e92 M3 ZCP on ED + alpine passes=composed, glorious sounding, fantastic!!!!

[DMD]

Featured on M3POST HOMEPAGE.

Finally getting a chance to share photos of my European Delivery experience from two weeks ago.

Thank you in advance for looking.

Being a motoring vacation, I had planned this trip to be strictly about the M and driving the alps and other famous roads in Europe.
I had zero plans for tourist attractions, especially with the limited time I allotted for the trip. Pickup 7/23 Munich, drop off 7/27 Nice.

Highlights: Stelvio Pass, San Bernardino pass, Fluella pass......and more below.

Day 1:

Flew into Munich on 07/23 for delivery @ 5:30pm later that day. Arrived a bit before 7:30am. Was at the Welt by 8:15am. Surprisingly, Munich was almost whisper quiet. Taxis at airport all lined up with no action or commotion. Even the drive to the Welt was quiet and easy. Almost forgot, it was raining and had been expected to continue raining for a couple days. I ignored it and convinced myself that I will not let some rain blunt my excitement.
Arrived at the Welt entrance to find a truck installing stands where motorcycles were to be displayed. Entered to a vast open quietness. I must say, not sure if it was the jet lag, but so far it was very anti-climactic. I was told that there were 160 deliveries scheduled for the day. The rest of the day was definitely very busy.

Being so quiet that morning, during planning of the day's activities, I was offered delivery of the car right away instead of waiting till 5:30. I declined. I figured I had waited weeks for this day to come, and now that I was there, I wanted to work up to the moment instead of taking the car and parking it underground for the rest of the day.

Saw the Grand Coupe on display, very beautiful car. Much nicer in person. Walked around and checked out the rest of the building. Hung out at the lounge.

Thoroughly enjoyed the factory tour. Highly recommended.
Spent an hour at the museum, very nice too.

Surprisingly, I had prepared myself to be blown away at the time of my delivery.......I shouldn't have.

I was met by my specialist at the top of the stairs. A couple minutes of chit chat, and he asked me to follow him to the delivery floor. I was under the impression that more happens leading up to that moment. Didn't see any of the stuff some people had mentioned in euro delivery, like driving simulators....etc, not that I wanted to do that.

So a walk down the stairs and the car was on the far left spinning on the platform
As they say, it was love at first sight.
I was very happy I stuck with Alpine white. The only other color I considered was silverstone, which is very beautiful on a zcp coupe. I agonized over the decision for a month and was glad I stayed with Alpine white.

15 minutes later, had my luggage in the car, was given a BMW Welt book as a gift and was on my way.

My advice would be to get rest the day before delivery if possible, then plan delivery day activities back to back the following day, for the best awaits you outside the doors of the Welt.
This is based on my experience of randomly falling asleep "coma style" in the lounge due to jet lag.

Day was coming to an end and I needed much rest.
Got to drive her less than 5 miles to the hotel
Golden tulip in Munich was a great hotel. Recommended. Make sure you get the Apple Curry soup if available. mmmmmm

Day 2:

Planned for the day was driving south from Munich, through Austria toward Italy.
The drive out of munich on the autobahn was soaking wet with rain.
But things got better through Austria and Italy. Though I had to experience the Stelvio pass on dampish roads.
It became, bright and dry randomly throughout the day.
It was one WOW!!! after another. Beautiful hillsides and generally picturesque landscapes.

Drove the Stelvio pass in the northern part of italy, along with Umbrail and Fluella passes on my way to Davos, Switzerland.
Very long day of driving, but supremely enjoyable.
Note, somehow I took a turn for umbrail pass and things got a bit hairy on the ascent, especially when a portion of the road wasn't paved. Was glad that was over.

Arrived in Davos, Switzerland in the evening and stayed for the night.

Day 3:

Left Davos, heading south through Switzerland for the San Bernardino Pass.
Switzerland was incredibly beautiful, just as every country I drove through.

The drive from Davos to San Bernardino via San Bernardino pass was definitely a major highlight and not to be missed if you plan to be in that area, especially in an M3. Roads were fantastic, so was the view.

At a few thousand meters up, it was freezing. See pic of me hopping around unable to stand still due to the face splitting wind on top of san bernardino pass.
A 20 minute drive descending and you are taking your jacket off. Another 20 minutes and people are walking around in shorts.

From San Bernardino, I headed back into the central part of Italy to Lake Como, Mennagio area.
Again, beautiful.

Spent some time in that area before heading to Milan.
Milan was an amazing city. Lots of action, loooooots of scooters, car horns. But it was lively and memorable.
But the almost off-road-like cobble stone streets pissed me off every time I turned into one by mistake. Even on comfort setting, I was worried bolts will come undone on the car.

Slept in Milan for the evening.

A moment with Italian Police was full of tension. I forgot every italian word I had learned and took to sign language.
At the end of the sign language session, turned out the three policemen just wanted to talk to me about the car and listen to the V8.
It was hilarious and they were lots of fun. They sent me away with waves and thumbs up.

At that moment I realized that by the third day, I had only seen two M3s, an e90 and an e92 in Germany, and only one more e93 on the Stelvio pass in Italy. For the rest of the drive I never saw another. Going on three years of this car being released, I was surprised how much attention it got.

Day 4:

Left Milan and headed for Nice, France. I planned this part of the trip to be along the entire coast of the south of France; through Monaco.

At a stop in a rest area off the italian Autostrada, I had the best chocolate croissant and cup of espresso in years.

It was a winding, sweeping drive along the coast through tunnels and small towns.

Arrived in Nice, and headed to drop the car off at TT car Transit.
An hour of paper work and inspections and I had to say my goodbyes to the M

Dropped the car off with 699.0 miles exactly with average mpg of 17.8. Take into consideration that 80% of the roads driven weren't autobahn/highway miles. I expected much worse mpg.

Simply put, M3 ZCP on the route driven: Incredibly composed, glorious sounding......a fantastic car!!!!
How could I have forgotten to mention the noise this car makes. Amazing.
The car met and surpassed all my expectations!!!!

Spent the rest of the day walking around in Nice around the old part of the city and the promenade along the beach.
Packed up and barely slept for a 4am wake up call.

Day 5:

Flew Nice to Munich. Munich to Miami.

Back in the USA: Ten days of jet lag and withdrawal from the best roads to drive a sports car on. Hence the 2 week old report.

Now approximately 6 weeks of waiting for car. Redelivery at PCD South Carolina.

M-DCT impressions:
For those in the same boat as I was. In 20 years of owning cars, I have had 4 speed, 5 speed and 6 speed manuals. Never an auto. Even though test driving an M-DCT a few times was great, pulling the trigger and making it my own for years to come was a very tough decision. As a manual transmission driver, you acquire all these random driving habits that you are suddenly aware of when you approach the decision of making a change and getting an M-DCT.
For example, I realized that for no explicable reason, at a red light, I would always go from neutral to second, then to first, and sometimes I would repeat right before green came on for take off. That could just be my OCD, but I won't get into that on this forum.
Its like that with many things in life though.
Every time I sell a car, I watch it being driven away and lament the decision as I remember all the things I loved about it, even when I chose a new car which I prefer.

I was extremely happy with my decision. The M3 and M-DCT felt like a perfect match.

My major concern was feeling isolated or disconnected from the driving experience. No way. The car is very involving of the senses. Throttle blips down to 3rd, 2nd and 1st up the passes was addcitive.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

[amgthis]

Looks like an amazing trip!!! thanks for sharing! Enjoy your car

[dimabimmer]

that is a great write up! awesome photos! AW M3 ZCP is a very photogenic combo, especially in mountains with snow covered tops!

thank's for sharing, really enjoyed reading it like a National Geographic worthy article!

[datbimmerdoe]

congrats!! nice write up.

[DMD]

Originally Posted by amgthis

Looks like an amazing trip!!! thanks for sharing! Enjoy your car

Originally Posted by dimabimmer

that is a great write up! awesome photos! AW M3 ZCP is a very photogenic combo, especially in mountains with snow covered tops!

thank's for sharing, really enjoyed reading it like a National Geographic worthy article!

Originally Posted by the infamous...

congrats!! nice write up.

Wow, thank you for such generous comments.

[chili cheese]

Damn it. I have to do this for the next one! Thanks for the write up...sounded and looked like a great time.

[哇靠M3]

looks like some sweet pics. nice delivery

[Gitti_M3]

Great writing, beautiful pictures!!! this will be one of my dream vacations someday.... CONGRATS!

[kaykay]

Awesome pics, let's see some more!

Congrats on a gorgeous ZCP!

[991brothers]

amazing photos! were twins, gosh our rims look good!

congrats!

[IbanezGod]

awesome and those pictures are amazing!!! Next time I do this, i'm doing what you did, just going for the driving experience, no sight seeing stuff

[IRMthree]

congrats and nice pix too

[bavarian19]

congrats!

[T89]

Congrats! Thanks for the write up.


T

[tygr]

your my hero!!!

[Rshane]

DAMMIT!! Everytime I finally calm down and remind myself to be patient for my European Delivery somebody else posts about theirs...then I get all fired up again.

I also felt the same way about going to the DCT. I have always been a manual transmisson kind of guy, but I also went with the DCT after test driving one.

Congrats on your new M3, that is a beautiful color combo.

[Kyoshi71]

Those pics should be in a brochure!

[Orjan]

Congratulations! Factory delivery seems like a great way to pick up your new car.

[Nate@IND]

Nice photos and enjoy the new ///M! Man I need to get to Germany again

[E92-Lighting]

awesome scenery shots!

[cipher5]

Even the LCI looks great in AW

[Oregano123]

Gran Coupe is sex