math problem - how many M5 color combos? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Jacob Lee · 20th May 2001, 01:40

how many exterior/interior color combos can there be for the E39 M5s?

forget the custom / individual orders; for standard factory combinations available to North America, any math nut out there know the answer?

there's 11 exterior colors (10 plus the avus blue that they don't make anymore), 6 interior, plus 3 kinds of trim. but some of the combinations are "illegal" - for example, you can only get bruyere club wood or aluminum trim with the sport interiors, not the burr walnut.

i want to take 1 pic of the outside, and 1 pic on the inside of each color/trim combo M5 there can be. how many pics am i talking about trying to collect here?

blue max · 20th May 2001, 03:42

///M factorial

you can easily figure out the standard colors & trim available in the US at the BMWusa website. 10 standard colors x the trim available for each one.

But if you want to include BMW individual, you're on your own there!

good luck on your quest.

bobafett · 20th May 2001, 04:44

Factorials alone only estimate because you have x number of execeptions and certain colors have more exceptions than others.

Also, what about aluminium vs. wood (or even the different kinds of wood)?

--Dan

Jacob Lee · 20th May 2001, 06:18

Ok, took a stab at it, and I come up with 120 standard color combos.

I reduced it to be simple - I threw out Avus Blue and just went with the 10 exterior colors, 6 interiors, and 2 trim types - wood or aluminum. There's actually 3 trims - aluminum, burr walnut, and brueyere club wood, but unless I'm wrong, it seems that while you can be in a position to choose between aluminum or bruyere club wood, you'll never be allowed to choose between burr walnut or bruyere club. It's either luxury interior w/ burr walnut, or sport interior with bruyere or aluminum.

This probably belongs in the "you know you're obsessed with the M5 when..." thread, but I'm going to make a huge table of these 120 color combos and put them up on my website, and put an X through the box after I've managed to get pics of that type. I was going to make it easier and allow people to mail me pics, but nope, I've decided that isn't true sporting fashion, and I'm going to restrict the "kill" to those that I do myself

HadE55NowM5 · 20th May 2001, 08:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Jacob Lee:
There's actually 3 trims - aluminum, burr walnut, and brueyere club wood, but unless I'm wrong, it seems that while you can be in a position to choose between aluminum or bruyere club wood, you'll never be allowed to choose between burr walnut or bruyere club. It's either luxury interior w/ burr walnut, or sport interior with bruyere or aluminum.

Unfortunately (insofar as your mathematical calculation is concerned), the Luxury Interior choice comes standard with Bruyere Club wood. The Burl Walnut wood can be substituted as a no-cost option. Again, this wood-for-wood substitution only applies to the Luxury Interior. The Sport Interior choice permits only one type of wood (namely, the Bruyere Club wood) to be substituted, on a no-cost basis, for the standard issue faux aluminum trim. I've read on an earlier post on our beloved board that the Bruyere Club wood and Burl Walnut wood are both faux "wood!"

[This message has been edited by HadE55NowM5 (edited 20 May 2001).]

kgk · 20th May 2001, 23:39

Did I do this right?

The upper bound (maximum) is 10 * 6 * 2 = 120:

10 exterior colors, 6 interior colors, and 2 trim variations.

However, some combinations are illegal.

I think that the actual answer is

(10 * 6 - 2 - 2 - 3 - 0 - 3 - 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 2) * 2
= (60 - 14) * 2
= 46 * 2 = 92.

(I went to http://www.bmwusa.com, went to "bulid your own M5," and counted the x's that exclude interior colors---it only took a minute.)

I think that your matrix is a good idea, i.e., just have 120 cases, and mark some as "illegal."

[This message has been edited by kgk (edited 20 May 2001).]