Planning European Delivery. Tips anyone?

[kloh]

Hi all,

Just joined your illustrious community. I have just reserved my E92 M3 for European Delivery in August. Needlesstosay, I'm totally stoked and can't wait

Why August? I'm taking my 10-year-old with me so I need to wait until he's out of school…plus, I have some work commitments that need to keep me around through July.

So, for those of you who have done it, do you have any recommendations of places to visit that are kid friendly? He's a total car nut so of course, we will be touring BMW Welt and the manufacturing plant, but I also want to make sure we can get some twisty mountain driving in as well

I'm also considering taking him to Nürburgring but have a couple of concerns:

1. Despite the fact that I'm a very safe driver (aggressive, yes, but safe, hehe), I'm sure there will be some idiots out there and I don't want my new car getting wrecked due to some one elses' stupidity. What have your personal experiences been? Many accidents or not?

2. If there are many accidents, I'm not sure I'm ready for my 10-year-old to be exposed to a deadly crash. I want this trip to be unforgettable because of the full experience of going to Germany to get a BMW, not because of recurring nightmares he might have due to witnessing a bad accident.

Of course, I need to break it in first, so I'm going to talk to my travel agent about arranging this for the latter part of the trip…but any advice from experienced ED travelers would be greatly appreciated!

Where else should I go?

[mkoesel]

I"ve done it, but never with kids. E90post moderator stressdoc ED'd his 335i and took his young son (I think he is about the same age as yours) with him. He has a writeup thread (search for it) and I'm sure he'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Don't worry about accidents, I saw none. Edit: sorry I missed the 'ring reference. I didn't go there, but I've never heard of people talking about accidents there, though I am sure they happen. I've seen ED 'ring threads here so I'd search for them.

Anyway, just have a great time, and plan for lots of great driving.

[gobuffs]

Search this forum: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25

[kloh]

Awesome...thanks, guys. I did do a search on this forum but didn't realize there was an entire forum dedicated to ED.

I'm sure this will be an awesome experience for the boy...and me too of course

[inmotion]

just watch out for the speed traps.

[JohnnyRoaster]

Originally Posted by inmotion

just watch out for the speed traps.

There is a speed camera warning system called Inforad that is legal for use outside of Germany and Austria. I picked one up for my Euro Delivery next month. I plan on loning it out after then. PM me if you want to borrow it. It is a small GPS that you can download speed camera location to.

You have plenty of time to plan a great trip for you and your son. Think about where you guys would like to go and how long a vacation you can take. There is a ton of info over at Bimmerfest. Be sure to read the wiki which will answer a lot of questions you might have.

I would do some research on the ring. I couldn't work it in to our itinerary because it is pretty far from the destinations we are hitting. Look it up on youtube. Accidents do happen but I think most of the drivers are pretty courteous. Be sure to check the insurance to make sure you would be covered. Another option is a ring taxi in an M5. They are expensive but the driver will know the track.

If you are getting nav in the car, there is a BMW web site you can go to and plan your route. You can then save it on a thumb drive and download it in the car when you pick it up.

http://www.bmw-routes.com/de/en/index.jsp

Your son will love the Deutsche museum in Munich. I am sure you guys will have a great trip. Just be prepared to be obsessed with planning it for the next couple of months.

[Dascamel]

TomTom Europe map also points out all the fixed speed traps.

[BimmerRob08]

I've been all over Germany. Went there twice with the military for some exercises and then drove through twice to and from the UK to Italy and back. I think durring the day any part of Germany would be a thrill to visit. Cologne, Berlin, Trier (has the porta negra) Roman building and market, Hamburge is dirty with lots of hookers, Munchen and Stuttgart are nice. Stuttgart has the Porsche factory. A drive along the Rein or mosel river durring the spring or summer is a real treat because there are castles just about every 2-5 kilometers. Southern Germany is much more seenic with the start of the Alps as northern Germany is real flat.

Nurburgring is a kick in the ass but you just got to be ready to get right with flashers as soon as you see a F1 wanna-be driver on your tail but even if you don't get on the track, you and your son will see many, many exotic cars.

The Autobahn is not 100% speed unlimited but many people will push their cars to the limits so the rule in Europe is, if your in the fast lane and a faster car starts to approach. Don't do the American thing and hang in that lane. Get the hell out of the way into the right lane and let them pass. In Germany, obstructing the fast (left) lane is illegal and if someone collides into you, they could fault you for obstructing traffic. That i've heard several times so it's just plain dangerous to be in the fast lane if your not driving fast enough. Don't you wish it were like that in the States? Enjoy and good luck.

Here are a few shots I took from my HH-60G "Pavehawk" helicoptor as we flew an insentive flight over the Rein River. Just one of many attractions.

[BayerischeMotorenWerke]

I got three speeding tickets while I was in Germany for 6 weeks at the end of '07. Nothing ever happened since I don't have a German license.

So....

Speed away. (Safely of course)

[kloh]

I actually don't plan on driving all that fast since I'll have the boy in the car with me…safety reasons and I don't want him picking up any "bad" habits, LOL. The minute he turns 16 though, I plan on sending him to some sort of performance driving school. I'm sure he will want to drive fast (based on his early "interests" hehe). Better that he learn to do it proper than to be a dumbass.

@JohnnyRoaster thanks for that link to the BMW site. That is awesome. I will have a navi so that will be very useful! We do plan on spending some time in Munich for the museums. I'm certain he will love it.

In all likelihood, I'll drop off in Frankfurt so I can do the ring at the tail end of the trip. Should be broken in by then I hope

@BimmerRob08, great pics and thanks for the tips on getting the hell outta the way on the Ring. That's definitely good advice considering I'm not going for any speed records, hehe. My boy will LOVE seeing all the exotics.

Re: insurance for the Ring...anyone know how to check for that? As I understand it, the ED Program provides you with insurance for 14 days so it would have nothing to do with my own insurance. Anyone know who to contact for that?

Thanks again everyone for all the tips.

[DukeofURL]

Originally Posted by kloh

I actually don't plan on driving all that fast since I'll have the boy in the car with me…safety reasons and I don't want him picking up any "bad" habits, LOL.

Take note though that if you don't plan to go "fast" by american standards on german roads, that you say WAYYY to the right side of the road. I did 3200km on my ED trip, and the average speed that the average german travels is about 100mph. This may sound wildly fast, but after a few minutes you'll get used to it.

The roads AND the cars are designed for it in fact, in this case it's us americans that are the ones out of the loop

[kloh]

Originally Posted by JohnnyRoaster

If you are getting nav in the car, there is a BMW web site you can go to and plan your route. You can then save it on a thumb drive and download it in the car when you pick it up.

http://www.bmw-routes.com/de/en/index.jsp

Does anyone know how to actually get a user login for this site? I have an "owner" user account at BMWusa.com using the production number of my car, but it doesn't work. This site seems to want a "BMW ConnectedDrive" login which isn't obvious how to get one.

[Bullitt 2496]

I took euro delivery of my 335i a week before Formula 1 in Monaco. We drove south from Munich through Lucerne Switzerland, Como Italy, then Milan, and ended up in Monaco for F1 weekend. You can drop the car @ the port in Nice, France (30 minutes away), or drive it back to another port (Zurich, Geneva, Munich, etc.) That's the trip to do in my mind.

On a separate trip, I drove to the 'Ring, and there were indeed a few minor accidents on the track, but it's all about when you go. "Luckily" I went on a rainy day, so the track was basically dead. Lots of room to play around.

Munich to London to Nurburgring is just over 1k miles... perfect break in

[JohnnyRoaster]

Originally Posted by kloh

Does anyone know how to actually get a user login for this site? I have an "owner" user account at BMWusa.com using the production number of my car, but it doesn't work. This site seems to want a "BMW ConnectedDrive" login which isn't obvious how to get one.

Where are you getting hung up? Once you plan a route, you should be able to save to a usb device as apposed to downloading on connectediDrive. The step after this is a little hidden and you need to select "Route herunterladen" and be sure to name the route. Keep the same file structure when you save to the thumb drive.

[E90M3CDFR]

One thing you want to note on the route planning on BMW Connecteddrive is that after you save the files off the website, you will only be able to "import" one trip at a time (or at least that is my experience so far with three different USB keys on my Sept 08 build E90). So if you are going to want to import more than one trip, you'll want to have a way to copy over the saved trips to the main Navdata directory that is created by the first trip that you extract from the Zip file. Not a problem if you bring a laptop of course or have access to a PC along the way.

What I do now when traveling is to save the trips to my microSD card (on my Blackberry) and use a file utility to copy them over as needed, and then use a small USB adapter that I plug the microSD card into to load it into the car.

So far I've created trips with over 20 intermediate points, so its pretty well set up for a good long journey.

I'm a big fan of the Inforad units: I did find that its better to set the notification to silent option for the unverified mobile sites as these are usually just spots where a unit might have been set up before. The verified ones are quite accurate, including differentiating between those that only face one way. But it warns on all the cam containers, so you'll get a lot false positives in countries where the cams are moved around. I do find that the internal battery on the smaller unit is good for about 5 hours, so its good to keep the USB charger handy.

I might also suggest before you head out of BMW Welt after delivery (or maybe shortly after that) applying a bit of wax to the front parts of the car--the bugs will soon be out here in Europe and you will be pretty amazed at what the front of your car will look like after a couple of blasts on the autobahn.

[MTROIS]

You might also find a lot of useful info on the BMW CCA Forum dedicated to the European Delivery topic:

http://bmwcca.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=45

I think a lap on the Nurburgring is a must!

Enjoy your trip!

[AWM3]

Avoid Spain and France if possible. One exception would be the French National Auto Museum in Mulhouse, Alsace, if you like old cars. Southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy are all beautiful.

[kloh]

Originally Posted by JohnnyRoaster

Where are you getting hung up? Once you plan a route, you should be able to save to a usb device as apposed to downloading on connectediDrive. The step after this is a little hidden and you need to select "Route herunterladen" and be sure to name the route. Keep the same file structure when you save to the thumb drive.

Ah...I was trying to go the online route. Guess you don't need a login for downloading to USB.

Thanks for the tip!

[kloh]

@E90M3CDFR @MTROIS @car62 Thanks for the additional tips!

It's looking like I will be doing the Ring. I found lots of great info on Ben Lovejoy's site and got in touch with some folks at http://www.ringweekends.com/

Right now, my initial plan consists of Munich (3-4 days) => Stuttgart (1-2 days) => Nürburgring (3-4 days)

Porche Museum is the only thing really lined up for Stuttgart. Has anyone been there? Is it worth visiting? Only problem I have with this itinerary is no mountain driving as far as I can tell. Still working on trying to see if I can squeeze that in without making it feel like I'm rushed through everything.

[oneginee]

Congratulation on the order. May I ask how much you got your deal for ? Was there any room for negociating the price ?

[E90M3CDFR]

Only problem I have with this itinerary is no mountain driving as far as I can tell. Still working on trying to see if I can squeeze that in without making it feel like I'm rushed through everything.

You'll find some nice windy roads with decent elevation in the Adenau area around the 'Ring -- not the Alps by any means -- but very enjoyable, almost Ring-like. You could also dip south from Munich into the Garmisch area, there are windy bits there.

When you head to the 'Ring, if you are at all mechanically inclined (and I assume so if you're buying an M3), there is a very interesting jewel of military musuem in Koblenz, south of Cologne/Bonn--the German technical military history museum. It is the only one of its kind as far as I can tell that has panzers, including rare WWII models, completely cutaway so you can see the internal workings. They also have a lot of former Warsaw Pact equipment that the Germans inherited in the East. Its a bit tucked away although there are signs for it in Koblenz (which is very nice to visit as well). There is a great drive along the Rhine north to Koblenz. On a spring day with the windows down, its fantastic. And lots of nice places to stop and sample the brews.

[MTROIS]

Here is an idea for your itinerary:

Start in Munich / SW to Konstanz, drive along the lake / W to Zürich / NW to Mulhouse (amazing car museum) / N via the Vosges (French side) on what is called the "route des crêtes" (i.e., Ridge Road) and "Route des Vins" (i.e., Wine Road) or via the Black Forest (German side) with lots of twisty roads / Strasbourg / Stuttgart and its Porsche museum (just an amazing experience) / Koblenz / Nuerburg

Have fun and send us pics!