After many, many weeks of anticipation and waiting, my M3 has finally made it home. Patience is the key to doing both ED and PCD, especially for my first new ///M. I thought it was all completely worth the experience
The resource on this forum is astounding, and I appreciate everyone's participation for making my experience a fulfilling one
This is my way of giving back.
The aim here is not to bore you with what you already know about ED + PCD, but to give you some of the action specific to my experience
(i.e. many photos).
---
Pre ///M
My first love for M-cars started with an M3 brochure from the 1990's advertising the E46 M3 in Phoenix Yellow. Later came
The Hire series, of which I was a HUGE fan of the E39 M5. Since then, my only prior BMW was an '09 335 (now sold), but I've been involved in local CCA events and been fortunate to meet great friends who let me live vicariously through them and take photos of their cars
---
The Order Process:
Thanks to Steve Thomas BMW
GOLFFRR for making this happen! My CA was David Aviles
BMWDavid, with most help coming from Katie (his assistant). Thanks to Katie, she was able to respond or find answers to all of my questions within reasonable time. My order process is documented my M3 order journal:
http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1031806
---
The ED Experience:
Some of the highlights/lowlights? during ED
- ED is nothing short of AWESOME! Each event on delivery day was amazing, and BMW does a great job in making you the focus of attention on your day. It certainly beats a traditional delivery at your local dealer 10 times over! I cannot remember the name of our delivery guy, but he did not rush us and took the time to converse about anything (I do mean ANYTHING) that came to mind during the delivery.
- Do try the pork knuckle with a good brew!!
- The Welt opens at 8:00 am. Although my delivery was scheduled for 9:00 am and my delivery email told me to be check in for 7:40 am, we were not allowed to the premium lounge prior to 8:00 am to check in.
- Definitely visit places that are not major cities. Not only is parking a pain in major cities, you get to really enjoy the car in landscapes that thrilling to see and experience in a way that only few are able to.
- For those doing winter tires, it seems like the folks handling it are VERY particular (about payment/scheduling) based on my email exchanges with them prior to pickup, but the experience to actually get the tires mounted on the car was completely disorganized, lengthy and confusing. After speaking with some who got their cars outfitted with winter wheels the same day I did, we all shared a similar sentiment.
- Even though major alpine passes are closed during the winter months, there are tons of options for mountain driving. The Austrian Alps are 2 hours south of Munich, and you can pretty much head in any direction to have a great driving/vacation experience. We did a wine-themed tour through the Tirol/Tyrolean region of Austria and Italy.
- We attended the Annual White Glove Event at the BMW Museum in Munich. We pre-registered for the 7pm event (CCA members were admitted at no charge) and were given white gloves before being let loose on the displays. Some were still off-limits, including the 328 Homage. Not a must-do, but certainly do it if your time there coincides with it!
ED Winter Tires (Reifen Buchler):
Some Journey Pics:
Cheaper than water.
---
The PCD Experience:
Some of the highlights during PCD:
- I called the Marriott when I arrived at GSP. Since we arrived around lunch, I asked the receptionist whether I should grab something at the airport to eat before I called for the shuttle. Receptionist said "heck no" and I left it at that.
- I though that the pickup "shuttle" would have been the hotel van. To my surprise, we were greeted in a 740 Ld MSport. A mouthful, yes, but so much win! We were shuttled to the hotel and checked in. Everything was prepared for us before we arrived. The other car in their shuttle fleet is an X5.
- There is a strong relationship between the Marriott and the BMW PC. Instead of grabbing food at the hotel, the hotel staff/driver drove us in the 740 Ld MSport to a restaurant of choice in downtown Greenville and offered to pick us back up when we were done. I was stumped for a few moments that service like that even existed.
- This is a big one. The Greenville Marriott sits just outside the city limits (less than 10 mins from downtown), which means no alcohol can be served there or at any restaurants near the hotel.
Our driver (won't mention his/her name) offered to stop off at the liquor store on our way back to the hotel. Wat? Again, mind blown. They said that they do it routinely and hope that the city overturns this ban soon. Moral of the story: take your booze with you in your luggage, or tip the staff generously when they do such awesome gestures!!
- You get to drive a car similar the one you're picking up. In my case, it was an AY F80 with DCT and mismatched interior trim (aluminum blade and CF). DCT because no money shifts? I can safely say that I definitely enjoy rowing my own gears a lot more.
- There seems to be a LOT of patrol car activity in Greenville and surrounding towns, at least compared to where I've been throughout the south. Not sure why.
- The M5 hot lap (emphasis on LAP) was too short an experience!!!
- Schedule your break-in service ahead of time and at multiple dealerships if you find yourself on your ED/PCD trip. I scheduled mine on the way back home from the PC. Although I confirmed with one particular dealer that they could have done the service twice before arriving, they notified me that they didn't have the oil filter to start/complete the service one hour after waiting. Luckily another dealer had the filter and got me in the same day for the break-in servcie without any hassle.
Enough of the boring stuff. Here are some photos from drive back home after taking redelivery at the Performance Center. Ended up taking the long route home through the Smokies and the Tail of the Dragon. Because redelivery was during the winter and on a weekday, I encountered no cops on the Tail and had the road to myself.
*Disclaimer: Although some photos show post-processing, I kept the AY true to how the photo was taken. The color changes character tremendously depending on where and how the light hits it. It certainly is stunning to watch at any time of day!!
Tail End of M5 Hot Lap
