European Delivery - must do's & other recommendations

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by funk74

For those that did ED, is there any paint protection product you used to prevent rock chips? Or are the roads that good?.

No protection - always commando.
Highways - yes (in Germany and Austria).
Secondary roads - fair share of pot holes.

a

[drjoe66]

Originally Posted by funk74

For those that did ED, is there any paint protection product you used to prevent rock chips? Or are the roads that good?

thanks.

Stuff can always happen. The main highways are 100x better than any freeway in the US. Its like day and night. After the winter, the side roads may have some potholes, but they get fixed very quickly. Fixed, not patched by amateurs like here.....

[adc]

Originally Posted by funk74

For those that did ED, is there any paint protection product you used to prevent rock chips? Or are the roads that good?

thanks.

If you get any rock chips, use the zero deductible awesome insurance that bmw gives you for free. I curbed my wheel, my buddy got a dent in his hood and all problems were fixed perfectly at the VDC before US redelivery. Just make sure you point the out on the insurance claim when you drop off the car.

And enjoy!

[adc]

Contrary to some opinions expressed here, I've had some of the best driving on Italian roads. Went south past Innsbruck and exited the freeway after Merano. Took one superb pass to get to the Stelvio, then the Stelvio, then crossed into Switzerland and did one more just to cap off the day.

Stay into the mountains in Italy, avoiding the crowded boring plains and the crowded beautiful hill regions. Driving in the Dolomites and Italian/Swiss alps is sublime, absolutely epic.


I won't get any of this in my June ED trip because I need to get from Munich to Provence in 1 day so I need to stick to boring highways, but I'd do it if I could.

[funk74]

Originally Posted by adc

Contrary to some opinions expressed here, I've had some of the best driving on Italian roads. Went south past Innsbruck and exited the freeway after Merano. Took one superb pass to get to the Stelvio, then the Stelvio, then crossed into Switzerland and did one more just to cap off the day.

Stay into the mountains in Italy, avoiding the crowded boring plains and the crowded beautiful hill regions. Driving in the Dolomites and Italian/Swiss alps is sublime, absolutely epic.


I won't get any of this in my June ED trip because I need to get from Munich to Provence in 1 day so I need to stick to boring highways, but I'd do it if I could.

I'm in a similar boat. I have about 2 days to get to amsterdam (including pickup). Any suggestions on routes/itineraries? Those 2 days don't include the the day before where I will have some time to spend in Munich before pickup.

I was thinking of doing the Nurburgring on day 2 at some point in the day.

Thanks.

[adc]

Originally Posted by funk74

I'm in a similar boat. I have about 2 days to get to amsterdam (including pickup). Any suggestions on routes/itineraries? Those 2 days don't include the the day before where I will have some time to spend in Munich before pickup.

I was thinking of doing the Nurburgring on day 2 at some point in the day.

Thanks.

Nurburgring would be my recommendation for one of the days. Usually during the week it's only open from 5:30PM-7:30PM which allows you to put in a few laps but no more. Schedule here: http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/drives...6&year_20=2015

Another recommendation would be for the most amazing road to get there: the Schwarzwalder Hochstrasse (translated as Black Forest High Road) aka B500. Some details here, but you can google to get more: http://www.schwarzwald.com/hochstrasse/

It's essentially a sweeping road at the top of the mountain in the vein of the Skyline Ridge Road on the East Coast, except faster. It flows, it turns, it dips and the views are breathtaking - one of the best driving roads I've experienced anywhere.

If you start early morning, you can do B500 and get to the Ring by 5:30PM if not mistaken.

[golovko]

I am going to my first ED this June as well. I've been all over Europe before but never like this so I am looking forward to it.

What I have roughly planned is to head to Leipzig from Munich to spend one night visiting with my brother and his family before heading to Prague for a couple of nights. Right now the next 2 destinations would be Vienna and Venice but that is still undecided.

[ben1233]

Hey Guys,
For those of you have done pickup and factory tour on same day, how much time should you allow between pickup and the tour? In my e-mail to the Welt, I was clear that my pickup was 10AM. They gave me a factory tour at 11:45.

I did an ED about 6 years ago and don't really remember how long it took. Of course I don't want to be rushed and I assume there is some transit (on foot?) time to go from the Welt to the factory. And of course I'd want to be 10-15 minutes early for the tour.

Should I call to request my delivery time slot to be moved up or am I safe as-is?

[BMW F22]

Originally Posted by ben1233

Hey Guys,
For those of you have done pickup and factory tour on same day, how much time should you allow between pickup and the tour? In my e-mail to the Welt, I was clear that my pickup was 10AM. They gave me a factory tour at 11:45.

I did an ED about 6 years ago and don't really remember how long it took. Of course I don't want to be rushed and I assume there is some transit (on foot?) time to go from the Welt to the factory. And of course I'd want to be 10-15 minutes early for the tour.

Should I call to request my delivery time slot to be moved up or am I safe as-is?

That's enough time. Ours (we did 3 at the same time) was around 9-9:30 AM. It took about an hour or so. We had some time to walk around after before joining the factory tour. You should set your watch for 11 AM to remind you. If you wrap up around 11:15 you should have enough time for victory lap, drive the car out, park it, walk around for a bit and then do the factory tour.

[psuwcc112]

Originally Posted by funk74

For those that did ED, is there any paint protection product you used to prevent rock chips? Or are the roads that good?

thanks.

If you are really paranoid like me, you can always put some temporary clear tape to protect the front end high impact area. I got some clear Trakk Tape before heading to my ED trip, for sure they looks much stealthier compared to the common used blue painter tape.

I do agree with others though, the road in Germany is so much better compares to the ones in US. Very clean and almost zero potholes. I think most cars there are without clear bra. And their car dont seem to get much rock chips compare to US as i was looking through their parked cars on the street.

I have recently created a ED journal in the photo section, you can get a glimpse of what clear tape look like on the car.

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1101462

[funk74]

Originally Posted by ben1233

Hey Guys,
For those of you have done pickup and factory tour on same day, how much time should you allow between pickup and the tour? In my e-mail to the Welt, I was clear that my pickup was 10AM. They gave me a factory tour at 11:45.

I did an ED about 6 years ago and don't really remember how long it took. Of course I don't want to be rushed and I assume there is some transit (on foot?) time to go from the Welt to the factory. And of course I'd want to be 10-15 minutes early for the tour.

Should I call to request my delivery time slot to be moved up or am I safe as-is?

Isn't the 11:30 time slot for the factory tour in english? or are there more then one tour in english? I feel like I read this somewhere, but can't find it anymore.

thanks.

[funk74]

Originally Posted by psuwcc112

If you are really paranoid like me, you can always put some temporary clear tape to protect the front end high impact area. I got some clear Trakk Tape before heading to my ED trip, for sure they looks much stealthier compared to the common used blue painter tape.

I do agree with others though, the road in Germany is so much better compares to the ones in US. Very clean and almost zero potholes. I think most cars there are without clear bra. And their car dont seem to get much rock chips compare to US as i was looking through their parked cars on the street.

I have recently created a ED journal in the photo section, you can get a glimpse of what clear tape look like on the car.

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1101462

Nice Car!
Nice Journal.
Looks like you had a great time. Wish I had that much time to spend there doing all of that this trip, but unfortunately only have 2 days with the car.

[funk74]

Originally Posted by adc

Nurburgring would be my recommendation for one of the days. Usually during the week it's only open from 5:30PM-7:30PM which allows you to put in a few laps but no more. Schedule here: http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/drives...6&year_20=2015

Another recommendation would be for the most amazing road to get there: the Schwarzwalder Hochstrasse (translated as Black Forest High Road) aka B500. Some details here, but you can google to get more: http://www.schwarzwald.com/hochstrasse/

It's essentially a sweeping road at the top of the mountain in the vein of the Skyline Ridge Road on the East Coast, except faster. It flows, it turns, it dips and the views are breathtaking - one of the best driving roads I've experienced anywhere.

If you start early morning, you can do B500 and get to the Ring by 5:30PM if not mistaken.

Thanks for the tips. Hopefully the timing will work out. Wasn't aware that it was only open for 2 hours during the weekdays.

Do you guy think I need to buy a ticket early or should I wait till I get there?

[adc]

Originally Posted by funk74

Isn't the 11:30 time slot for the factory tour in english? or are there more then one tour in english? I feel like I read this somewhere, but can't find it anymore.

thanks.

It was 11:30 when I took it last time, and they are not that frequent to have another just 15 min later. It's probably the same one - you can confirm with the concierge at check-in. Either one, there is plenty of time to do the delivery and cross th street to get to the factory.

Originally Posted by funk74

Thanks for the tips. Hopefully the timing will work out. Wasn't aware that it was only open for 2 hours during the weekdays.

Do you guy think I need to buy a ticket early or should I wait till I get there?

Don't need any advance purchase. You can buy the tickets at the automated machine next to the paddock.

Please be aware that Ring opening times can and do change based on a variety of factors so check on the day you want to go.

[Bluex]

What's interesting, and I suppose that I should have researched this prior, but according to the Welt, they do not offer any factory tours on the weekend.

My delivery is on Saturday May 16th, so I guess that means no factory tour I'm looking into pushing up the delivery time now.

I'm kind of disappointed, but at the same time, that means i'm on the road earlier!

[ben1233]

The time the Welt gave me was 11:45 and that was for an english tour. Odd that it seemingly used to be 11:30. I wonder what sort of difference 15 minutes made!
Thanks for the help on the pickup time vs. factory tour schedule!

[BwoodBMW]

I now have a 9:30am delivery time with the 11:45 tour. Pretty sure I'll have to blow an hour eating snacks in the lounge in between.