[1MORELAP]

Summary - if you think of buying out of town and the ride scares you. Don't be scared, it is actually REALLY fun.

I just drove from LA to Seattle. 1,300 miles. Here are my observations:

M3 is just fantastic at swallowing miles. I have ZCP and spent most of the time on rain soaked four line roads in the comfort mode. (HWY 101)

I am not sure if it is maturity or the car, but even though I drove to midnight both days I never felt really tired. I also avoided tickets, and any sorts of close calls. I saw elk by the road, but never in my path.

I had to work, so I never left the hotel before noon. Left for LA on the 7:50 BUR flight, and left the dealer at noon for Mendocino CA. (Well In N'Out right before). Got home Wednesday at 5:30.

I wanted to ensure warm weather and avoid any snow, so I took 101 well into Oregon and then shot on 42S to I-5N and slept in Eugene. Priceline 3-star hotel bid at $50 landed me at the Hilton.

101 through Northern California and Oregon is a great road, with a mix of twisty bits and some faster 4 lane highways. Most of the time 7 MPH over speed limit was all I was comfortable doing (10 MPH according to BMW). It is unbelievable that the speed limit through the Redwood forest is 55, many corners are 2nd gear.

Average MPG LA to Home, including all detours, limited traffic and some real twisties between 101 and Mendocino and Highway 1 bits - 20.4 MPG.

I wish I got the Nav. Bluetooth music streaming does not work without it. Instead I used a $150 Garmin. Worked fine, but window location and cables are a mess. Also WTF is up with the un-powered cigarette lighter plug under the glove box?

I tried using the V1. After using Escort 9500 I am unable to go back to V1. It falses so much that it just becomes annoying. MISTAKE - I used Escort power cable, it worked EXCEPT the mute button on the V1. Which was further annoying. I will be selling the V1 on eBay ASAP.

Even though I went solo, friend backed out last minute; and had to work - calls from hotel till noon, parking lots with AT&T coverage, and dropped calls. Driving the car was a BLAST. When I was leaving for LA, I was still thinking - maybe I should have shipped the car. Absolutely NOT. This was a GREAT road trip. And if I had more time, good partner - it would have been a dream.

One more thing - I drove a 2000 S4 cross country before, and this car is so MUCH MORE comfortable to drive long distances. That is in spite of MUCH stiffer suspension, 19s not 17s and pretty treacherous weather. I would not have wanted to do this trip in my current Cayman S. And even a relatively current 2006 A4 was more tiring to drive. This was a real surprise. 500 miles per day in the M3 is truly a piece of cake.

P Zeros - I love them. Had PS2s before on other cars, these Pirelli tires are very good. Of course would need back to back against PS2s on the same car, but I was VERY impressed with how they handled heavy California rain.

1,200 mile service scheduled, and at 1,700 miles. 400 in Germany, 1,300 in US. I am sure the car will be fine.

Oil dropped to the mid-line level on the indicator.

HD Radio is AWESOME

Ryan - thank you!