# My PCD experience...added video



## rmr927 (Oct 8, 2014)

If you ever get a chance to order a car, I highly recommend the Performance Center Delivery. BMW puts on a class act and really treats their customers with highest standards.

BMW will put you up in the Greenville Marriott for the night which includes dinner the night you arrive, a drink voucher and breakfast the morning of delivery. You are responsible for getting yourself to Spartanburg. I chose to fly into Greenville-Spartanburg International and once there just simply call the hotel and tell them you are doing the PCD delivery and they send out a driver to pick you up. My driver, Daniel, pulled up in a white X5 within 15 minutes of my call, loaded up my luggage and drove me over to the hotel. On the way, he delivered the welcome packed from BMW, told me a bit about the delivery experience and called ahead for my dinner reservations. As I entered the hotel, I was greeted by name, promptly checked in and and had my bags delivered to my room. Never in my life of staying in hotels have I been treated this nicely. Once settled in my room, I went down to the hotel restaurant "Artisan" for my complimentary meal. It's a bit of a limited menu and slightly upscale but delicious. I chose the romaine salad, beef medallions with mashed potatoes and chocolate mousse for desert. The hostess brought over the check and you simply enter your room number and sign. The tip is included but I did pad it a bit more for the server.

Breakfast the following morning starts at 6:30 and consists of anything from cereal to hot foods including an omelette station. Again, once done, just sign the check and walk away...it's all on BMW. The hotel shuttles you to the PCD promptly at 7:45...unfortunately it's in a shuttle bus. You will need to meet at the bellhop station by 7:40 with your luggage. You can opt to stay an extra night at the BMW rate and I suggest this if you are driving an extended distance home.

Once at the Performance Center, you gather in the lobby (which was rather exiting for me because that's where my car was sitting) and drop off your luggage, coats, etc. They will store it until you leave. You will then be escorted to classroom portion where you meet the instructors, in our case Mike Renner and Justin Fouts. Both gave a brief bio with Mike going over all the safety features of the car and teaching us how to be better drivers. Once class is done, it's playtime. Outside of the classroom, there will be a row of cars equivalent to the car you will be picking up. The instructors will pair you up with your car, go over proper seating position and then pair you up into groups. There are three possible segments you can start out in, Slalom, Skidpad or Braking.

My group started out in braking. The idea is to get comfortable and trust the ABS system in the car. You will do 3 panic stops, first at 40mph, than 45 and finally 50. When you get up to the 50mph mark, you will have to steer the car to the left or you will eat some cones. The instructors are in constant communication with you via a radio in the car and will comment on your driving techniques giving corrections if needed.

The slalom / road course is next. It's a small kidney shaped course with some strategically place cones. Don't be afraid to push the car hard, the instructors encourage it as long as you keep all four tires on the pavement and aren't killing any cones. They actually tell you to remember these three letters "N.Y.C." (Not Your Car). Again, the whole idea is to get a feel for what the car can to as well as to trust the stability control.

The wet skidpad is the final of the three courses. It's a 300 ft diameter concrete pad that they wet down with sprinklers. You park the car you are driving off track and hop into and drive the instructors car, it this case a 335i. He is in the passenger seat controlling the DSC. You hug the yellow line doing about 20mph with the DSC off and floor the throttle. In a matter of seconds, you are doing 360's and heading off towards the grass. Once you get facing in the right direction again, he switches the DSC back on and has you again follow the yellow line. With the DSC on, the car doing everything in it's power to keep from spinning out.

The final treat is a hot lap with an instructor in a M5. The M cars are so damn fast and it's amazing to see how the control the instructors have with them. By the way, they used to do this after lunch but I'm guessing some people "lost their lunch".

After the hot lap, they split the group in two. Half will do the X5 off road course and the rest will have their car's delivered. I was in the delivery group and I'm I sorry that I forgot my delivery specialist's name but she was awesome. They will spend as much time as needed with you to go over every aspect of the car.

The Performance Center has 3 on-staff chefs that prepare a variety of meals for lunch. You get about an hour break for lunch and again it's all complimentary. This is a nice time to sit down a chat with everyone.

The X5 course is really fun. As you can probably imagine, you will be going over some rugged terrain. The "Frame Breaker" is the most amazing. You drive to the top of a hill and slowly creep forward until the only two wheel touching the ground are the RF and LR. The X5 then feels like it is going to tip over with the RR wheel dangling about 3 feet in the air. You will drive through a river with water that reaches the door sills and do some uphill climbs and downhill descents.

The final treat is getting a tour of the factory where they build the X3 and X4's. The factory is HUGE and you will only see about 1/5th of it. It takes about an hour and I swear you walk about a mile. It's amazing to see the robotics and automation that goes into building a BMW. No cameras or cell phones allowed inside.

After the factory tour, you have the option of going to the BMW Zentrum museum. It takes about 30 minutes to cruise through the museum. They have a nice display of classic cars, bike, race cars and engines on display. If you want a good photo op, drive to the front of the museum and park so the BMW roundel sign and flags are behind you car.

The one suggestion I could give is if your drive home is more than a couple hours, book the hotel an extra night. You get it at the BMW rate and it includes breakfast. The PCD experience is fun and is also very draining.

The ride back home to NJ was a fun way to get aquatinted with the car and an easy way to get some break-in miles done. I was impressed with the comfort of the seats, ergonomics and the way the car drove. I had it in Eco-Pro mode most of the way (probably the last time it gets used) and was impressed to see the car get over 30 mpg.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get most everything in there.

*Here are some pics from the trip. http://imgur.com/a/T7M3E*

I had a GoPro in the car and once I've got everything edited, I'll post the link.


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

Glad you enjoyed the experience, and your delivery specialist was probably Willie -- she's wonderful.


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## KAP8 (Feb 19, 2008)

Wine-O said:


> Glad you enjoyed the experience, and your delivery specialist was probably Willie -- she's wonderful.


We had Willie! She was awesome!


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## SD330i (Mar 22, 2006)

*Pcd*



rmr927 said:


> If you ever get a chance to order a car, I highly recommend the Performance Center Delivery. BMW puts on a class act and really treats their customers with highest standards.
> 
> BMW will put you up in the Greenville Marriott for the night which includes dinner the night you arrive, a drink voucher and breakfast the morning of delivery. You are responsible for getting yourself to Spartanburg. I chose to fly into Greenville-Spartanburg International and once there just simply call the hotel and tell them you are doing the PCD delivery and they send out a driver to pick you up. My driver, Daniel, pulled up in a white X5 within 15 minutes of my call, loaded up my luggage and drove me over to the hotel. On the way, he delivered the welcome packed from BMW, told me a bit about the delivery experience and called ahead for my dinner reservations. As I entered the hotel, I was greeted by name, promptly checked in and and had my bags delivered to my room. Never in my life of staying in hotels have I been treated this nicely. Once settled in my room, I went down to the hotel restaurant "Artisan" for my complimentary meal. It's a bit of a limited menu and slightly upscale but delicious. I chose the romaine salad, beef medallions with mashed potatoes and chocolate mousse for desert. The hostess brought over the check and you simply enter your room number and sign. The tip is included but I did pad it a bit more for the server.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the excellent review. It brought back great memories of our PCD experience
We had in October 2012 . We look forward to seeing your GoPro pictures soon .
Happy Holidays !***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127877;***127873;***127873;***127873;***127873;***127873;***127873;***127876;***127876;***127876;***127876;***127876;***127876;


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## miata13 (Nov 22, 2007)

+ 1....Great recap and photos...brought back lots of great memories...and we share the same color scheme too!


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## Xtabi (Dec 31, 2007)

Many thanks for taking the time to do this write-up! I am ordering my car this week and will be doing PCD. Can't wait!!!


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## rmr927 (Oct 8, 2014)

Thanks for all your comments. Here's a video I put together of the trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDT7U_aKobg


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## miata13 (Nov 22, 2007)

RMR927...Great Video :thumbup: Thanks for putting that together! Loved your drive through the mountains...I could almost reimagine looking over the hood of our Glacier Silver F31!


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## rmr927 (Oct 8, 2014)

miata13 said:


> RMR927...Great Video :thumbup: Thanks for putting that together and your drive through the mountains...I could almost reimagine looking over the hood of our Glacier Silver F31!


I really like the Glacier Silver / Coral Red combo. I hope you're enjoying your car as much as I am mine.


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

Nice video. I bought my 2011 thru Circle BMW.


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## BIG BLUUE (Apr 6, 2007)

Thanks a bunch for your write up. It was very informative. I will be ordering my car soon and will do PCD!!


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## warpdrive (Nov 10, 2013)

Thanks for the great write up and the awesome video. It's fun to re-live the moments!!


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## need4speed (May 26, 2006)

:thumbup:


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## NotM2 (Dec 30, 2014)

Great writeup!

What time did you get done at PCD?


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## rmr927 (Oct 8, 2014)

I think we were done around 3.


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## DantonIzzo (Sep 1, 2014)

Thanks for the great write up and vids, and congrats! :thumbup:

I have a question regarding your front plate. It appears that your front bumper was drilled with the plate. Did they do that for you before your arrived or did they do that as part of the delivery? I plan on getting a hide away plate and do not want my bumper drilled. Should I contact PCD ahead of time and tell hem not to drill the car?


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## rmr927 (Oct 8, 2014)

DantonIzzo said:


> I have a question regarding your front plate. It appears that your front bumper was drilled with the plate. Did they do that for you before your arrived or did they do that as part of the delivery? I plan on getting a hide away plate and do not want my bumper drilled. Should I contact PCD ahead of time and tell hem not to drill the car?


They give you the option. When I got there, the plate was not installed. It's a little painful to watch but being that's it a lease and I'm driving it in NJ, I chose to have it done.


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## miata13 (Nov 22, 2007)

DantonIzzo said:


> Thanks for the great write up and vids, and congrats! :thumbup:
> 
> I have a question regarding your front plate. It appears that your front bumper was drilled with the plate. Did they do that for you before your arrived or did they do that as part of the delivery? I plan on getting a hide away plate and do not want my bumper drilled. Should I contact PCD ahead of time and tell hem not to drill the car?


DantonIzzo - You mentioned a "hide-away" license...but if you're looking for a mounting unit that utilizes the front tow hook mount, I purchased one from US Millworks...very high quality albeit a bit expensive. The quick release feature is nice as well. 
http://www.usmillworks.com/bmw_front_license_plate_mount_bracket_tow_hook.html

Enjoy your new vehicle...you'll have a fantastic time in Spartanburg! :thumbup:


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## gm1963 (Jan 20, 2015)

I'm going to do both ED and hopefully drive the Nurburgring and come back and do the PCD as well. Quick question, how did you mount your gopro, what accessories did you use? I don't want to get to Germany and then not have the correct equipment to mount and forget about it.

Thanks for the post, the video and the writeup!!


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## Shon528 (Oct 3, 2003)

Your video has me itching to go back already!


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## rmr927 (Oct 8, 2014)

gm1963 said:


> I'm going to do both ED and hopefully drive the Nurburgring and come back and do the PCD as well. Quick question, how did you mount your gopro, what accessories did you use? I don't want to get to Germany and then not have the correct equipment to mount and forget about it.
> 
> Thanks for the post, the video and the writeup!!


Yes...please take some video...especially if you get to drive around the Nurburgring.

I used the GoPro Suction Cup along with a combination of mounts sent with the camera. For the exterior roof top shots, I used the shorter mount along with the skeleton case and attached an external microphone to the bumper to get the exhaust note. I ran the mic wire through the passenger window and into the trunk through the fold down pass through and just taped the mic to the bumper.

For the interior shots, I mounted the camera upside down using the suction cup on the sunroof. The interior mount is the longer of the two mounts pictured. You can probably shorten the interior mount if you wanted but I was going for an eye-level view.

I would suggest bringing extra batteries and getting a good quality 64GB mini SD card. My battery lasted a little under an hour.

Microphone: Olympus ME-51S Stereo Microphone 
Wind Sock: thewindcutter.com
Mic Adapter: GoPro 3.5mm Mic Adapter
Mic Cable: Stereo Mini Male to Stereo Mini Female Cable - 25' (bhphoto.com)

Hope this helps. Enjoy your ED and hopefully Nurburgring run. I've only had my car for about a month and I'm already looking forward to another PCD in about 3 years.


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