XsltAnalyst's M3 PCD Journey back home to Maryland

[XsltAnalyst]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

Greeting, you might remember my euro delivery journey (check my sig)

TL;DR: Do PCD, it's worth it.

Anyway, I dropped off my car on 6/03 at Frankfurt. It made it to the ship on 6/10, and was already in Brunsvick GA by 6/26. Not many days after that, it passed the customs and I was able to get a PCD date even earlier than anticipated. I was open to doing a Monday delivery so I was really happy to be given a July 11 appointment, which was 1-2 weeks earlier than I had anticipated. Since it was on such a short notice, nobody else could come with me, but I still had a lot of fun. Besides, when you're alone, you'll get more seat time during driving exercises, instead of switching with your co-drivers, so that's a bonus.

Anyway, my journey began with BWI-ATL-GSP flight on Sunday. 5.5 hours total because of a flight change in ATL but otherwise it was uneventful. Southwest was decent and extra 30 dollars or so worth it for a "business" class, so I can check in and board earlier.

GSP is a small airport but it had an x3 on display. Anyway, the hotel sent an X5 diesel shuttle and a really nice driver to pick me up. We had a nice chat during our journey to the hotel and he helped to check me in, reserve a dinner and even walked me up to my room.

Hotel has a pool so be sure to pack appropriately if you plan to use it. After relaxing by the pool I ate delicious dinner, then went to bed a bit early to get ready for the big day.

By the way, I really enjoyed the southern hospitality, whether it was at the hotel or at the Performance Delivery Center or during plant tour. Everyone was realy nice and I was really glad I choose to do the PCD.

[XsltAnalyst]

Anyway, the next day the hotel shuttle transported everyone who was doing pcd. I won't bore everyone with details of how the day went and I advice against reading too much into it. It's better to leave some things for imagination, and it's better to be surprised and not know what comes next. But my favorite part has to be the hot laps in an M5.

Anyway, if you've already done the Euro delivery then expect to be on the road not too much after 1-2pm. Once I got my car back, I instructed my delivery specialist to leave the front plate on. She then installed the rear plate for me. Car had about 8 extra kilometers since I dropped it off at Frankfurt, if anyone was curious. I inspected the car to check for any new damages and whatnot and was a bit surprised/disappointed to see that my parking mishap from Venice wasn't fixed . At least they replaced the missing valve stem caps .
I emaled bmw few days later for explanation and was told it was considered as a part of wear and tear and will not be repaired. Oh well, I guess I'll have a story to tell from now on if anyone asks about those scratches.

I had brought some trakktape with me in a carry-on and was going to install it. But it was starting to rain so I just decided not to, and just kept my distance when following traffic.

I had a small detour planned to visit Graggy Gardens and Mount Mitchell, and drive a little bit of Blue Ridge Parkway before joining the major highways for a journey back home.
Tail of the Dragon seemed like a too much of a detour and I wasn't impressed by it based on few dash cam videos I've seen. I tailored my route based on feedback from my CA (Ben Allen @ BMW of Annapolis MD), since he is from there.

Here is the route I took. . Took me maybe extra 3-3.5 hours compared to a direct route home, but no regrets. Once I exited the pcd, I drove towards Ashville and took the Town Mountain road, which is parallel to BRP and joins it eventually. Then I took some great pictures at Graggy Pinnacle overlook, and it was a really easy 10 min hike.
Then Mount Mitchell is only a 20-30 min drive from Graggy Gardens. After visiting Mount Mitchell (highest peak east of Mississippi) car's satNav lady took me to some nice back roads before joining the major highways.
I stopped somewhere in NC to get some water/snacks from a supermarket, and to stretch my legs. You can see how far I've parked from everything else.
Btw, expect to encounter plenty of elephant races on I-81. Despite that, it's a lot better than I-95.

Car came with a full tank so I only filled up once I was at about 60% in my journey. Filling up with Shell V power, near Roanoke VA. It was around 8:30-9pm ish and I had a choice to make. Whether to continue another 5 hours at night or find a room for the night. Saw some hotels near the gas station and stopped by to ask if they had a room available, but no luck. Some parent teacher bs event was going on. Anyway, I decided to just push thru the night to get home, since I wasn't feeling too tired yet.

So I push along for a few hours, till the fatigue starts to creep in. My vision starts to get blurry and I just pull over at the next rest stop instead of pushing on like a moron.

So at the rest stop I use the washroom, wash my face with cold water, get some energy drink, but nothing helps. I just decide to take a quick nap- optional sunshades came in handy again.
I curl up and get in a somewhat comfortable position in the back seat to rest for a bit. I wake up after about 1-1.25 hours later, feeling refreshed and ready to continue. Another few hours of careful driving (don't speed in VA!), I was happy to cross the Maryland state line. My home is only an hour away, so the big part was over. So I make it home shortly after at 4am. After 14 hours of leaving the Spartanburg, I was finally home, safe and sound.
PCD might be over, but the journey with my F80 is just beginning. Thank you for reading.

[KevinM]

Nice re-delivery. Congratulations!

[bb1857]

Very cool stuff...great pics and sounds like you had an awesome time! See you around MD some day!

[KevinGS]

XA,

Welcome home!

And come on out to an upcoming MD Meet:

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1289636

[mike@x-ph.com]

Nice, thanks for sharing

[ersin]

The Blue Ridge Pkwy is awesome. Sounds like a nice pick up and little trip you had. Congrats.


Cheers.

[XsltAnalyst]

Thank you all for your kind words.

Originally Posted by KevinGS

XA,

Welcome home!

And come on out to an upcoming MD Meet:

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1289636

thanks, I'll try to come out depending on my schedule that weekend.

Originally Posted by ersin

The Blue Ridge Pkwy is awesome. Sounds like a nice pick up and little trip you had. Congrats.


Cheers.

Yeah it was a nice little mini vacation and the blue ridge parkway (BRP) is really beautiful at this time of the year. . Also, BRP is so much better to drive than Skyline drive since the speed limits are higher and there is less traffic.

[ersin]

Originally Posted by XsltAnalyst

Also, BRP is so much better to drive than Skyline drive since the speed limits are higher and there is less traffic.

And cheaper.


Cheers.

[snareman]

That's pretty quick for your PCD date. I'm dropping off my car on 8/23 and have M school the 10/15 weekend and want to do a PCD the day before. Its 7.5 weeks from drop off, but the performance center called my CA and said they didn't know if they'd be able to fit it in that tight of a window. They are supposed to work a little extra hard for people that have things like $3500 M school scheduled. Hopefully they'll come through.

[XsltAnalyst]

Originally Posted by snareman

That's pretty quick for your PCD date. I'm dropping off my car on 8/23 and have M school the 10/15 weekend and want to do a PCD the day before. Its 7.5 weeks from drop off, but the performance center called my CA and said they didn't know if they'd be able to fit it in that tight of a window. They are supposed to work a little extra hard for people that have things like $3500 M school scheduled. Hopefully they'll come through.

Yeah I was thrilled to get my car back sooner, and my Monday availability helped it as well.

Your timeline looks fine, as from what I've read on bimmerfest ed forums the average time between ED & PCD is 7-8 weeks. However, it'll depend on other variables such as the ship schedule, weather, holidays, etc.

To speed up the time it gets to the ship, you should drop your car off in Germany (preferably in Munich/Frankfurt), and hopefully your ED trip happens without any major incidents so that VDC doesn't keep your car too long.
GL with your car and I look forward to reading about your trip!

[snareman]

Originally Posted by XsltAnalyst

Yeah I was thrilled to get my car back sooner, and my Monday availability helped it as well.

Your timeline looks fine, as from what I've read on bimmerfest ed forums the average time between ED & PCD is 7-8 weeks. However, it'll depend on other variables such as the ship schedule, weather, holidays, etc.

To speed up the time it gets to the ship, you should drop your car off in Germany (preferably in Munich/Frankfurt), and hopefully your ED trip happens without any major incidents so that VDC doesn't keep your car too long.
GL with your car and I look forward to reading about your trip!

I was thinking about dropping off in Vienna, but I'd heard that takes like an extra year to get back so I'm circling back in Munich for drop off. Hopefully I won't have any damage that needs fixed, will have a good ship schedule and short stay at the VPC. First time was 2-3 days, 2nd time was a crazy 2 weeks.

I'm looking forward to hearing about my trip myself.

[SamS]

Great pics and write-up! What kind of damage happened in Venice?

[MSCD]

Fun trip congrats. Good move on the shut eye! Yes VA and MD can be tough if going over the limit... I'm always cautious on I95. Car looks great. Glad it is home now.

[duky]

Love how these drives always show an M3 at Shell. We are all like free advertising for V-POWER.

Sounds like a great trip. I miss that southern hospitality too (used to live in Durham, NC) so spent a lot of time in those parts. Asheville has a special place in my heart

[atopa2002]

Such a bummer they didn't fix this small damage ,
They fixed my wheel rash when I did my Ed in 2013.
Great car enjoy in good health

[CaryTheLabelGuy]

BRP is one of my favorite drives on this planet, particularly between Asheville, NC and Cherokee, NC. We are up there all the time!

Congrats on the new whip and welcome to Team Silverstone II!

[foxman7]

great story!

[davem3fan]

18" wheels FTW.

[raysspl]

Euro delivery + PCD?!?! WOW, livin' life. I look forward to the day when I do this. What a motivation.

[BklynNYBMW]

Congrats on the Toy. It is beautiful. I did the performance delivery twice. A great way to pick up the the car if you can get the time off to do it.
Just wondering why you didn't get a straight flight from BWI to Spartanburgh. On my first performance delivery my friend that lived in Maryland was able to take a direct flight from BWI to Spartanburg.

[psuibmw]

Congrats best color ever nice 18s, I like them, a lot actually

Does not seem like you followed the map, you entered MD somewhere other than the 495, was that the 340, near Harpers Ferry, WV?