Quote:
Originally Posted by dtuckerbrown
Thanks for the info Jim. I'm going to be there for at least 2 years, so I will need to do the conversions and will not have to pay import tax or VAT.
I have the part numbers for the rear turn signals - thanks.
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Dereck, anticipatory welcome to Europe - the M3 will love these roads.
I second Jim's suggestion on getting new tires - esp as they are much more expensive in Germany if you can't ship them via duty-free channels. I'd even suggest shipping an extra set of summer tires if you plan to drive hard during the 2 years. Also unless you plan to have a 2nd winter car, you'll need a of winter tires from around Oct - March in much of Germany: these are mandatory for driving in winter conditions Germany and several other European countries. A set of winters from Tirerack is about 40-50% of what the BMW ones will run you if you need to buy them in Europe. I have used the TR square OEM setup with W-rated Dunlops...work well even when the autobahn is dry in winter. They will last you several winters (I will be selling mine here in France after 3 winters with more than 75 percent of the tread still on them).
I'd also recommend talking to some of the folks with experience in coding the iDrive/systems on the car - you may be able to have them turn off the yellow LEDs up front (which may be required if you need to register/TUV the car). You may also want to ask them to reconfig the radio and traffic data receiver (I don't this works for sure but have been told it does) to allow you to tune in European FM freqs properly (they use even tenths of FM Hz) and to receive the TMC/RDS data feed (very handy in Germany with all the staus on the a-bahn). You may be able to just switch the maps over BUT - the european maps that BMW pre-loads in US cars delivered in Europe are a set of 2008 "Test Maps" that are OBE and don't always work very well, esp outside Germany. I would recommend you update the maps when you get here with a new 2010/2011 set - these newer maps work better, they have also improved graphics and don't crash (which the test ones did when I was in some parts of France, Italy, Belgium).
Oil changes for the M will be expensive in Germany (300-500 euros), esp if you want to change at more regular intervals than 30,000KM BMW recommendation - so I would highly recommend shipping enough 10W60 Castrol Edge for your 2-years as well as to top off the engine (again unless you have PX privileges, because you can buy it there sometimes). High-speed autobahn driving sometimes leads to more oil consumption.
The air filter for the 2009 engine is US-specific - I'd pick up 1-2 spare, as it takes time for BMW Germany to order U.S.-specific parts. I'd generally pick up spare parts at a discount from an online dealer because they will be cheaper in the US (esp with the Euro-$ rate where its at right now).
Of course, if you can, I'd get any all possible servicing completed in the US (and any warranty/recall work since the US BMW NA one won't extend to Germany).
If you have a built in radar detector, remove it - these are illegal and the fines are steep.
You may/may need to change the yellow reflectors up front - again depends on how you are registering. Cheaper to get the body painted versions in the US.
Mostly for visual appeal but also to better clear the air intake on the bottom, I bought the BMW license plate holder for the European plates for the front. It makes the car blend in better as well.
And leave some $ for a Jahreskarte for the 'Ring!