# Ultimate Driving Experience (ED Writeup and Photos)



## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Sorry for the delay in posting this, things are always busy for a little while when I get back from vacation. Overall, the trip was a great time, I can't imagine buying a car any other way. The car itself is amazing, it performs quite well, it is relatively large but drives like it is small, and is almost silent when driving down the road. The BMW at 120 mph makes less noise then my current ford at 35 mph! 

I don't even know where to begin when describing the trip. We all stayed with my German cousins who live in Penzberg (south of Munich), and based all of our travel from there. We took the train to the delivery center, finding it was no problem and the pickup itself was easy as pie, my uncle and his friend got the 645 convertibles, and my dad and I got the 530i's. Regarding the new '06 530i, the engine is quick and responsive, the steering is equally quick and responsive with tons of road feel, and the car just begs to be driven hard and fast. I don't know how I'm going to keep within the speed limit when I get it back. The 645cic's are amazing, they look cool, and drive cooler. They are sporty and classy at the same time.

Anyway, on pickup day we drove around the foothills of the alps in Southern Bavaria and took it a little easy and got some good photos. My Uncle's friend stayed in Munich that night and we met up with him on Tuesday. The next day (Tuesday) we drove 9 hours through country roads barely wide enough for one car, mountain passes, and seemingly hundreds of hairpin turns to Merano, Italy. Suffice it to say, I've never turned the steering wheel of a car more times in one year, let alone one day! We got tons of looks from other cars, locals, and tourists. I am guessing that 4 BMW's caravanning around the countryside isn't a common sight, even in Germany. Thankfully, the comfort seats made those 9 hours fly by. We stopped for Italian Ice (best I've ever had), turned around, and took the Autostrada/Autobahn home and made it back in 3 hours. That was the first time we really opened up the cars, and was it amazing. On the way home we had to pickup a toll sticker for the road in Austria, and that led to some damage to my dad's undercarriage (one of our cousin's was driving and backed over a high curb and kept driving), but it wasn't too bad and you could only notice it by looking under the car. Anyway, that was the first night we took them up to 120 and it was quite a rush. Plus there weren't any other cars on the road so it was like we had our own private racetrack. We rolled into a biergarden at 11:30 and topped off the day with beer and sandwiches. 

The following day (Wednesday) we drove 130 km to Dingolfing for the BMW Factory tour. We opened up the cars again, and cut about 45 minutes off of the drive time. There is nothing like going 120 in the center lane and getting passed like you are standing still! And the feeling of "slowing down" takes on a whole new meaning at that speed- when I took the car down to 100 mph I kept thinking I was going too slow! We also were fortunate to go on a special Wednesday English tour, there was a special foreign exchange student tour going on and we were allowed to go with them. The factory tour was amazing, they build the 5-series, 6-series, and 7-series on the same assembly line. Every metal seam and join is first adhesive sealed (for stiffness) and then welded, and they use a lot of aluminum in the front structure of the car to both save weight and allow for the 50-50 weight distribution. The factory was clean as a whistle, and highly automated. They even did their sheet metal stamping there! What a cool place. We saw tons of M5's and M6's on the line, and a few that were finished and going through QA testing. On the way home we stopped by Landshut and enjoyed the medieval feel of one of the few towns that wasn't bombed back to the stone age during WWII. 

Thursday was family day and we drove around visiting different relatives. Friday we had to turn in our cars, and since then I have been craving to get back behind the wheel. The dropoff was easy and painless. Overall, we went 833 miles and spent roughly $120 on gas in 5 short days. I can't wait to do this again someday, I can't stress enough how much fun we had! I don't think I could, in good conscience, buy a car any other way.

Thanks to my German cousins for their guidance, hospitality, and photographic abilities. Thanks to Adrian for his help and hard work, and for taking me seriously when I first told him that we wanted to buy 4 cars. Thanks to Beewang for the NAV DVD rental service. Finally, thanks again to all the Bimmerfesters whose advice made this all possible!

:thumbup:


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*Pictures*

First Picture- Signing the paperwork at the delivery center

Second through Fifth-
Standing by the cars, these are the photos used to create the panaroma I posted earlier.


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## LDV330i (May 24, 2003)

Sounds like your had a great time. :thumbup:

Doing ED is a lot of fun but doing a group ED must sure be a blast.


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*More Pictures*

Picture 1- Learning about the new 6 at the delivery center
Picture 2- The neon foot as viewed from the 6
Picture 3- Powerful car
Picture 4 and 5- Jet black is awesome


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*Still More Pictures*

Picture 1- The "lineup" at the delivery center
Pictures 2 through 5 - First drives


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*More Pictures again*

Picture 1- Leaving the Delivery Center
Pictures 2 through 5- Bavarian Photo Op


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## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

Great write-up and great photos. :thumbup:


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*Yet more pictures*

Picture 1 - Driving through Austria
Picture 2 - Driving into Italy
Pictures 3 and 4 - The mountains in Italy
Picture 5 - The road in Italy


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## MarcusSDCA (Jan 14, 2004)

Great write-up and pics.....now THIS is really what ED is all about! Awesome!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*More pics again and again*

Picture 1 - Watch out for the guy on the bicycle
Picture 2 - Love the view in Italy
Picture 3 - Hairpin turn (part 1)
Picture 4 - Hairpin turn (part 2)
Picture 5 - NAV view of a hairpin turn


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*Almost done...*

Picture 1 - We drove up that??!? (Italian Alps)
Picture 2 - Taking a break on the way to Italy
Picture 3 - High speed run
Picture 4 - Even the wives drove fast!
Picture 5 - Dingolfing!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*Last ones*

Picture 1 - Landshut
Picture 2 - Breakfast
Picture 3 - Harms Parking lot

I love Germany!!!! Bier- It's not just for breakfast!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

*The drive from Penzberg to Merano*

These were the directions we followed on our drive from Penzberg to Merano and back. What an awesome way to break in these amazing cars!

We started in Penzberg, along lake Kochel and Walchensee to Mittenwald (and passed the first pass named Kesselberg). From Mittenwald we drove to Seefeld and then to Innsbruck, where we had the first gas fillup. From Innsbruck we drove the old road (beside the Autobahn) up to Brennerpass. From Brennerpass we followed the old road to Sterzing and turned there right and shortly afterwards left again up the winding road (the pass was called Penser Joch) to Pens and straight ahead to Bozen. In Bozen we turned right to San Genesia where we followed the small and winding roads to Valas , Moelten and then to Meran.

In Meran we searched for the town (called: Dorf Tirol), where we had the cup of ice.

After that we left Meran on the highway straight to Bozen, followed the Autobahn to Brixen, Brennerpass, Innsbruck, Seefeld, Mittenwald, Garmisch-Partenkirchen. There we took the Autobahn again (from Eschenlohe on) until we reached Iffeldorf/Penzberg.


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## beewang (Dec 18, 2001)

Me530 said:


> .... There is nothing like going 120 in the center lane and getting passed like you are standing still!....... And the feeling of "slowing down" takes on a whole new meaning at that speed- *when I took the car down to 100 mph I kept thinking I was going too slow!* ......:


Yes you were :eeps: on the road to Dingolfing on the Autobahn, once you are out of the Munich city limit, at 100 MPH you need to get onto the right lane and hang out w/ the 18 wheelers  heheh 

Nice write-up Matt, when are we going again??!!


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## bmw325 (Dec 19, 2001)

I don't know if you realized this, but even your stop at Landshut was in keeping w/ the BMW theme. THat's where they build most of the plastic components that go into these cars (like dashboards).


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## LarryN (Dec 24, 2001)

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing. I had the time of my life there as well. I can't wait to do another ED.

One thing I moticed if that they let you drive the cars out of the Freimann garage. I was told that 30% of all new cars that are driven by the new owner out of that garage, hits the right side curb as you turn out in front of the ED entrance. For that reason, they pulled it out of the garage for me. I noticed you all drove.


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## MarcusSDCA (Jan 14, 2004)

Yeah...I gave Berrnhard the honors for both my EDs. That's not the way I want to start the first 200 feet of driving my new car. Imagine driving a 7 through there (yikes!).....it's almost as if they want to see if you're man enough to do it!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

A couple of misc. photos from delivery...


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Misc photo and a few shots of Bernhard handing over the keys......


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

beewang said:


> Yes you were :eeps: on the road to Dingolfing on the Autobahn, once you are out of the Munich city limit, at 100 MPH you need to get onto the right lane and hang out w/ the 18 wheelers  heheh
> 
> Nice write-up Matt, when are we going again??!!


I'll be going as often as the finances allow... :eeps: Fortunately, my wife had a great time so I'll have no trouble convincing her to do this again! 

The road to Dingolfing was a good one, I got passed a few times there at 120, but not very often.... :angel:


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

robg said:


> I don't know if you realized this, but even your stop at Landshut was in keeping w/ the BMW theme. THat's where they build most of the plastic components that go into these cars (like dashboards).


Yeah, we drove right by the factory and it turned out my cousin owned some land there that he sold to BMW a few years ago so they could expand the factory.


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

LarryN said:


> Great pictures! Thanks for sharing. I had the time of my life there as well. I can't wait to do another ED.
> 
> One thing I moticed if that they let you drive the cars out of the Freimann garage. I was told that 30% of all new cars that are driven by the new owner out of that garage, hits the right side curb as you turn out in front of the ED entrance. For that reason, they pulled it out of the garage for me. I noticed you all drove.


Nobody even warned us about the curb! Fortunately no damage was done. When we were leaving, they really wanted us out of there, we stayed a few minutes past closing  .


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Alex Baumann said:


> Great write-up and great photos. :thumbup:


Thanks!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

LDV330i said:


> Sounds like your had a great time. :thumbup:
> 
> Doing ED is a lot of fun but doing a group ED must sure be a blast.


It was a total blast with the group, it worked out really well. A couple of times we went our separate ways but overall we stayed together. Being flexible was key. It was tough staying in line in a caravan, but somehow we managed. We took some Motorola walkabout radios with us and it helped a lot, especially on those narrow two lane roads in Italy, the lead car (which happened to be me) could warn everybody in the rear about upcoming vehicles and tractors.


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## e36M3r (Oct 19, 2004)

Very cool! Looks like Bernhard had his hands full with such a large group! That would be fun. Congrats and thanks for the write-up. :thumbup:


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

Wow, what an awesome trip! The pictures are great. (Especially the 120mph one :yikes: )Thanks for sharing and thanks for giving the opportunity to help you and the rest of the guys. It was a real pleasure. :thumbup:


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## 2006_750Li_ED (Jul 3, 2005)

Great pictures, the Delivery center pictures remind me of a great moment.
I hope to revisit this place very soon, perhpas in the next 6 months.


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

adrian's bmw said:


> Wow, what an awesome trip! The pictures are great. (Especially the 120mph one :yikes: )Thanks for sharing and thanks for giving the opportunity to help you and the rest of the guys. It was a real pleasure. :thumbup:


Thanks for the compliment! We enjoyed working with you as well!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

2006_750Li_ED said:


> Great pictures, the Delivery center pictures remind me of a great moment.
> I hope to revisit this place very soon, perhpas in the next 6 months.


Thanks!

You know, I never could figure out what the deal was with the giant neon foot, but overall I thought the delivery center was well done and the delivery process was smooth and easy. I hope to get back there as well, unfortunately it probably won't be as soon as 6 months!


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Hooray! The Maersk Tide is in port!


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## Chris90 (Apr 7, 2003)

I never get tired of looking at Euro Delivery thread pics! :thumbup:


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Well friends, the circle is complete. All but two of the cars came in at different times, so we didn't have a big reunion for the road trip back home.  The last of us took re-delivery last Saturday, 7 weeks 1 day from drop-off. Now that its over, I definitely know that I will do this again. I had an excellent and successful trip, and a great reunion with the car on redelivery. Thanks again to all of you Bimmerfester's, I couldn't have done it without you, and thanks again to Adrian, who made this all happen. A good time was had by all. I'll still be hanging out here to try to impart the useful things that I've learned to all those in need, and of course living vicariously through all you other lucky ED-ers. I guess my next task will be to write a condensed version of this thread and submit it to Roundel and BMW Magazine! :thumbup:


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

Thanks, brother! That was alotta fun. It was a true pleasure to help ya'll with your ED's. 

I like the pic of your car in the garage which kinda puts some finality to the whole trip. Way cool. :thumbup: Nice flag.


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

adrian's bmw said:


> Thanks, brother! That was alotta fun. It was a true pleasure to help ya'll with your ED's.
> 
> I like the pic of your car in the garage which kinda puts some finality to the whole trip. Way cool. :thumbup: Nice flag.


I got the flag during a previous trip to Germany, I thought that putting it up in the Garage would make the car feel more "at home!" :angel:


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