E92 M3 Euro Delivery, July 2011. 80 shots.

[thorny]

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Part 1.

I want to start off by saying that this forum was invaluable in planning our own European Delivery trip. To all fellow members who posted their ED threads, thank you!

European Delivery is by far the greatest way to visit and see Europe. We had 2 weeks and we picked the following itinerary: German Bavaria, drive to Venice via Stelvio Pass, Florence, short stop in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and French Rivera (Nice, Monaco). We liked everything including Venice where you obviously cannot drive your M3

Some travel notes, pictures do better justice:
We had a friend of ours meet us at Munich airport and she was our guide in Germany, but everyone in Germany speaks English (you cannot say the same about Italy and France, some waitresses in France ignored us simply because we didn’t speak good French, my wife speaks some French, but still it was a challenge in some places) and I am sure we wouldn’t have a problem if she wasn’t with us. We didn’t hire a taxi, you can buy a 1-3 day passes to their U-bahn in the automated kiosks and it is pretty descent. I recommend staying at “BMW approved” Kings hotel, we stayed at their 4-star property and it was great: quite, clean, with good breakfast and service, albeit rooms were small, but it is Europe – what you expect? We had a free day before the delivery and we used it to see some sights, but my favorite activity of the day was to drink German beer in the beer garden. There are plenty of gardens to choose from!

We killed a lot of time in BMW Premium Lounge at Welt taking full advantage of free food and drinks. The delivery was awesome, and after making a couple of victory laps we drove off. Do the Factory Tour, it was great to see how BMW makes their cars and engines. I was delighted by the fact that I was in a place where the engine of my M3 was born We spent the afternoon of the delivery day by taking a trip to see Neuschwanstein castle. On the way to the castle I couldn’t resist to the temptation of doing 120 MPH on the autobahn. The roads are die for, just unbelievable – perfection! Nice Mercedes and Porsches were still passing us I wish we had unrestricted roads in the US…oh well.

Stelvio Pass was the second greatest place to drive in Europe. It was raining, sometimes pretty heavy and we had ton of fun shifting gears in the switchbacks. Speaking of shifting, I was blown away by the DCT – outstanding transmission! I know there are plenty of purists out there who won’t give up the 3rd pedal and to everyone its own, but I am very happy with the DCT. I kept it in Manual mode for the whole trip.
If you visit Italy, you must see Venice. We parked the car at the airport for 3 days; it is nice and pretty secure and took a boat from there. There is no other place like this; at least I am not aware of one. Totally worth the visit!

Florence was great, but not as cool as Venice. We liked Michelangelo’s David statue in Florence Academia.

The last 5 days of our trip we spent exploring Cote d’Azur. Great driving on mountain roads overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, super luxurious yachts and cars of Russian tycoons and other high rollers If you’re in Nice, try sea food in café de Turin. Delicious!

I am painting the garage and anxiously awaiting my M3, which should be somewhere on the high seas by now. Cheers!

[thorny]

The rest of the images. Enjoy!

[Totti]

Nice photos! Nice frame on your wife, too!

[rzm3]

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing!

[Orjan]

Great pics! Thank you.

[NYCMCBM3]

how come in some if that pics the car has no reflectors?

[IFX]

wowwwwww the water pics are amazingggggggggggg

nice m3 sir.

[RON1X]

Cool to see the different trips people take while doing ED; I really liked the places you chose to see! thanks for posting

[Cyrax91]

Dude these pics are awesome thanks for sharing!

[thorny]

Originally Posted by NycE93M3

how come in some if that pics the car has no reflectors?

I find them distracting, so i edited them out. I already have a set of AW reflectors which will be installed as soon as the car gets here. For now Lightroom does the job

[thorny]

Originally Posted by IFX

wowwwwww the water pics are amazingggggggggggg

nice m3 sir.

Thank you sir! Thats why they call it Cote d'Azur. Plus the polarizer filter cuts reflections. I didnt add any saturation, this is the real color! Pretty crazy

[spiff]

INCREDIBLE pictures! You have some really great moments there, and what an epic trip you had planned.

Nicely done!

[jrlee53]

What an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing. makes me want to do this on my next M3.

[Lorde]

Love the Fox Red on White, the car looks good too. Haha, only kidding. Looks like you had fun!

[chris s]

Incredible pictures! Looks like it was a very cool trip!

[E31BMW]

Great shots, what type of camera did you use?

[checkmate]

Stunning pics man! Congrats!

[mdosu]

just curious on ED, does BMW give you the european maps on your nav? then I suppose when the car comes in, they load the US/NA map at the prep center?

[Chris M4CS]

Is it just me, or does this picture look like it was clipped from a BMW M3 brochure? Very nice pics BTW!

[NFAM3]

Awesome pictures. I loved my ED, but I have to extend it next time like yours. I went towards Austria. Next time I'm going towards Italy and France.

[jeff@autocouture]

wow amazing

[Silvertige]

Awesome pics. Gotta do ED one day.