Like the internet, you can't always trust a badge. Here in SoCali I've seen many a 325 and 328 rebadged with the M logo though one look at the exhaust told you otherwise. The 740 iL was only offered from the factory with the V8 until recently when it was downgraded to the V6 engine.
The biggest question is WHERE the V12 badge was applied. Engine variants were only added to deck lids (upper left corner, never on the upper right) with recent special additions (the 25th anniversary of the V12 for example in 2013) but, for the most part, the only badging on the deck was the specific model (725, 740, 750, activehybrid7). If the badge appears on the front corner panel adjacent the turn indicators, the V12/W12 badge began making its appearance there intermittently after 2008 and more so with the recent redesign (however, in many cases it's actually embossed into the "chrome work" just aft of the signal itself rather than as an applique). Before 2008, the only badging that appeared standard was the model series on the deck lid. Nothing else. And if the V12/W12 badge appears ANYWHERE else, it's absolutely an add-on.
If there is one thing that BMW has consistently done over their facelifts and refreshes, it's been badging. Badges always appear (standard, though there is an option in newer models to order debadged) on the upper right corner of the decklid with a possible engine variant in newer models applied either to the upper left corner of the deck lid or just aft or below turn signal indicators on the front quarter panel. (Caveat: I'm excluding all concepts/prototypes as well as aftermarket editions, ie: Brabus, Alpina, Hamann)
Last modified by
dcoopsd, 19 July 2014, 17:25