# SoonerJohn's European Delivery Thread



## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

European Delivery begins in 3... 2... 1... *NOW!!!* I'm all packed up and about to head for the airport. Can hardly believe the time has finally come!

Here is what I'm taking delivery of:
2012 335i Sedan (F30) Sport Line with Sport Auto trans and Adaptive M Suspension
Mineral Grey Metallic with Black leather interior and brushed alluminum trim with black highlight stripe
Cold Weather Package, Driver Assistance Package, Parking Package, Premium Package, Premium Sound Package, Technology Package, BMW Assist and Apps, Speed Limit Info
Itinerary:

Feb 28 - depart DFW
Feb 29 - arrive London Heathrow, depart for Munich, arrive Munich at 12:30pm. Sightseeing in Munich rest of day. (Staying at the Hotel Bristol Munich)
Mar 1 - 9:00am check-in at Welt, 10:30am vehicle delivery (I'm almost certain I will be the first ED of an F30!), 11:30am factory tour, BMW museum after the tour
Mar 2 - Drive to Neuschwanstein Castle and tour. Other random wandering. Meet fellow Bimmerfest member "Entropic Artist" for a beer and/or dinner. (He is taking ED of an almost identical car to mine on March 2!)
Mar 3 though morning of Mar 5 - TBD - going to play it by ear - thinking about Alpine Road or Castle Road or Romantic Road or some combo of those 3.
Mar 5 - turn car in at LoginOut at Munich airport at 4:00pm
Mar 6 - return home - MUC/LHR/DFW
I'll be posting updates and photos to this thread throughout the trip, so stay tuned


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## Dallas550 (Jan 16, 2011)

Have a safe trip! Looking forward to the updates. The museum has a special 3 series exhibit going on right now, should be really cool for you guys (especially given the vehicle you're picking up!).


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## MB330 (Oct 18, 2005)




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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

My first photos from the trip...

I am such a dork sometimes.  Here's a photo of the custom luggage tags I made:









And here's me with the lovely 12 year old Chevy S-10 compact pick-up truck I'm leaving behind (not enough room in the garage to get a good pic and I didn't have time to move it outside):


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## Dallas550 (Jan 16, 2011)

Love the tags!  I'm thinking BMW should contact you about a template for everyone else to use for their trip.


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Dallas550 said:


> Love the tags!  I'm thinking BMW should contact you about a template for everyone else to use for their trip.


I'll upload the Word template here after I get home.


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## adrian's bmw (Feb 14, 2003)

That's really awesome, John! I'm really excited for you. Enjoy your trip and new BMW! Congrats! Lookin forward to more pics of your adventure. :thumbup:


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

adrian's bmw said:


> That's really awesome, John! I'm really excited for you. Enjoy your trip and new BMW! Congrats! Lookin forward to more pics of your adventure. :thumbup:


Thanks Adrian! Couldn't have done it without you - literally!


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Most of the way there. Sitting in the Brittish Airways lounge at Heathrow waiting for the flight from London to Munich. Flight over was uneventful. First time on a 747 since all my previous long haul trips have been on 767 or 777. Also first time across the pond on BA instead of AA. Food and service were very good. Their business class (Club World) seats are nice - was a little strange facing backward though. Got about 4 hours of sleep, so I should be able to have a reasonably normal day and turn in early tonight for the big day tomorrow.

Photo of the wing of my plane and another BA 747 in the background while sitting on the tarmac waiting for our arrival gate to open up (iPhone 4 pic, so not the greatest quality):


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## BickUW89 (Apr 18, 2008)

Have a great time, and keep the pics coming!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Awesome- congrats!


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## dencoop (Aug 17, 2005)

Congrats !!!!

Cant wait for the car pix !!! I think your one of the first to take a Euro Delivered F30:thumbup:


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

I made it the rest of the way to Munich without any issues and am now down to just inside of 13 hours to actual car delivery time. I'd be much more excited right now if I weren't, so [email protected] tired!

Here are a few pics from looking around Munich a little this afternoon. Nothing too exciting from a photography standpoint - was too tired - so just some simple snapshots...

My hotel for the first two nights. Nothing fancy, but it's a clean 3-star on e edge of the city center and the price was very reasonable:









Old/New Town Hall @ Marienplatz:









Outside of Frauenkirche. (Renovation taking place on the other tower, so this was the best exterior shot I could get.):









And a quick shot of the interior. That thing is MUCH larger than I remembered from my prior trip to Munich (12 years ago):









Seriously??!!!???









Of course I *had* to swing by Hofbräuhaus for a brew:









Couldn't resist a photo of the police car. Blows my mind when I come to Europe and see Bimmers and MB's used as taxi's, police cars, etc:









By this time tomorrow, you'll all get to see the photos you're really waiting for. Delivery and the car!!! :thumbup:


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## wmo168 (Mar 26, 2009)

Tagging along...


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

1:07am. Can't sleep. Should have remembered the Tylenol PM!


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## DrivenByF30 (Feb 8, 2012)

Too excited huh!! must be feeling like Christmas Eve!


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## RVD (Sep 28, 2006)

i've been in BA biz class and you're right, it is a little weird to be facing backwards. It's actually convenient if you're traveling with a friend or someone you know because you can just talk to each other but if it's a stranger next to it, it's kind of weird.

they do have that partition but it was down when i got on and i felt that it would be kind of weird pulling it up while the other guy was staring so i didn't.


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## fookie (May 30, 2003)

I wouldn't be able to sleep either!


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

*Delivery day*

The day has finally come... DELIVERY DAY!!! It's 8:00 now and I have a 9:00 check-in with delivery at 10:30. About to head out, but wanted to post on here quickly first.

A few timing items that people might find interesting:

Number of days since I signed my PO: 34
Number of days since I got ED date confirmation: 106
Number of days since I first contacted my CA (Adrian Avila): 110
Number of days since I decided I would take ED of an F30 as soon as possible: 410!
Number of days since I last owned a BMW: 1,950 (I know, I know!) That's 5 yrs and 4 mths, btw

I'm off to the Welt...


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## SD ///M4 (Jan 24, 2011)

You have a fantastic day ahead! Enjoy!


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## iwantone (Jun 2, 2005)

Are we gonna see some pics soon?


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

WOW! What an exciting - and quick day! I had a BLAST, but it really was a bit of a whirlwind. Photos uploading right now, so they will be posted well within the 12 hour limit (although thge hotel WiFi sucks, so I may have to only post a few for now). But I'll share some thoughts while awaiting file uploads...

First, about doing ED (then we'll get to the car):

ANYONE who is a BMW enthusiast should do at least one ED. Hell, you don't even have to be an enthusiast - if you're just looking to buy a new BMW, by all means do an ED!
The Welt and the Premium Lounge is all really cool!
The food in the Premium Lounge is pretty dang good!
The factory tour was awesome! Especially so since I got to seem them making the cars just like mine. It actually blows my mind that anyone is able to produce a high quality automobile when you witness all that's involved and think about how quickly they go through the process - she said it takes right at 40 hours to produce a 3er. 7er's take the longest at ~52 hours.
The gift shop in the Welt isn't all that great, IMHO
I wasn't all that impressed with the Museum either - but then again I'm not much of a musuem type - and I had my brand new baby across the street waiting for me to give it some driving love 
Now the car (in no particular order - just scatter-shooting - and I'm sure I'll think of lots more):

LOVE IT!!!
Mineral Grey is gorgeous!!! All that time I spent wondering if it was the right choice was in vain!
HUD is *very* cool - love how you can scroll through playlist/album/whatever and choose songs on it.
My first car with iDrive - it'll take a little time to learn to be efficient with it
Auto Start/Stop - it's not as smooth as I'd expected. The car shudders a little when it shuts off and lunges a little when it starts back up. I still think it's a good idea and I think I'll get used to it pretty quickly, but not as refined as I'd hoped.
Seats, trim, leather, etc are all as expected - nicely done.
Key fob is not as huge as it looks in some of the photos 
Comfort Access opening of the trunk is actually quite simple - you just have to pull your foot all the way back and step away from the car a step so there's no chance of it still 'seeing' you there
Camera package on car is cool!
I managed to keep it under the recommended 4,500 RPM's all but once while driving on the A8 today
Can't quite say the same for staying under 100mph as recommended for break-in. It just wants to go! I hit 140 twice.  Incredible how quickly it'll shoot from 75-100mph without even pushing it at all!
HK premium sound system is very nice! I cranked it up with rock, classical, country, etc and they all sounded great - and that was with only a simple trebble/bass adjustment - I'll deal with the full equilizer later.
I know there are LOTS of other things I'm not saying now - will update as I think of others

I think that's it for now. I'll start sharing pics as soon as they're uploaded.


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## cruise_bone (Jun 6, 2007)

Congratulations! Looking forward to the pics.


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## SD ///M4 (Jan 24, 2011)

Fantastic! I'm glad that you had a great delivery experience and hope that it was everything that you anticipated and more! Enjoy!


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## DrivenByF30 (Feb 8, 2012)

So ?? where you the first one to take delivery of an F30 at the Welt ?? Did they say anything about your case?


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

iwantone said:


> are we gonna see some pics soon?


+1


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Answering the 'was I first question'... I never expected to be the first F30 delivery because I knew there would be people from Europe doing deliveries before me, etc. But I thought I would be the first from the US to do ED through BMW NA. And I'm still not sure about that. There was somebody else who took delivery of a white Sport Line a little before me and it had a tourist plate that was 1 number lower than mine (mine = M1235Z. his = M1234Z), so I'm guessing he was likely a BMW NA ED and I got beat by one guy. But apparently that guy isn't a poster here or on BimmerPost, so he doesn't really count, does he? 

Otherwise - the uploads aren't going well. Here is at least one photo of the delivery:


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## BickUW89 (Apr 18, 2008)

*12-Hour Rule: the clock is ticking!*



iwantone said:


> Are we gonna see some pics soon?


I sure hope so! He's at risk of a Class 1 violation of the 12-Hour Rule! :rofl: Delivery was supposedly at 10:30 AM local time. By my Mickey Mouse watch, he 's only got 1 hour 45 minutes left for compliance!

Get on it dude! :thumbup:

Glad you're having a great time - it really is a wonderful experience.

EDIT: While typing my post the OP got his first pic up - just in time for compliance. Congrats! Now the success of the rest of your trip is assured.:beerchug:


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## iwantone (Jun 2, 2005)

SoonerJohn said:


> Answering the 'was I first question'... I never expected to be the first F30 delivery because I knew there would be people from Europe doing deliveries before me, etc. But I thought I would be the first from the US to do ED through BMW NA. And I'm still not sure about that. There was somebody else who took delivery of a white Sport Line a little before me and it had a tourist plate that was 1 number lower than mine (mine = M1235Z. his = M1234Z), so I'm guessing he was likely a BMW NA ED and I got beat by one guy. But apparently that guy isn't a poster here or on BimmerPost, so he doesn't really count, does he?
> 
> Otherwise - the uploads aren't going well. Here is at least one photo of the delivery:


Congratulations!! Nice color...


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Who was your delivery specialist? We need to start threads on each of them. It looks pretty cold in downtown Munich. That's why they invented beer.


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Gluhwein said:


> Who was your delivery specialist? We need to start threads on each of them. It looks pretty cold in downtown Munich. That's why they invented beer.


She was okay. Not great, but okay. "Iris" something (forgot her last name).

The weather was *amazing* this afternoon, but yesterday was overcast and it was really foggy this morning and again this evening. (I have a photo that I can't get uploaded of stepping out of the Olympiazentrum U3 station and you can only barely see the BMW HQ building - just a fuzzy view of the base and can't see it at all past a few floors up.)


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Awesome! Good to see the car with its happy owner!!


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## adrian's bmw (Feb 14, 2003)

SoonerJohn said:


> Answering the 'was I first question'... I never expected to be the first F30 delivery because I knew there would be people from Europe doing deliveries before me, etc. But I thought I would be the first from the US to do ED through BMW NA. And I'm still not sure about that. There was somebody else who took delivery of a white Sport Line a little before me and it had a tourist plate that was 1 number lower than mine (mine = M1235Z. his = M1234Z), so I'm guessing he was likely a BMW NA ED and I got beat by one guy. But apparently that guy isn't a poster here or on BimmerPost, so he doesn't really count, does he?
> 
> Otherwise - the uploads aren't going well. Here is at least one photo of the delivery:


That is so awesome!! Well, maybe you can brag that you're the first U.S. Bimmerfest member to collect an ED F30! :thumbup:


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## grizbo (Oct 23, 2003)

Congrats, John! Love your wheels as well as the color. Great pics of the Marienplatz,etc, around Munich---wish I'd spent more time there. Look forward to the rest of your fotos!


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## MB330 (Oct 18, 2005)

grizbo said:


> Congrats, John! Love your wheels as well as the color. Great pics of the Marienplatz,etc, around Munich---wish I'd spent more time there. Look forward to the rest of your fotos!


+1! Congratulation! :thumbup:


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

MB330 said:


> +1! Congratulation! :thumbup:


+2 Congrats on the beautiful car! Please post more photos :thumbup:


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## cruise_bone (Jun 6, 2007)

Fantastic color!


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

First things first - thanks everyone for the compliments!!! Otherwise, here's an update... First, my Internet connectivity is proving to be far slower and less reliable than I'd planned for. :thumbdwn: That is making this much harder, but here's at least a quick update since yesterday...

Drove down to Füssen and toured Neuschwanstein Castle today. The castle was pretty cool, but lots of exterior renovation going on, so I the photo's aren't so great. BUT driving the car down there and back on the windy roads down and the open autobahn on the way back was a blast! :thumbup:

Here's the requisite shot of the car in foreground and castle in background taken from the "official" photo spot as documented on the Wiki:









Speaking of the official spot - it is mentioned in the Wiki that it is slightly down a road marked as Do Not Enter, but nobody seems to care... Well, I pulled up, got the car in position and took the photos then got in the car to drive out only to find an older gentleman about 200 feet down the road walking toward me. I drove slowly past him and waved. To which he replied with a dirty look and a gestute clearly indicating that I was where I shouldn't be. Ooops!


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## iwantone (Jun 2, 2005)

SoonerJohn said:


> First things first - thanks everyone for the compliments!!! Otherwise, here's an update... First, my Internet connectivity is proving to be far slower and less reliable than I'd planned for. :thumbdwn: That is making this much harder, but here's at least a quick update since yesterday...
> 
> Drove down to Füssen and toured Neuschwanstein Castle today. The castle was pretty cool, but lots of exterior renovation going on, so I the photo's aren't so great. BUT driving the car down there and back on the windy roads down and the open autobahn on the way back was a blast! :thumbup:
> 
> ...


Great pic. What a difference the sun will make. you had much better weather than I did. When I drove down that road I was a little nervous, as I had just seen a couple of cops pass by...


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## 3ismagic# (Mar 17, 2011)

SoonerJohn said:


> First things first - thanks everyone for the compliments!!! Otherwise, here's an update... First, my Internet connectivity is proving to be far slower and less reliable than I'd planned for. :thumbdwn: That is making this much harder, but here's at least a quick update since yesterday...
> 
> Drove down to Füssen and toured Neuschwanstein Castle today. The castle was pretty cool, but lots of exterior renovation going on, so I the photo's aren't so great. BUT driving the car down there and back on the windy roads down and the open autobahn on the way back was a blast! :thumbup:
> 
> ...


Did he give you the universal gesture for you're #1?

Nice car and congrats on the first fester F30 ED. Like the Sport line wheels.:thumbup:


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

3ismagic# said:


> Did he give you the universal gesture for you're #1?
> 
> Nice car and congrats on the first fester F30 ED. Like the Sport line wheels.:thumbup:


Lol! No, it wasn't that kind of obvious gesture. He pointed back at the sign and then at his eyes. The point was clear.


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

iwantone said:


> Great pic. What a difference the sun will make. you had much better weather than I did. When I drove down that road I was a little nervous, as I had just seen a couple of cops pass by...


It's funny, because I actually had too much sun involved for a great pic. It was so bright and too much to the side, so the car got overly reflective and the entire scene washed out from too much sun. I might have been able to spend more time and gotten it better, but was in a rush to get back to Munich. (Plus, as I learned when I turned around, I was about to be confronted by someone not happy with me being there.  )


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Okay, it's time for a proper update and some more pictures.

Friday after the castle I returned to Munich and met "Entropic Artist" and his friend for dinner. We had a good time, but forgot to take a picture! Didn't do anything other than dinner and one beer since they had flown in overnight and done the car delivery that day and were pretty worn out.
Yesterday, I drove out east on the A8 to the border with Austria just before Salzburg (more to share on that drive out, but will have to do it later since it'll take more time) and then went down to drive up near the "Eagle's Nest". Not surprisingly, the road was still closed to get all the way up, but it was a neat area regardless
Then I drove across the German Alpine Road all the way to Fussen where I stayed for the night. (Yes, I did a big circle that brought me right back to the castle again 
I'm about to head out for the day and will make my way north up the Romantic Road until I decided it's time to call it a day.

I'll follow this post up immediately with some more pictures, going all the way back to delivery time and through. (I've had several requests for more photos of the car!)


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

First, more delivery photos:

Right after I got all checked in and papers signed in the Premium Lounge, I looked out the window just in time to see the guy getting out of my car after parking it in delivery location (sorry for the bad quality - through glass and taken in a rush):









Here's another photo looking down on my car from the Premium Lounge as I waited for delivery:









First view of my car rounding the bend on the infamous stairs (the walk down to the actual delivery, for those of you who haven't done one before. This is when the turn the turntable on and your car starts spinning around as you approach it. VERY cool!!!):









Here are a few delivery photos. Note the one where I'm making the same pose as I did with my old truck at home before leaving 



























This is Iris, who delivered the car to me:









I have several more of the Welt and Museum, but will post them later.

Here's a spread of all my goodies from delivery day. (I realized after I had purchased it that I accidentally bought a BMW Motorcycles coffee mug - I was looking for a good mug and when I saw one I liked I didn't look close enough at it to realize it was a Motorcycles version. Oh well...):









Close-up of my engraved key chain with ED and the date of delivery engraved:


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Now some photos of the rest of that first day...

First gas fill. OUCH!!!









I forgot to photo the odometer at delivery time, but it had 6 miles on it. (Not sure why since others had been having theirs delivered with zero in the past. Entropic Artist had his delivered with the same 6ish miles, so that must be the way they do it now. I was told that the 6 miles is from the run test in the factory.) So anyway - here it was with 8 miles when I remembered to take the photo:









Back in the Welt garage at the end of Day 1. 86 miles now:









And here are a few more shots of it in the Welt garage (trying to give people views of the paint color in different lighting situations):



























Interior photo and iDrive screen (Nav version) in Welt garage:


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Driving across the Alpine Road yesterday was beautiful, but it wasn't a good day for picture taking - there was a haze in the air everywhere - just very light clouds, I assume since I'm certain it wasn't smog!  But here's one that I thought was good just before dark as I was approaching Fussen:










And again, to comply with the requests for more pics of the car, here are some I took this morning on a drizzly overcast morning:









Here are the new style front license plate holders. I don't know why there are 2 - haven't figured that out yet. I can't look at how they attache because the front plate from the Euro Delivery is in the way:









I'm at 541 miles now:









Don't bother looking for the dipstick. Oil level can only be checked electronically now! What a crazy world we live in 









And a few more exterior to see it in the overcast weather. It seems this color really needs sunshine or bright lights to look great. In overcast or dark, it just looks 'okay' (IMHO):



























Okay, I have got to get moving!! I'm about 1 to 1.5 hours later hitting the road this morning than planned...


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## Dallas550 (Jan 16, 2011)

Great pictures!! I really wanted to get at least somewhat close to the Eagles Nest when I was there in January, but unfortunately the snow and temps didn't allow for much exploration. 

Keep the pics coming! :thumbup:


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## chrischeung (Sep 1, 2002)

1 plate is for the rear.


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## pcbrew (Aug 31, 2009)

chrischeung said:


> 1 plate is for the rear.


Yep, left one goes on front and right one goes on rear.


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

chrischeung said:


> 1 plate is for the rear.





pcbrew said:


> Yep, left one goes on front and right one goes on rear.


Makes perfect sense! I was so hung up on the front plate holder issue that I was trying to figure out how those both went up there.


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## pcbrew (Aug 31, 2009)

What color are your mirror caps?
I know they are supposed to be block, but they look gray from these pics.


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

pcbrew said:


> What color are your mirror caps?
> I know they are supposed to be block, but they look gray from these pics.


They're black. Gloss black.


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Guten tag from "Rothenburg on the Tauber"! I am uploading some pics from today right now, but thought I'd share some thoughts on the car and the experience in general while I await those uploads:


The car is just a BLAST to drive!!! I've had it on just about every kind of road (paved only!) that you can imagine and it's fun in a different way on every one of them!
I hit something between 140-145mph on the autobahn - not sure exactly what because even with the HUD, I was too nervous to look 
That said, 120mph on the autobahn is like a walk in the park. The car feels like it's going 70 instead of 120! Curves, bumps in the road, whatever - still feels completely safe and in control.
Windy roads - I've been on crazy mountain roads and other curvy roads - it can take a curve nicely and then accelerate crazy-fast onto a straight stretch before braking and doing it again.
I took a medium curve in the road earlier today and noticed the car leaned a little and I thought "hmmmph! It shouldn't do that on a gentle curve." Then I looked at the speedometer and I was going something between 70 & 75 mph! Lol
The car is very quiet inside other than hearing the exhaust sound
The car sounds MEAN!!! I actually have driven quite a few miles with the stereo turned off just to hear the sweet song of the exhaust!
Speaking of the audio - the HK system is definitely worth it! I listen to all sorts of music and it sounds great. I took the time to adjust the equalizer and WOW! I cranked up Phantom of the Opera yesterday and felt like I was in the Queen's Theater in London again watching it live - it was really impressive! Just to show how varied my musical interests are, I also jammed out to The Black Eye Peas - My Humps sounded great 
HUD rocks!!!
Speed Limit Info rocks!!!
Comfort Access trunk opening rocks!!!
The driving mode selection really does a great job of making the car act like you feel like having it act - it's like having 3 different cars and you get to choose which one you are driving at the push of a button.
I've learned that the Voice Activation isn't as horrible as some have said - it's just very finicky - you have to do things in just the right sequence and it works great - as of now, I'm up to about a 50% hit rate for remembering that right sequence 
The ability to store anything you want on the 8 preset buttons is cool - as is the touch sensative ability to see what they have stored by just gliding your finger across them

So, having said all those wonderful things, there are a few down sides that I've discovered:

Given how nice it is to be able to store all sorts of things to the presets (not just radio stations), they really should have given us more than just 8 of them!
The iDrive split-screen is not "smart" - that is to say that it doesn't adjust what is on the right smaller side dependent on what you have selected on the main portion of the screen. So if I have "Navigation Map" selected on the right side while viewing Entertainment Info on the left, when I switch the left to Navigation Map, it still shows the nav map on the right side as well. This feature should be all about sets of display, not fixed right-hand-side.
The top portion of the steering wheel is too thin, IMHO. (Sides and bottom are great.)
Some of the features between the older style "BC" computer info and the iDrive info aren't integrated as well as they should be.


I know there were other things I was going to put here, but it's 10:40 at night and I've had a few glasses of some really good regional wine and can't think of them right now  I'll post more when I think of them.


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## SoonerJohn (Jul 29, 2011)

Just a few quick pics before bedtime. Saw some great stuff on the Romantic Road today, but I'll keep this to only a few that more directly involve the car:

First, here's a cool view of the sorts of things I got to drive through today even on the flatter more open roads (yesterday was the more mountanous driving) Oh, and I wasn't driving when I took this - pulled off the side of the road and then stepped out to photo:









This is what Mineral Grey Metallic looks like when dirty  (No, I was not needing service - stopped for water to drink and that's just where I parked it)









Random @ss shot:









And weird angle side view from same spot as above:


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## wesleyan92 (Mar 11, 2008)

Is it me or does it look like the car rides high - just a tad too much gap in the wheel wells? One of the things l love about the E90 or E60 sports package is how low the ground the cars are. Any thoughts?

Just an observation - still a beautiful car. I am going to get the same color combination when my E60 lease is up - the only difference will be the M-package (which should be available this summer)


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## malc410326 (Feb 26, 2012)

SoonerJohn said:


> My first photos from the trip...
> 
> I am such a dork sometimes.  Here's a photo of the custom luggage tags I made:


I honestly thought at first that BMWNA sent you those tags....Truly you have had an ED to remember for years to come!


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## malc410326 (Feb 26, 2012)

SoonerJohn said:


> First things first - thanks everyone for the compliments!!! Otherwise, here's an update... First, my Internet connectivity is proving to be far slower and less reliable than I'd planned for. :thumbdwn: That is making this much harder, but here's at least a quick update since yesterday...
> 
> Drove down to Füssen and toured Neuschwanstein Castle today. The castle was pretty cool, but lots of exterior renovation going on, so I the photo's aren't so great. BUT driving the car down there and back on the windy roads down and the open autobahn on the way back was a blast! :thumbup:
> 
> ...


So.......this is what my mineral grey Bimmer WOULD have looked like in Deutschland!?!?!?! Awesome photo-op!


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## malc410326 (Feb 26, 2012)

SoonerJohn said:


> Just a few quick pics before bedtime. Saw some great stuff on the Romantic Road today, but I'll keep this to only a few that more directly involve the car:
> 
> First, here's a cool view of the sorts of things I got to drive through today even on the flatter more open roads (yesterday was the more mountanous driving) Oh, and I wasn't driving when I took this - pulled off the side of the road and then stepped out to photo:


Ok. Let me pick up my mouth off the ground! I would drool over a chance to take my Bimmer on curves like that to test it's handling!!!!!! In our area, we have curves, BUT they are on hilly roads and of course, COPS may we be waiting around the bend. I got lucky when I found my personal "Autobahn" in our area. The more I see these photos, the more an ED becomes mandatory on a Bimmer purchase. AWESOME pics! How fast did you take the curves and how was the handling on the vehicle?


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## SD ///M4 (Jan 24, 2011)

SoonerJohn said:


> Given how nice it is to be able to store all sorts of things to the presets (not just radio stations), they really should have given us more than just 8 of them!
> The iDrive split-screen is not "smart" - that is to say that it doesn't adjust what is on the right smaller side dependent on what you have selected on the main portion of the screen. So if I have "Navigation Map" selected on the right side while viewing Entertainment Info on the left, when I switch the left to Navigation Map, it still shows the nav map on the right side as well. This feature should be all about sets of display, not fixed right-hand-side.


On the E9x there are only six presets!

The split screen allows you to have anything you want on either the left or the right. If you have both screens on Nav, you can have the right screen display an overview with the left side displaying the perspective view. You can also auto-scale the right side by first pushing the controller to the right and then spinning the controller knob all the way clockwise until it reads "Auto" after which it will display whatever scale needed to show the start and the end of the trip. the closer you get to the end, the smaller the scale becomes. You can also have the right side display your audio info while the left side is in Nav (or vice versa). Just push the controller to the right to get to the right side, then press on the controller to pick whatever content you want for the right side.


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## AggieKnight (Dec 26, 2008)

Grats on the trip and car, man.

Looks great!


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## peace2peep (Dec 7, 2011)

Was is the Escort 9500ix? How did you wire it? Cig lighter or hardwire?


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## F30owner (Feb 11, 2012)

wesleyan92 said:


> Is it me or does it look like the car rides high - just a tad too much gap in the wheel wells? One of the things l love about the E90 or E60 sports package is how low the ground the cars are. Any thoughts?
> 
> Just an observation - still a beautiful car. I am going to get the same color combination when my E60 lease is up - the only difference will be the M-package (which should be available this summer)


Yes I agree with you - its more noticeable at higher speeds for some reason. I would have liked to be a bit more lower at 130mph. My old 325 e46 i thought was a bit lower.. my car is in transit so will observe more once its here.


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