality.

I've gone from this...CCC Professional Sat Nav


To this, CIC Professional Sat Nav, I think even with my rubbish phone photo you can tell the difference in screen qualitybiggrin


Apart from CCC / CIC, I think the rest of the LCI (facelift) changes are quite minor/superficial (different lights/bonnet on Non M cars),
but CCC to CIC is definitely a mod worth doing, all in it cost me £720 for the parts (though you could probably source it cheaper), fitted and coded it my self, so a lot less than paying an extra £5K for the difference between a pre LCI to post LCI car biggrin.

ezakimak

1,871 posts

259 months

Thursday 20th February 2014
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gangzoom said:
A quick search on Google will get you plenty of info...I've just upgraded my CCC to CIC, a big difference in terms of speed/functionality.
The car I have bought has the CCC business sat nav, so only the 6.5” screen and I drive controller with single button. I’ve seen a few packages on ebay at around the price you mention, and noticed the far higher resolution of the LCI cars when driving adjacent to them on the motorway last night. Sounds like it is an easy mod if your tech savvy.

My inner nerd is getting all excited at the thought.

Just have to wait for the car to be delivered now.

ezakimak

1,871 posts

259 months

Thursday 20th February 2014
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i have read that the screen is easy to swap, what about the idrive wheel in the centre console.

did you get the blue tooth audio streaming media box as well

gangzoom

8,102 posts

238 months

Thursday 20th February 2014
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The actual install is quite straight forwards:

1: unscrew old screen (undo 2 T10 screws that's it)
2: replace old screen power plug with new one
3: remove old CCC unit (remove trim, than 4 screws, I ve done this quite a few times before to install my Pure 300Di, so it took me about 5 minutes to remove the CCC unit)
4: wire/connect in new screen cable and CIC emulator (the hard bit)
5: refit and code

The coding is also straight forwards..

1: Case of changing production date - so that I could add the CiC to the vechial order
2: Than add CiC to VO -so that the car knows I have a CiC unit rather than CCC unit (didn't have to do this since my car had $609 option already because it came with CCC pro nav).
3: Default code the CiC ECU - so the CiC unit knows what options are on the car, eg: Bluetooth

The hard bit is wiring in the the CIC emulator, This does away with the need to get NAV activation codes from BMW and essentially fools the CIC unit into thinking its still in the original donor car, there's plenty on eBay for £50-70. But to install it you need to cut/spice the original CCC loom, which I didnt want to do. So I made an 'plug and play' loom to enable me to connect the navigation emulator which is needed to fool the CIC unit into thinking the VIN of the car matches the VIN stored in the CIC unit. It cost me £20 for the wiring loom and saved a lot of headache/worry about having to cut/spice the main wiring loom in the car and essentially made my install a 'plug and play' affair biggrin.



In total the install took me 2.5 hr including coding....Like you I mainly did it because I'm a geek and love gadgets, considering the Combox install for bluetooth audio/BMW apps but apparently its not really worth it, the streaming audio isn't very good quality, and the Apps aren't very useful.

I didn't change the controller, that requires a whole new central trim piece which is £100-200 by it self, the old CCC controller works fine with CIC. Also should mention clearly mod completely destroys your warranty, and makes it impossible for BMW to update your cars software (will require you to refit CCC unit), though doing things like programming injectors via INPA should still be possible, so cannot see it been a big problem. Cannot see me ever taking my car to a BMW dealer for anything..

Edited by gangzoom on Thursday 20th February 06:54

ezakimak

1,871 posts

259 months

Thursday 20th February 2014
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Thanks for that. Haven't even got the car yet and my shopping list is already growing.

ezakimak

1,871 posts

259 months

Monday 24th February 2014
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What tools and programs do you use for the programming bit ?

zafar87

1 posts

126 months

Sunday 8th November 2015
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Does anyone know how this affects the warranty on the vehicle? I bought a used 2008 model from a dealer that comes with one year warranty, it's been a good deal for me so far as they've taken care of anything wrong with the car no questions asked and to be honest there haven't really been too many issues

If I performed this conversion upgrade would it void my warranty?