[Tommyj]

Hi,

Looking to buy an F90 in the next month but want to ensure I have the option of pops and crackles from the exhaust when I feel like it.

I drove an 18 plate yesterday that sounded great with an M Sport exhaust but tried a 69 plate comp today that didn’t. I’ve read elsewhere on the forum that all cars have OPF fitted but only those built before July 2019 have the full on exhaust sound.

Does this sound right on your own experience?

Also is anyone running the M Performance exhaust in Europe or is this truly not available? If you are did you go from std to MPE or MSport to MPE and what are your thoughts?

Thanks

Dave

[Simon H]

All M5s do not have the OPFs fitted. Most standard M5S, dont have them. Most M5 Competition M5s do have them fitted, i cant just remember the exact date the OPFs came into play. Also, the pre LCI Competition, that do have OPFs fitted, seem to have a tamer map for the pops and bangs, as they are there, but less noticeable. The LCI M5 Competition, has the pops and bangs mapped out.
These are UK/EU cars im talking about, very different to ROW etc.
Im on my 3rd F90 Competition, and this has been my experience. You will be lucky to find a car with an MPE fitted. You could get them in the UK, but for a very short time only, before they were withdrawn, around late 18 to early 19.

[Tommyj]

Simon

Thanks for your feedback, yesterday I asked my dealer to try and find the exact cut off points for opf’s and even he’s struggling to get a definitive answer! I just hope he can find me a few to choose from.

Cheers

Dave

[Simon H]

Originally Posted by Tommyj

Simon

Thanks for your feedback, yesterday I asked my dealer to try and find the exact cut off points for opf’s and even he’s struggling to get a definitive answer! I just hope he can find me a few to choose from.

Cheers

Dave

I have it in my head, that it was around Aug/Sept 2018, that the OPFs first surfaced on the M5, but not 100% on that. They are so easy to spot on the car, if you ring and ask the seller to check for you. Two ovalish cannisters, more mid/front of the car. Good luck in your search.

[Maxlude]

I believe the only cars without an OPF are very early F90 like the first edition red ones.
All Comps have OPF as they didn't come out until late 2018.
From around Sept 2019 for 2020MY, they got ID7 upgrade and exhaust muted to comply with noise regs.
LCI came out after that, the revised front and rear lights are the give aways.

[Tommyj]

Thanks for the replies, my dealer has contacted the BMW technical department, if I get a definitive response I’ll post it, other than that I’ll use Aug/Sept 18 as OPF intro date and June 2019/ID7 as the second next muting level.

Regards

Dave

[Metzeler]

Originally Posted by Tommyj

Thanks for the replies, my dealer has contacted the BMW technical department, if I get a definitive response I’ll post it, other than that I’ll use Aug/Sept 18 as OPF intro date and June 2019/ID7 as the second next muting level.

Regards

Dave

August 2018 sounds about right, I bought a really low mileage standard M5 from BMW Maidenhead which was Built July'18 and mine doesn't have OPF and even the recent fuel sensor recall didn't dumb down the overrun crackles. Plenty of forum chat on this and exhaust options which are limited in warranty period.

[Tommyj]

Simon, Max and Metzeler, thanks for your comments on my question.

Dave

[billyali86]

My M5 is a March 2019 car, its the competition and it came with an OPF but still popped and banged nicely. I think cars from around July/Aug 2019 onwards stopped popping and banging. This is due to software, some OPF cars can still pop and bang (like mine).

[Tommyj]

Guys

I played safe and bought a pre OPF 18 plate, should get it before the end of September. The relatively unsafe bit was bought “blind” from a BMW main dealer based on many videos and discussions, and in a colour that I haven’t seen in the flesh!

Sounds good though!

Dave

[Mark6147]

What colour combo?

[Tommyj]

Rhodonite Silver with carbon pack including Pro rear spoiler with black interior. Gloss black 863M wheels going on shortly after delivery.

[Slugsy01]

So a few days in and I love the car aside from no pops or bangs.

I'm seriously going to contemplate some mods at some point to rectify that, which I know has warranty issues. Not probably in first few months but definitely miss that sound.

Aside from that, the car is awesome!

[DavidXJ]

This has been an informative and useful thread for me as I'm about to go for a pre-LCI ID7 model (built spring 2020), so I hope there at least a few pops and burbles in evidence! Presumably the EU regs had come in by summer 2020; but from what you all say, the most significant muting came along with the later LCI models.

[Tommyj]

DavidXJ

In the end the 2018 pre OPF deal fell through and I bought a March 2019 car with OPF that still has pops and crackles. I also tried a September 2019 car but this was virtually silent. It’s do with the emissions rating, pre 69 plate were euro 6d temp as opposed to full euro 6d from 69 plate onwards, however it appears that the cut off point isn’t quite that clean. I’m fairly sure the log book will show the euro emission that the car complies with.

Hope this helps

[DavidXJ]

Originally Posted by Tommyj

DavidXJ

In the end the 2018 pre OPF deal fell through and I bought a March 2019 car with OPF that still has pops and crackles. I also tried a September 2019 car but this was virtually silent. It's do with the emissions rating, pre 69 plate were euro 6d temp as opposed to full euro 6d from 69 plate onwards, however it appears that the cut off point isn't quite that clean. I'm fairly sure the log book will show the euro emission that the car complies with.

Hope this helps

Thanks, Tommyj.

Just to report: I was very excited to collect my mid-2020 F90 yesterday. It's ballistically rapid--as of course you guys don't need telling!---and I've never driven something that sucks the horizon toward you with such eagerness and ease.

But I'm also very chuffed with the charisma of the engine note and exhaust blare. Yes, to be sure, I think they must have mapped out some of the more obvious pops I've seen in vids of the early '19 models, and you don't get too many high end crackles on a stationary rev. But I have had some decent 'pap-pap-pap' sounds on downshifts, which is perfectly satisfying. Yes, perhaps I'd like it to have a few more gunshots on the overrun, but I can think about a modest remap later on if I need to scratch that itch long-term. For now, the exhaust seems really quite symphonic to me (noticeably more sonorous, from what I can judge, than the subsequent LCIs) and the V8 rumble is delicious--holding its own, acoustically, without any obvious ASD mediation. Restarts with a warm exhaust really are something else...!

What a piece of kit. I'm so glad I ditched the prospect of a G80 for this. In the handover bay, there was a M3 in idle next door, and I couldn't help notice the difference: it was like a chamber group in comparison to the M5's full orchestra! Now, I just need to get to know the car itself this summer.

[DryBark]

Originally Posted by DavidXJ

Thanks, Tommyj.

Just to report: I was very excited to collect my mid-2020 F90 yesterday. It's ballistically rapid--as of course you guys don't need telling!---and I've never driven something that sucks the horizon toward you with such eagerness and ease.

But I'm also very chuffed with the charisma of the engine note and exhaust blare. Yes, to be sure, I think they must have mapped out some of the more obvious pops I've seen in vids of the early '19 models, and you don't get too many high end crackles on a stationary rev. But I have had some decent 'pap-pap-pap' sounds on downshifts, which is perfectly satisfying. Yes, perhaps I'd like it to have a few more gunshots on the overrun, but I can think about a modest remap later on if I need to scratch that itch long-term. For now, the exhaust seems really quite symphonic to me (noticeably more sonorous, from what I can judge, than the subsequent LCIs) and the V8 rumble is delicious--holding its own, acoustically, without any obvious ASD mediation. Restarts with a warm exhaust really are something else...!

What a piece of kit. I'm so glad I ditched the prospect of a G80 for this. In the handover bay, there was a M3 in idle next door, and I couldn't help notice the difference: it was like a chamber group in comparison to the M5's full orchestra! Now, I just need to get to know the car itself this summer.

Congrats, glad you're enjoying it. Overrun on mine is like a machine gun which is sometimes great and other times really annoying. I have to take it out of sport plus just to drive through the neighbourhood or in stop and go traffic.