# First ED Experience '16 F80 M3, 10 days 7 Countries Epic Trip



## jjclyde (Jan 15, 2006)

atticus1 said:


> How was Croatia?


Croatia was really great. It's all about the water, and Dubrovnik. Beautiful winding coastline, crystal clear water. Zadar & Split are nice stops to enjoy beach/boating/water activity. So in that regard, it's a May through Sept destination. I assume there is skiing in the winter - but we didn't investigate that ... Dolomiti are plenty fabulous for that. 

Dubrovnik is simply a fantastic place to visit. It's a no-fooling-around walled city. Really interesting to just walk around and observe. Also very good food there as well, with reasonable prices (not cheap, but not wacky either). I don't watch it - but I'm told that Game of Thrones is filmed there. It is quite like going back in time. Highly recommended destination. PM me if you want opinion on hotel, etc.

So in terms of an ED adventure it was just right for the south-bound half of our trip. Really interesting winding roads along the coast to do spirited driving on. Inexpensive gas. Friendly, "real" spots to stop for lunch, or fresh fruit, etc along the road. The thing that really surprised me were the fabulous highways. We drove the highway from the Slovenia border down to Zadar. They are German Autobahn quality, with almost no traffic. There is a speed limit, but after about an hour of driving, having seen zero police, and having been passed by numerous German machines doing well north of 200kmh, I decided I'd let the beast loose. There were numerous sections of highway where you could see for 2 or 3 miles - so when that was coupled with zero traffic, I turned it loose. Tested the behavior of the 155mph electronic speed limiter once - good fun. Because of the great visibility and lack of traffic, I was able to do much more high-speed driving in Croatia than I was in Germany, Austria or Italy.

And then, once you're all the way down south to Dubrovnik, you can take an overnight ferry to Bari - putting you back on the Italy side - so you can do Italy on the way back north. Ferry was fine - but be sure to book yourself a stateroom. We slept just fine. Ferry served as the hotel for that night. And you park the car yourself on the boat - so no worries there either.

If you've got the time - I highly recommend driving the coast of Croatia.


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## atticus1 (May 27, 2012)

We are very excited to go to Croatia on our next Ed.

3 yrs ago we flew to Amsterdam, then Munich, onto lake Garda in the Dolomites, Florence, cinque terra then nice. We loved malcesine in the northern part of lake Garda.

Were you nervous driving uninsured through Bosnia? Did you see any of the rovinj area?


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## jjclyde (Jan 15, 2006)

atticus1 said:


> We are very excited to go to Croatia on our next Ed.
> 
> 3 yrs ago we flew to Amsterdam, then Munich, onto lake Garda in the Dolomites, Florence, cinque terra then nice. We loved malcesine in the northern part of lake Garda.
> 
> Were you nervous driving uninsured through Bosnia? Did you see any of the rovinj area?


No - wasn't really nervous. But that said - I had no intention of stopping - no reason to tempt fate.  It's only 10km from entry to exit of Bosnia. Took about 10 minutes.

No, we didn't get to the Rovinj region. We took a direct route from Trieste through Slovenia - headed to the Croatian highways E61/E65/E71. But my wife wants explore that entire area (Rovinj). Her hometown is Trieste, Italy - we travel to there once or twice a year. And Rovinj is only 100km from Trieste - so maybe next time we're in there, we'll do a weekend jaunt down there.

Is it a favorite area of yours?


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## atticus1 (May 27, 2012)

The rovinj area is reportedly very beautiful. How is Trieste?


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## jjclyde (Jan 15, 2006)

atticus1 said:


> The rovinj area is reportedly very beautiful. How is Trieste?


Trieste is a beautiful city - right on the water. A bit formal. People dress well. And you can eat like a king there. An interesting mix of cultures - it was part of Austria for quite a while, and after WWII, it was country-less for a time. So while it is absolutely Italian in spirit, there is a lot of Austrian and Slovenian/Hungarian influence in the dialect, food, culture, etc. Quite a bit more organized than a lot of Italy - but that said, it's much more Italian than it is Austrian. 

Hard for me to be objective from a tourism point of view as I am always with family when there. I really like it. Very connected to the sea (wonderful seafood!), but also quite a bustling/industrious city. Not sure it's got that much to see, though, for a road-tripping tourist. Worth a one-day stop for sure - Castello Mira Mare (Austrian-built castle, early 1800's), San Giusto cathedral (Roman-era origins), the Barcolana (huge annual sailing competition that just wrapped up a couple of weeks ago), Piazza d"Unita and the whole sea-front is great for hanging out, people watching and having a Sprtiz-Aperol. Bruce Springsteen & John Fogerty have played concerts in Piazza d'Unita in recent years. More recently, because Venice has restricted the number of cruise ship arrivals, many more cruise ships are making Trieste a primary port of call. Makes for a bit of craziness down at Molo Audace (seafront). If you spend a week, you'll learn it well enough to love it. But if you haven't that kind of time, it's a 1-day stop. Stay at the Savoia if you go - room 412 has a great view.


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## atticus1 (May 27, 2012)

Thanks for the all the information. Not many travel to Croatia on an Ed but now that they are in the European Union, more may venture there. The Istria area which includes rovinj is supposed to be incredibly beautiful


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## theLeaseGuys (Oct 26, 2015)

laxhound said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I just returned from a 10 day Euro Delivery trip in my new '16 Mineral White Metallic with Full Silverstone Interior F80 M3. I opted to fully option the car minus the ceramic brakes as I'm anti-blank buttons but couldn't stomach the $8.5k for the brakes. Needless to say as it was my first Euro Delivery and first M Car (current ride '13 335is CV) the trip/vehicle more than exceeded my wildest expectations. I logged just over 1,300 miles and 7 countries in the 10-days as we headed South from Munich to stay in the warm weather as early October is on the fringe in northern Europe. The only two nights of hotels that I pre-booked were in Munich for the delivery as I opted to stay at the Marriott close to the BMW Welt and it was the last weekend of Oktoberfest when I picked up the vehicle (lederhosen and bucket list checked). I had 4 - 2 night stays in each of the following locales: Munich Germany, Weggis Switzerland (Lake Lucerne Area), Tuscany Italy (25-min out of Florence) and Cinqueterre Italy on Italian Riviera and 2 1-night stays in Mennagio Italy (on Lake Como) and last night of trip in Cannes France on the French Riviera. My dropoff point was in Nice, France on the French Riviera 20-25 min by A-Bahn from Cannes. So the 7 countries in the order visited (some transit-through only) were Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco and France. Failed to mention this was my wife's first trip to Europe, so for better or worse I set the bar ridiculously high and now will just have to wait for the next ED trip to try and top it. Now I begin the much dreaded wait for re-delivery to be reunited with my M3. Would love to hear from some other So-Cal ED folks on their wait times has it been closer to the 6 or 8 week mark? Happy to be a new member of the M family and see some of you on the So-Cal roads.
> 
> ...


All Due to a new business opportunity, I will be relocating out of country and need to execute a lease transfer (on the vehicle in this thread) if you know of anyone SoCal based or willing to drive, this a great opportunity to takeover my EuroPriced lease deal on this fully loaded (minus ceramic brakes) Mineral White and Full Silverstone Interior M3. The takeover payment for 32 remaining months is $895/mo including taxes and a fully refundable security deposit of $5,950. Please PM me if you or anyone you know is interested. Comparable lease based on US prices of this $81,095 M3 is ~$1,100 mo with tax no money down.

See the detailed post HERE in the Classifieds Section "Private Part Sale" or PM Me

Thanks,
theLeaseGuys


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