# My ED trip report (warning: lots of photos)



## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

As promised, here's my complete report from my last ED trip. I'll be doing this in installments over the next several days. If you have any comments, questions, etc feel free to post as reply in this thread. I'll reply to them later. Thanks in advance!

*Day 1: Arrival at MUC*

Oct 26, Wednesday. My last leg of the long flight was AMS - MUC, having flown SFO - MSP - AMS the day/night before. We touched down at MUC around 9:15am, which would be about 20 hrs since I left my house. There was a bit of inconvenience because I was supposed to meet up with my cousin from Boston at AMS and fly AMS - MUC together. But his flight out of BOS was delayed so I didn't meet him at AMS and he had to take the later AMS - MUC flight.

I decided to wait for him at MUC for another 2.5 hrs. So I walked around the airport looking around and saw this display of BMW Oracle racing yacht and the M6!

After my cousin arrived, we went to our hotel by S8 to Marienplatz and transfer to U3 to Machtlfinger Straße for our hotel (Holiday Inn München-Sud).

The hotel is typical of modern European Holiday Inn and the room is a bit small. But it's very close to the U-bahn station (about 5-6 minutes walk), it has a spacious, gated underground garage. And for my dates of stay the price was right. There is a big Wal-Mart across from the U-bahn station with a nice food section to get quick bites (coffee, juice, pastry, sandwich, hot meals, etc). The hotel has internet access in the business center, but during my stay their internet access was down the whole time .

I can recommend this hotel to other EDers and I'll consider it for my future trip to Munich.


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

After settling in to our room, we went back to Marienplatz. We got there just in time for the 5pm glockenspiel play. The weather was absolutely gorgeous that afternoon. We walked around Viktualienmarkt for a while watching people drinking beers.

We were hungry so after a quick discussion with my cousin as to where we should go, we settled for Weisses Bräuhaus. We had very good wheat beers and very delicious wursts :beerchug:. Needless to say, we overstuffed ourselves :yummy:


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## am_ver (Jul 12, 2005)

Wondering if Oracle employees get a discount when they buy a BMW - like employee pricing stuff


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## chuck92103 (Oct 9, 2005)

roots, nice color and nice wheels on the M6! :thumbup: 

Did you get the HUD option on your 5 series?


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

*Day 2: Pickup car, Audi Forum & Factory Tour, Munich Factory Tour
*
Oct 27, Thursday. Today is my pickup day. We left our hotel early and took U6 to Freimann. I came by U6 also when I did my first ED 3 yrs ago so I already knew my way.

We got to the Euro Delivery gate around 8am. I've heard from some recent posts that the intercom was broken so I was wondering how I could get in if that's the case. But I pushed the button and the intercom was indeed working! :thumbup:

The lobby was pretty empty that morning. I gave my passport and delivery letter to the girl at the desk and proceeded to check out the brochure shelves underneath the stairs to the bistro. I picked up some nice BMW Individual brochures for the 6er, 7er, X5, etc. The current BMW Individual brochure is now a very nice hardbound books. They'll make a nice addition to my brochure collections .


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

We then proceeded upstairs to the bistro. Ordered some coffee, orange juices, croissants, etc. I asked the girl about the Bimmerfest book and as soon as I said Bimmerfest, she nodded and said "yes I know" :thumbup:.

Apparently that day there was another Bimmerfester from Scottsdale, AZ who was picking up thier car as I saw the entry dated also 10/26. But I didn't see them so we must've missed each other by minutes.

As I finished the food, my delivery guy came up and called my name. I immediately recognized him... Ernst Fortune. He was the same guy who did my delivery 3 yrs ago. He actually said that he remembered me too. So after a few signatures, we were ready to meet my new baby:clap:.


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## MB330 (Oct 18, 2005)

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: 
Thank you for nice pics.


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## bdraper (Jun 3, 2005)

Beautiful car! And I like the chronology of your post, showing each step of the way. Makes me feel almost as though I'm back


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

There were 3 others ED cars in the garage that morning. Are the owners here?

I'm not sure what the story is about that silver 530i. Its front bumpers right side has got some scratches and the car didn't look brand new to me. Also the plate number is significantly higher in the series. 

The black 650 convertible belongs to a family from LA who was picking up the same day. I saw them at the Bistro but didn't get a chance to talk to them that day. But I met them again the next day during our Dingolfing tour. Notice that their plate number is 1 higher than mine.

And apparently the German polizei also picks up their car at the delivery center .


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Great pictures! The 5 series is so awesome!


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

I asked Ernst about that neon foot light. Ernst pointed me to this framed description. This neon light was a subject of discussion a few yrs ago and I don't know if anybody has posted this description before.

We drove out of the garage only to find a nice, clear, sunny day (and yes this is the end of October in Germany :thumbup: ). I wasted no time to snap a few more photos :rofl:


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## Calif65GM (Mar 27, 2005)

Great report and pics.

LOL police bmw wagons, sure beats the Ford Crown Vics that we see in the Bay Area. :rofl:


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## am_ver (Jul 12, 2005)

How come your 530 has chrome kidney grills? I thought the standard was black for 530 and the chrome for 545/550.


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## bmw325 (Dec 19, 2001)

am_ver said:


> How come your 530 has chrome kidney grills? I thought the standard was black for 530 and the chrome for 545/550.


All models have chrome kidneys for 2006.


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## mdreviews (Dec 13, 2002)

Yep, chrome kidneys are standard on Sept 06 production and on.



robg said:


> All models have chrome kidneys for 2006.


Roots: Nice pictures. Cool choice of model.


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

Just got back from lunch and saw some nice comments . Thanks a lot! To answer a few questions:

*am_ver*: I don't know about today, but back in 1998 I know that BMW NA had corporate discounts for employee of various big companies (and Oracle was one of them). I think they discontinued that discount a long time ago as I never heard about it anymore.

And as others already pointed out, chrome grill is *standard on all 5 series starting Sept 05 production.

*Link to MY06 product update posted by Jon.

*chuck92103*: No, I didn't get HUD. It would be a nice gizmo, though.


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

Here are some photos of the interior. These were actually taken a few days later because the ones taken at the delivery center weren't very good.


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

We've got a reservation for Audi factory tour at 11:30 am that day. So I set my Garmin GPS to Ingolstadt and we left the delivery center around 9:45 am.

We ran into some traffic jam on A9 but fortunately after a short while traffic was flowing again. As we approached Ingolstadt, there were signs on the autobahn for Audi Forum. We followed the exit and found the place easily.

:wow:They've got a very nice setup there! The whole complex looks very neat and modern. They've also got the factory delivery center there for the German customers to pick up their cars. But for whatever reasons, Audi doesn't have euro delivery for US customers. LOL. So we still have the edge 

We checked in for the factory tour at the reception desk inside the lobby. Unlike BMW, you have to pay €4/person for Audi factory tour. The lobby is very nice too. They've got a self-service restaurant, real restaurant, wine shop, bar, lounge, etc. Their setup totally beats BMW hands down. But we'll just have to wait for the new BMW Welt to open.


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## roots (Sep 27, 2002)

More photos from the reception lobby.


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Roots- what's your review of the SMG?


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