# PCD Worthwhile?



## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

Ok, so from all the threads in here I can tell that the concensus is that yes PCD is worthwhile in general. However, is it worthwhile if you also have a 2,000+ mile drive back to Phoenix afterwards? We'd be picking up sometime around June/July/August so prime weather months for a cross country trip. If we did do PCD we'd also make a stop up in Chicago to see family so we'd really be looking at about a 2,800 mile trip.


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## alee (Dec 19, 2001)

That's going to be a personal call.  PCD is a lot of fun for sure, but not necessarily a must have if you're willing to spend money afterwards.

Example... if a 2800 mile road trip isn't in the cards, take regular delivery of your car. Go do any of the 1 day or 2 day PCD schools at a later time and you'll probably end up having a lot more seat time and fun. You'll pay an out of pocket for that. PCD is free.. but then you're shelling out for the road trip and hotels.

Having driven cross country a few times in my life, and having done 1400+ miles during ED, I'd say ED is way more fun if you want a road trip in a car. If you're going to take a long road trip anyway, PCD is a nice get to know your car trip, and you'll get through break-in quicker.


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## DN325CI (Oct 5, 2002)

Our recent PCD was awesome, to be sure. If that were the singular objective, then it would be a tougher call to drive 2,800 miles for what is essentially a 6-8 hour experience. However, when you combine all of those objectives together, it sounds like a terrific trip to accomplish several goals. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably do it if I could work out the timing.


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

alee said:


> That's going to be a personal call. PCD is a lot of fun for sure, but not necessarily a must have if you're willing to spend money afterwards.
> 
> Example... if a 2800 mile road trip isn't in the cards, take regular delivery of your car. Go do any of the 1 day or 2 day PCD schools at a later time and you'll probably end up having a lot more seat time and fun. You'll pay an out of pocket for that. PCD is free.. but then you're shelling out for the road trip and hotels.
> 
> Having driven cross country a few times in my life, and having done 1400+ miles during ED, I'd say ED is way more fun if you want a road trip in a car. If you're going to take a long road trip anyway, PCD is a nice get to know your car trip, and you'll get through break-in quicker.





DN325CI said:


> Our recent PCD was awesome, to be sure. If that were the singular objective, then it would be a tougher call to drive 2,800 miles for what is essentially a 6-8 hour experience. However, when you combine all of those objectives together, it sounds like a terrific trip to accomplish several goals. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably do it if I could work out the timing.


Thank you both. I would much rather prefer to be putting the miles on with an ED delivery but unfortunately that won't be in the cards for this year but a PCD may be possible. Since ED is out I would still like to get that "one-of-a-kind" delivery experience by doing PCD and it would be nice to get past that 1,200 mile break-in period in a few days but I'm not necessarily looking forward to a drive across the country as I've done it before and it wasn't all that exciting. Then again, I wasn't doing that drive in a brand new BMW...


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## alee (Dec 19, 2001)

chicagofan00 said:


> but I'm not necessarily looking forward to a drive across the country as I've done it before and it wasn't all that exciting. Then again, I wasn't doing that drive in a brand new BMW...


I did 2 cross country trips (NYC-SF) in my E46... doesn't matter how cool the car is... the highways are slow, the road conditions are questionable and the rest stop areas are pretty infrequent.


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

alee said:


> I did 2 cross country trips (NYC-SF) in my E46... doesn't matter how cool the car is... *the highways are slow, the road conditions are questionable and the rest stop areas are pretty infrequent.*


And that is what is the big deterrent so far and just can't gauge if it's truly worth all that hassle.


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## DN325CI (Oct 5, 2002)

As a car guy you would certainly enjoy it. I know I did. But if it were me I would not go 2800 miles for that objective exclusively. It could however be one element in an extremely cool vacation.


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

DN325CI said:


> As a car guy you would certainly enjoy it. I know I did. But if it were me I would not go 2800 miles for that objective exclusively. It could however be one element in an extremely cool vacation.


Due to a few limiting factors the only vacation part of it would be the day of delivery and the next few days up in Chicago. After that it would really just have to be a drive back to Phoenix with stops in between to rest.

I'm thinking in the end it may end up being best to just take delivery locally and like Alee said to go back for one of the driving schools at a later date.


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## Rich_Jenkins (Jul 12, 2003)

Wow. 2,800 miles?

I dunno. This is from what sticks in my mind from mine in 2011:

- Airport pickup, meal and room at the Marriott. I thought this was very well done.

- Factory tour/Museum: Interesting, but you know, it's a factory. I thought calling it a "museum" was a bit of a stretch.

- Driving experience: Awesome, but brief. Few laps on the skkdpad, a braking exercise, then a few follow the leader warm laps on the track.

- M3 ride: 45 seconds of sheer terror. Just kidding. Quite an E ticket ride. Probably why I ended up buying an E92 M3 the following year. :bigpimp:

- "X" drive, about 20 minutes piloting an X5 at 2 mph over, around and through some 4WD obstacles. Ok, but, uh, slow.

- Lunch at the Performance Center/Gift shop. Very very well done, picked up a couple cool items.

- The delivery itself; great way to get a new BMW.

We left around 4, then drove to Charleston SC (200 mi) for a couple days sightseeing. We then drove home to Orlando, 400 miles.

That was a great experience, and a phenomenal free perk of BMW to pick up the cost of all this.

But, if I had to drive home much farther than 3-400 miles, I'd really have to think twice about it.


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## DN325CI (Oct 5, 2002)

MMME30W said:


> Wow. 2,800 miles?
> 
> I dunno. This is from what sticks in my mind from mine in 2011:
> 
> ...


Perfect summary. +1.


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

MMME30W said:


> Wow. 2,800 miles?
> 
> I dunno. This is from what sticks in my mind from mine in 2011:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the summary and insight!


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## thumper_330 (Jan 3, 2009)

Well, as my lengthy writeup will attest, I had a great time and honestly would do it again in a heartbeat. Having said that, I had a 700 mile drive rather than 2000.

All told though, I'd probably still do it especially if I'd not been able to do ED. It was one hell of an experience, and BMW really rolled out the red carpet. I'd also note that if you're driving to Chicago right after a PCD, you can do what I did and do the Tail of the Dragon and/or Cherohala Skyway as well on the way... it's not that big of a detour and really allowed me to bond with my car. It was also just a great time for me and I was really happy on that drive. The 700 miles almost seemed like they melted away... well, OK I'd done 100 miles pretty much on the first day. But either way, I was on such a high that by the time I got home about 10pm I was pretty much still rearing to get back into the drivers seat and drive!

As a side note, when I got my M3 Sedan I drove all the way to Washington DC in my 135i on a Friday, and drove all the way home again on the Saturday in the M3, so yeah I can do the 2000 miles and have done. It was also a great trip and totally worth it in my opinion. Really it comes down to your own comfort level, but especially if you've not done a long cross-country drive before it's an experience you should do at least once. I've done it a number of times, and I'm sure I'll do it again  Just make sure you make a point to visit some cool places along the way!


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

thumper_330 said:


> Well, as my lengthy writeup will attest, I had a great time and honestly would do it again in a heartbeat. Having said that, I had a 700 mile drive rather than 2000.
> 
> All told though, I'd probably still do it especially if I'd not been able to do ED. It was one hell of an experience, and BMW really rolled out the red carpet. I'd also note that if you're driving to Chicago right after a PCD, you can do what I did and do the Tail of the Dragon and/or Cherohala Skyway as well on the way... it's not that big of a detour and really allowed me to bond with my car. It was also just a great time for me and I was really happy on that drive. The 700 miles almost seemed like they melted away... well, OK I'd done 100 miles pretty much on the first day. But either way, I was on such a high that by the time I got home about 10pm I was pretty much still rearing to get back into the drivers seat and drive!
> 
> As a side note, when I got my M3 Sedan I drove all the way to Washington DC in my 135i on a Friday, and drove all the way home again on the Saturday in the M3, so yeah I can do the 2000 miles and have done. It was also a great trip and totally worth it in my opinion. Really it comes down to your own comfort level, but especially if you've not done a long cross-country drive before it's an experience you should do at least once. I've done it a number of times, and I'm sure I'll do it again  Just make sure you make a point to visit some cool places along the way!


Excellent write-up, thanks for taking the time to share all of that. That kind of write-up is what is making the decision difficult.


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## nepats81 (Aug 21, 2013)

I recently did PCD to pick up my 435i. I had a 1000 mile trip back up to New England. PCD was great, but if I had to do more than 1000 miles, not sure if I would do it again...

I would spend the money on a flight to chicago and some great dinners. Its a great city in the summer.


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

I've been thinking some more on this and came up with the idea of doing PCD and taking the drive up to Chicago. Then when we are ready to leave Chicago the new thought was just have the car shipped back to Phoenix. Has anyone done this previously? Curious on what would be a good company to go with and how much it might cost.


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## dmatre (Sep 3, 2011)

Moving a car from Charlotte to LA was near $1200. Move went without a hitch.


Sent from BimmerApp mobile app


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

dmatre said:


> Moving a car from Charlotte to LA was near $1200. Move went without a hitch.
> 
> Sent from BimmerApp mobile app


Was that in an enclosed trailer or open air? Any chance you can share who you used for the move?


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## DN325CI (Oct 5, 2002)

I shipped a 3-series convertible in summer of 2012 using an established national carrier called United Road. Distance was 546 miles. There were different prices for open truck versus closed. I remember paying $1,074, and I'm pretty sure that was for the enclosed truck. Open truck was like 600 or 700 if memory serves.

EDIT: By the way, I found this carrier by using the shipping broker site called uship.com. I saw it on another car forum, and I put out my bid for quotation through that site uship.com. Three or four carriers bid for my business, and I selected United Road from the bidders. They were not the cheapest bidder. They were among the most established.


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## chicagofan00 (Feb 10, 2008)

DN325CI said:


> I shipped a 3-series convertible in summer of 2012 using an established national carrier called United Road. Distance was 546 miles. There were different prices for open truck versus closed. I remember paying $1,074, and I'm pretty sure that was for the enclosed truck. Open truck was like 600 or 700 if memory serves.
> 
> EDIT: By the way, I found this carrier by using the shipping broker site called uship.com. I saw it on another car forum, and I put out my bid for quotation through that site uship.com. Three or four carriers bid for my business, and I selected United Road from the bidders. They were not the cheapest bidder. They were among the most established.


Thanks! I was looking at uship.com last night as well. I didn't submit a bid for quotation but was looking at some of the prices that were listed. If it was just over $1k for under 1,000 miles in an enclosed truck I have a feeling the 1,700 miles from the Chicago area to the Phoenix area will be rather pricey!


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## thumper_330 (Jan 3, 2009)

... or you can always find a willing 'Fester who will do the drive for the cost of flights  Hell, I'd probably do it for you since I can visit friends in Oklahoma City I haven't seen in a while on the way


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