BMW Euro Delivery, Can't Miss Experience
11-17-2015, 06:16 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
BMW Euro Delivery, Can't Miss Experience
I just got back from Germany last month taking delivery of my wife's 2016 M3 replacing her 2010 M3. I wanted to write a quick post to share some pictures and the experience for any of you considering buying a new BMW in the near future. This is a long winded post, just a warning.
The program: This part is bit lengthy, you can skip if you only want to see pics...
BMW Euro Delivery (ED) is available on most new BMW's except the X series. You order the car through your local US BMW dealer per your specs and handle the negotiation/paperwork/payment completely through your dealer. BMW gives you a 7% discount off the MSRP of the car (down to 5% in 2016). You can then negotiate any additional discounts and apply any incentives BMW may have running such as extra build cash credits, holiday cash back etc. With the discounts you can pretty much go on the trip for free (or close to it).
Once you order the car the dealer will ask you to pick 3 dates for pick up. You will likely get your first option but if not they will give you the 2nd or 3rd date you requested. You then book your air travel and hotels and plan your route. You can drive anywhere in EU except for Lichtenstein during the trip. It's important to check weather conditions for the time of year (snow in the mountain passes etc). BMW covers your temporary registration and full coverage 0 deductible insurance through Allianz for 14 days (can be extended for extra).
The trip: We flew in to Munich and BMW provides a limo service which picks you up in a brand new BMW (loaded X5 in our case). The driver will take you to your hotel or directly to the BMW Welt (World). We dropped off our luggage at the hotel then walked about 1 mile to the BMW Welt. The Welt is the delivery center, showroom and part of BMW corporate headquarters. Amazing building with incredible architecture and design.
After arriving they check you in at the premium lounge upstairs and confirm your pick up date. You'll get a run down of the procedures and receive the paperwork then you can visit the lounge for unlimited free German food, drinks, wifi and relaxation. We chose to get there a day early and take the 2 hour factory tour and see the BMW museum which were amazing. During the factory tour we learned the cars are built mostly by robots. The robots do the welding, assembly, painting, QC checks etc. It's amazing to see how precise the programming of the robots is. 4 robots can do 100+ spot welds in 60 seconds. The Museum was also very impressive with a modern art feel. It included BMW's famous cars, motorcycles, race engines on display as well as a special exhibit for Mini.
The next day we were set to pick up the car in the morning. We went to the lounge, had some free food/drinks and met our adviser who took us down to the 2nd level to check out the car. The general public can watch the deliveries from across the walkway and there's usually a good size crowd when an M car is delivered. The adviser went over all the features (most were similar to our E90 M3 so it didn't take long). Then we fired up the car and took it for a victory lap around the inside of the building. Then we valet parked the car and took a train to the Marienplatz (Munich city center) to pick up our free gift a stopwatch given to M car owners among other gifts like a Harmon Kardon bluetooth speaker, engraved keychain etc. After that we got back to the car and hit the road just in time for Munich traffic.
First stop- Berchtesgaden, about 1.5 hours south east of Munich on the board of Salzburg Austria (think Sound of Music). It was raining and dreary that week but driving through the winding mountain roads and small German towns was a blast. Keeping it under 5,500 RPM and 106 MPH was not but the car has so much torque it was easy to drive keeping the revs down. Driving in Germany is a treat. You can only pass on the left and people truly only use the left lane on the autobahn to pass then they get out of the way. People actually move over for faster cars and use their turn signal (what a concept)! We arrived in the small town of Berchtesgaden which is known for it's beautiful national park and outdoor activities. We only stayed for one night and visited the national park including a pristine river fed lake which is one of the cleanest in Germany (drinking quality water).
Second stop- Dachau, back towards Munich since the mountain passes near Fussen (huge castles) were snowed shut. We visited the concentration camp which was both interesting and depressing. A lot of history and a stark reminder about how people can be total pieces of garbage. Strangely enough the camp is located in a fairly busy city with a lot of industrial buildings, car dealerships, and a burger king nearby.
Third stop- Stuttgart home of Porsche and Mercedes Benz. We visited the Porsche factory the next morning. The parking garage was already enough eye candy, much less the actual museum. The special exhibit was on the history of the 959 with 5 of them parked together (rare site to see) along with a lot of classic Porsche race and road cars. We had lunch at the highly touted steak restaurant in the Porsche Museum which was pretty good but not as good as TX steak then we headed to the Mercedes museum across town. The Porsche museum was cool but the MB museum was incredible. I think it's 6 stories tall with a story dedicated to a decade of MB history. They correlated the history of the company with world events and did a great job show casing where the company came from and where it is going. They also had interesting side halls exhibits of famous celebrity cars, MB race cars, special industrial vehicles etc. The MB museum is a can't miss if you're in Stuttgart and I'm not even a MB fan.
Fourth stop- Nurburgring! We stayed at the Motorsport & Congress hotel right on the track which was racing themed and very convenient. The next day we got up early and headed to the track at 8 AM. My friend rented a Suzuki Swift race car and we took the M3 (now with 800 miles on it). The wife and I bought 4 lap tickets which were 27 Euro a lap and we each drove 2 laps. The Ring is a German 1 way public toll road when it's not shut down for a race so any street legal car, bus, van, motorcycle can drive on it. The day before we went they had it shut down for a VLN series pro race so we got to drive the F1 GP track connected to the Nordschleife. I took it pretty easy on my first lap but ramped up speed on my second. There are a LOT of blind corners with crests and turns. No amount of playing Gran Turismo will prepare you for the track. I am a pretty experienced track driver and instructor at COTA (F1 track in Austin) and there's no way I could learn the track in one day. Just be conservative, lift before crests, watch your mirrors and take the car home in one piece. You won't set any lap records on a public driving day anyway with lots of traffic and crashes.
Here's a lap at the Ring the M3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUEfyycv5sE
Fifth stop- Spa Francorchamps, only about a 1.5 hour drive from the Ring into Belgium to drive Spa. Where to start...simply the best track I've ever driven in my life. The track flows so well, the sight lines in and out of corners are so good, Eau Rogue is a blast and there is endless elevation and views of an incredible forest. The wife and I each did a session and I was depressed I didn't have time to do more sessions. I was able to learn the track in about 3 laps and was driving a good 80% by the end of the session (still short shifting at 5,500 rpm). The brakes and tires held up well both at the Ring and Spa with 2 drivers, and it felt incredibly neutral even on the stock alignment in the fast corners. No hint of understeer or oversteer unless severely provoked. I'm really impressed with the car.
Here's a lap at SPA in the M3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuXdATmVkW0
Sixth stop- Frankfurt/Munich. After eating a wonderful meal in a small Belgium town and spending a night at the Spa hotel (Hotel De La Source) we hit the road back towards Munich. I was able to stop in Frankfurt and tour a watch factory and buy a watch (Sinn U1). Then we went back to Munich and crashed for the night. The next morning we found a car wash to scrape the dead bugs/dirt off the car and dropped it off at the airport for shipping. BMW takes care of the shipping from there and you can expect to get your car back in 6-8 weeks depending on where you live in the U.S.
If you can take 2+ weeks to do the trip, we were rushing like mad to drive everywhere with not a lot of downtime to relax. We didn't even go to Italy, Switzerland or many other countries, it was pushing it to see Germany in a week. I think we ended up putting just 1,200 miles on the car.
And now pics...
The program: This part is bit lengthy, you can skip if you only want to see pics...
BMW Euro Delivery (ED) is available on most new BMW's except the X series. You order the car through your local US BMW dealer per your specs and handle the negotiation/paperwork/payment completely through your dealer. BMW gives you a 7% discount off the MSRP of the car (down to 5% in 2016). You can then negotiate any additional discounts and apply any incentives BMW may have running such as extra build cash credits, holiday cash back etc. With the discounts you can pretty much go on the trip for free (or close to it).
Once you order the car the dealer will ask you to pick 3 dates for pick up. You will likely get your first option but if not they will give you the 2nd or 3rd date you requested. You then book your air travel and hotels and plan your route. You can drive anywhere in EU except for Lichtenstein during the trip. It's important to check weather conditions for the time of year (snow in the mountain passes etc). BMW covers your temporary registration and full coverage 0 deductible insurance through Allianz for 14 days (can be extended for extra).
The trip: We flew in to Munich and BMW provides a limo service which picks you up in a brand new BMW (loaded X5 in our case). The driver will take you to your hotel or directly to the BMW Welt (World). We dropped off our luggage at the hotel then walked about 1 mile to the BMW Welt. The Welt is the delivery center, showroom and part of BMW corporate headquarters. Amazing building with incredible architecture and design.
After arriving they check you in at the premium lounge upstairs and confirm your pick up date. You'll get a run down of the procedures and receive the paperwork then you can visit the lounge for unlimited free German food, drinks, wifi and relaxation. We chose to get there a day early and take the 2 hour factory tour and see the BMW museum which were amazing. During the factory tour we learned the cars are built mostly by robots. The robots do the welding, assembly, painting, QC checks etc. It's amazing to see how precise the programming of the robots is. 4 robots can do 100+ spot welds in 60 seconds. The Museum was also very impressive with a modern art feel. It included BMW's famous cars, motorcycles, race engines on display as well as a special exhibit for Mini.
The next day we were set to pick up the car in the morning. We went to the lounge, had some free food/drinks and met our adviser who took us down to the 2nd level to check out the car. The general public can watch the deliveries from across the walkway and there's usually a good size crowd when an M car is delivered. The adviser went over all the features (most were similar to our E90 M3 so it didn't take long). Then we fired up the car and took it for a victory lap around the inside of the building. Then we valet parked the car and took a train to the Marienplatz (Munich city center) to pick up our free gift a stopwatch given to M car owners among other gifts like a Harmon Kardon bluetooth speaker, engraved keychain etc. After that we got back to the car and hit the road just in time for Munich traffic.
First stop- Berchtesgaden, about 1.5 hours south east of Munich on the board of Salzburg Austria (think Sound of Music). It was raining and dreary that week but driving through the winding mountain roads and small German towns was a blast. Keeping it under 5,500 RPM and 106 MPH was not but the car has so much torque it was easy to drive keeping the revs down. Driving in Germany is a treat. You can only pass on the left and people truly only use the left lane on the autobahn to pass then they get out of the way. People actually move over for faster cars and use their turn signal (what a concept)! We arrived in the small town of Berchtesgaden which is known for it's beautiful national park and outdoor activities. We only stayed for one night and visited the national park including a pristine river fed lake which is one of the cleanest in Germany (drinking quality water).
Second stop- Dachau, back towards Munich since the mountain passes near Fussen (huge castles) were snowed shut. We visited the concentration camp which was both interesting and depressing. A lot of history and a stark reminder about how people can be total pieces of garbage. Strangely enough the camp is located in a fairly busy city with a lot of industrial buildings, car dealerships, and a burger king nearby.
Third stop- Stuttgart home of Porsche and Mercedes Benz. We visited the Porsche factory the next morning. The parking garage was already enough eye candy, much less the actual museum. The special exhibit was on the history of the 959 with 5 of them parked together (rare site to see) along with a lot of classic Porsche race and road cars. We had lunch at the highly touted steak restaurant in the Porsche Museum which was pretty good but not as good as TX steak then we headed to the Mercedes museum across town. The Porsche museum was cool but the MB museum was incredible. I think it's 6 stories tall with a story dedicated to a decade of MB history. They correlated the history of the company with world events and did a great job show casing where the company came from and where it is going. They also had interesting side halls exhibits of famous celebrity cars, MB race cars, special industrial vehicles etc. The MB museum is a can't miss if you're in Stuttgart and I'm not even a MB fan.
Fourth stop- Nurburgring! We stayed at the Motorsport & Congress hotel right on the track which was racing themed and very convenient. The next day we got up early and headed to the track at 8 AM. My friend rented a Suzuki Swift race car and we took the M3 (now with 800 miles on it). The wife and I bought 4 lap tickets which were 27 Euro a lap and we each drove 2 laps. The Ring is a German 1 way public toll road when it's not shut down for a race so any street legal car, bus, van, motorcycle can drive on it. The day before we went they had it shut down for a VLN series pro race so we got to drive the F1 GP track connected to the Nordschleife. I took it pretty easy on my first lap but ramped up speed on my second. There are a LOT of blind corners with crests and turns. No amount of playing Gran Turismo will prepare you for the track. I am a pretty experienced track driver and instructor at COTA (F1 track in Austin) and there's no way I could learn the track in one day. Just be conservative, lift before crests, watch your mirrors and take the car home in one piece. You won't set any lap records on a public driving day anyway with lots of traffic and crashes.
Here's a lap at the Ring the M3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUEfyycv5sE
Fifth stop- Spa Francorchamps, only about a 1.5 hour drive from the Ring into Belgium to drive Spa. Where to start...simply the best track I've ever driven in my life. The track flows so well, the sight lines in and out of corners are so good, Eau Rogue is a blast and there is endless elevation and views of an incredible forest. The wife and I each did a session and I was depressed I didn't have time to do more sessions. I was able to learn the track in about 3 laps and was driving a good 80% by the end of the session (still short shifting at 5,500 rpm). The brakes and tires held up well both at the Ring and Spa with 2 drivers, and it felt incredibly neutral even on the stock alignment in the fast corners. No hint of understeer or oversteer unless severely provoked. I'm really impressed with the car.
Here's a lap at SPA in the M3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuXdATmVkW0
Sixth stop- Frankfurt/Munich. After eating a wonderful meal in a small Belgium town and spending a night at the Spa hotel (Hotel De La Source) we hit the road back towards Munich. I was able to stop in Frankfurt and tour a watch factory and buy a watch (Sinn U1). Then we went back to Munich and crashed for the night. The next morning we found a car wash to scrape the dead bugs/dirt off the car and dropped it off at the airport for shipping. BMW takes care of the shipping from there and you can expect to get your car back in 6-8 weeks depending on where you live in the U.S.
If you can take 2+ weeks to do the trip, we were rushing like mad to drive everywhere with not a lot of downtime to relax. We didn't even go to Italy, Switzerland or many other countries, it was pushing it to see Germany in a week. I think we ended up putting just 1,200 miles on the car.
And now pics...
11-17-2015, 06:20 AM
#2
Awesome report - looks like a fantastic time. Thanks for sharing! 
11-17-2015, 06:51 AM
#4
Community Organizer
Been there, done that. But you drove some awesome tracks. We only got to visit Monza the weekend before the F1 race there.
Got the victory lap escort with the MotoGP Safety Car.
It really is an awesome experience. So many memories.
So, isn't the Autobahn and the driver etiquette just miles beyond what we have here in the US? Sad really.
Got the victory lap escort with the MotoGP Safety Car.
It really is an awesome experience. So many memories.
So, isn't the Autobahn and the driver etiquette just miles beyond what we have here in the US? Sad really.
11-17-2015, 07:01 AM
#5
Registered User
Thread Starter
No, ran out of time and vacation days to do both ED and PCD. Maybe next time. Plus the wait to get the car home is already long enough. We should have it in 2-3 more weeks. We dropped it off in Munich on Oct 20.
11-17-2015, 07:59 AM
#7
Registered User
Thank you for the write up. Seems like a pretty good deal that comes along with just buying a BMW. No pics of your actual car though? (im at work, cant see your track video)
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11-17-2015, 08:01 AM
#8
Epic trip and great write-up/pics! I'll need to do something like that someday with a German brand, be in=t BMW, Porsche, etc.
11-17-2015, 08:51 AM
#9
Registered User
Congrats on your new ride and thank you for sharing your experience. It's on my bucket list to do sooner than later. I see that the X1 for 2016 is available for ED.
11-17-2015, 08:52 AM
#10
Nice man, bucket list thing for sure.