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When I placed my order for my F80 I debated if I should do the European Delivery since here in Canada we don't get any discount aside from your own negotiations, the US gets an automatic 6% discount I believe. Since I decided to order the F80 opposed to picking up the 2015 M3 off the lot I said screw it, let's do this! Doing the European Delivery has been on my bucket list ever since I've heard of it when my family first got into BMWs, I figured why not, I'm ordering a fairly spec'ed out car that I plan to keep for a while and I wanted to get a vacation in. Sorry for the crappy pic quality, they are iphone shots.

Full album can be found here; https://flic.kr/s/aHsm2KakAJ

The entire experience was phenomenal - the presentation, staff, atmosphere, and delivery of your car is absolutely top notch. If you are debating on do the European Delivery program, I highly encourage you to see if it is a feasible option as it really is an amazing experience. If I order a new car again, I will most likely do the European Delivery program - hopefully it will be with a Porsche next time. Below is my itinerary;

Day 1 - Munich
-Arrive in MUC
-Explore Munich

Day 2 - Munich
-Pick up F80
-Factory and Welt tour
-Explore Munich

Day 3 - Munich/Ingolstadlt
-BMW M HQ - M Studio tour
-BMW museum
-Audi museum
-Ingolstadlt Village outlet

Day 4 - Zurich
-Neuschwanstein castle
-Explore Zurich

Day 5 - Zurich/Lucerne
-Explore Zurich and Lucerne

Day 6 - Stuttgart
-Porsche factory tour & museum

Day 7 - Stuttgart
-Mercedes museum
-Explore Stuttgart

Day 8 - Cologne
-Nurburgring
-Ring taxi
-Explore Cologne

Day 9 - Frankfurt
-Explore Franfurt

Day 10 - Frankfurt
-Wetheim village outlet
-Explore Frankfurt

Day 11 - Frankfurt
-Drop off F80
-Depart FRA

000 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr


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BMW Welt & Museum
Arriving at Welt makes the dealerships look like a rundown Wal-Mart, it is really cool in there, lots of things to see and poke around in. You can spend quite a bit of time in there, we were there for a good 2 hours (not including the delivery)

006 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
009 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
011 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr


After you complete some paperwork you are able to relax in the lounge until it is time for delivery. The food quite good, significantly better than what I’m used to at Air Canada, United, and Lufthansa airport lounges. When you take delivery of your car at Welt you have access to the lounge for your stay, we may have visited the lounge a few times while we were at Welt.

My delivery person (Wolfgang) met us in the lounge and the first thing he said to me was “I want to thank you not only for buying a BMW and M car but for buying a manual car; it is because of customers like you that we continue to make manual M cars”, I told him that as long as they make manual M cars, I will continue to buy them. After chatting about M cars and manuals, he took us to their product info center where he virtually walked us through the car and options. It’s not a generic version of whatever car you ordered, it is a virtual representation of the car the way you ordered.

Now comes the reveal, we walked down what they call the “stairway to heaven” where you overlook the delivery area and see your car spinning on a platform with a spotlight on it – what an amazing sight and unforgettable way to see your car. This was such a great moment for me as it was the realization that the moment to get my car was finally there after the long wait.

018 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
022 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr


At last! The car is stunning in Yas Marina with the Silverstone and 666M wheels. Could not be happier with the color combo and comp pack.

023 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
024 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
027 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr

After Wolfgang showed us the car, I asked about the DTM Safety Car and the sculpture. The sculpture is an enlarged copy of one of the E60 M5’s V10 header, would love to have a small version of it for my house. After checking out the sculpture, he grabbed the keys of the DTM Safety Car and started it for me, sounded pretty mean. After that we went to check out the museum, plenty of cool exhibits and cars.

028.1 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
028 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
031 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
032 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
037 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
041 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
042 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
043 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
045 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
046 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
048 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
050 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
051 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr


BMW M HQ – M Studio
I was fortunate enough to get to visit the BMW M HQ with a private tour of the M Studio. On the way there I was able to see some camouflaged mules on the road – a F80 M3, 8 series, and X7. While walking from M HQ offices to the M Studio, we were able to see a few camouflaged G30 M5s, F82 M4s (camo around headlights – CS? Perhaps), F82 M4 DTM edition, and the infamous E92 M3 shop truck. It was quite the sight and opportunity to see the mules in person, no pics allowed on the lot, only in the M Studio. I was not allowed into the secret garage where they keep one off prototypes, maybe next time. We chatted about the M2 LCI, M4 CS, and potential upcoming M car variants that I promised not to speak of.

Interestingly, M also does the individual cars. The E38 7series in there was what started the BMW individual group, it is extended with every single panel in leather. They basically can do anything you want, it only adds a few weeks to your production. Some clients even fly out to the M Studio to go over what they can do.

052 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
053 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
054 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
055 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
058 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
059 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
062 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
075 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
076 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
077 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr


Since this is a BMW forum, I’ll skip the narrative of the Porsche factory tour and museum and Mercedes museum. I went on both the BMW and Porsche factory tours and found that the BMW one much more comprehensive as your see almost all of it (sheet metal stamping, welding, painting, interior install, etc) whereas the Porsche you only saw a portion of the process. Both Mercedes and Porsche, less so Mercedes seemed like it was simply cars parked around. BMW did a better job of showing additional exhibits in the museum so it didn’t feel like a car show.

Nurburgring
Nurburgring time! So many rare cars that aren’t so rare at the ring – 1M, GT4, GT3, GT3RS, etc. Many many M2s, M3s, and M4s, as well as Golfs and Siroccos. The rarest cars I saw was a 675LT and 458. On to my ring taxi lap. Apparently the official BMW ring taxi isn’t running in 2017, it seems they may have pulled out of that business as their logo is removed from the sign outside the ring taxi building. I decided to get a ride from the people at ringtaxi.de in the F80 M3, it was quite the experience, the car is extremely capable in the right hands and the driver was amazing. Half way through our lap we caught up to a pair of M4s which we ended up passing. At the end of it, it was my time to do my lap, a very slow lap in the right lane that is. I must say that these photographers at the ring have a decent business model as I bought all my pictures which cost 9 euro lol.

106 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
107 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
IMG_7065 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
IMG_7066 by Pearson Chung, on FlickrTouristenfahrten Nürburgring Nordschleife Ringspion by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
120 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr


Misc
Since this is a BMW forum, I’ll skip the narrative of the Porsche factory tour and museum, Mercedes museum, and Audi museum. I went on both the BMW and Porsche factory tours and found that the BMW one much more comprehensive as your see almost all of it (sheet metal stamping, welding, painting, interior install, etc) whereas the Porsche you only saw a portion of the process. Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche, less so Mercedes seemed like it was simply cars parked around. BMW did a better job of showing additional exhibits in the museum so it didn’t feel like a car show.

071 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
074 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
078 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
080 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
082 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
083.4 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
083.5 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
083.6 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
083.7 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
084 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
088 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
093 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
101 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr
106.1 by Pearson Chung, on Flickr