How do you look for a car with specific option?

[B///MWGuy]

Can anyone share a tip on how I can easily search for car (Especially bmw) with specific option?

I currently own an X5 with adaptive drive and I cannot imagine a car without it. I had been using Cars.com and Bmwvin.com to look up individual cars and their options but this is getting a bit tiresome...

Is there a better way of doing this? Build to order is my last resort option as dealers try to put more markups for those..

[jiggz]

Originally Posted by B///MWGuy

Can anyone share a tip on how I can easily search for car (Especially bmw) with specific option?

I currently own an X5 with adaptive drive and I cannot imagine a car without it. I had been using Cars.com and Bmwvin.com to look up individual cars and their options but this is getting a bit tiresome...

Is there a better way of doing this? Build to order is my last resort option as dealers try to put more markups for those..

For the most part, no there isn't. At least you're using the decoder, that's better than some people here who search/buy without really knowing all they're getting/missing out on. Of course you can use the keyword options on some sites but then your having to depend on the seller noting the correct terminology when posting the vehicle FS. Likely, only a private seller would note Adaptive Drive, most dealers (even BMW dealers) wouldn't based on my experience.

Have you tried the BMWUSA.com CPO search pages? They allow you to select packages/options based on BMW terminology, but the page only allows you to select one at a time. However, Adaptive Drive is not an option they have listed if I remember correctly? But you can select and search most options - M Sport Package, Cold Weather Package, 3rd Row Seating, Lane Departure Warning, etc. If you haven't checked there you should, that's where I ended up finding mine.

[e36bmer]

I was looking for an X5 w/ the adaptive drive as well. I think they all had the sport button w/ adaptive drive. I typically look for one with sport wheels, as that's a pretty good tell from the first picture. then look for the sport button near the shifter.

http://www.canyon-news.com/artman2/u...ive_Drive2.jpg

[e36bmer]

Also, it is pretty tough to find one with the Adaptive drive. I feel like I've looked through every LCI E70 X5 35d and none have had it, maybe my method doesn't work.

[B///MWGuy]

Adaptive drive was just an example.. I was wondering if there is any easy "tool" to find cars with specific option rather than having to look up in cars.com and search vin number for every single car.. (Cars.com hardly never lists adaptive drive option even if the car has it)

[s65m3fan]

I just went through the same thing recently. Pretty much a brute force approach was the best I could come up with. I found a 2013 35d with pretty much everything I wanted including Adaptive Drive, 214 wheels, air suspension and Nappa leather. Nappa and AD were the hardest to find on a 35d with the 214 wheels and air suspension. Haven't seen either since.

What I found was Carmax tended to be most accurate with their options list. BMW USA's listing of options was often inaccurate, so I got familiar with what the rules were for options. With that, if I saw an option and knew something else was required to get it that wasn't listed, I knew the description was wrong. I did what's been suggested and used a couple of the vin lookup tools regularly to really get the correct configuration. Between BMW USA, Carmax, Sonic Automotive and Autotrader, I pretty well ran daily searches or setup notifications for searches where available.

The other thing I'd suggest it looking at the Carfax title history. In my experience, if you find one that was initially titled to BMW NA, it was most likely an exec vehicle which, from what I saw, tended to pretty well be loaded. That was the case with my 35d which was optioned with everything except (thankfully) lane departure and one other minor option which escapes my memory at the moment.

Good luck. Took me a couple of months to find what I wanted.