Performance Center Delivery

We picked up our X3 at the Performance Center Friday November 16th. Performance Center Delivery (PCD) is a mini vacation, courtsy of BMW North America.

PCD includes a dinner at the Greenville Marriott, a night in the hotel and breakfast the next morning. The hotel dinner was better than we expected as the food at some Marriott restaurants can be dreadful. BMW customers order from a 3-course 'performance' menu. Steak, chicken, fish or vegetarian main dish, salad and dessert. Breakfast is the normal Marriott buffet. Not worth what the hotel charges, but fine when BMW is paying.

We couldn't sleep in. The delivery day starts at 8:00 sharp and the hotel is about 15 minutes away. We went out to the Miata at 7:40 and found it covered in ice. I started the car and scraped off as much ice as I could with a credit card. With the de-icing delay, we arrived at the Performance Center a few minutes late.

We found the Performance Center lobby just about empty. There was our X3, another customer car and a couple of BMW employees. One set of guests, The Slows, were holding up the hotel shuttle. We were the first to arrive.

Performance Delivery includes a few hours of driving instruction and demonstrations and a 2 hour delivery of your car. They kept us busy, but we did manage to take a few pictures.

Debbie on the skid pad in the middle of a 720 spin. We each got a turn spinning out a 335i sedan. I nearly blacked out. Debbie had a blast. You have to turn the stability control completely off to get the car to spin. With DSC on, the car will not spin. It hardly even slides.

After the skid pad we switched to a school X3 for panic stop training. On the way over I spotted a new 135i sedan and a 128i convertible. These cars won't be at dealers for a few more months. They were at the Performance Center as part of a CA and Service Technician training programs. I snapped a few quick photos. The car on the left is a beautiful and rare 1974 2002tii.

The panic stop training was quite good. We made progressive runs starting at 0-20-0 and ending with 0-60-0. The course had a turn in it so we both got a good feel for how the X3 handles with the brake pedal down as far as it will go. True to form, The Slows never made it to 60mph.

After the panic stop training we got some time on an autocross circuit. This was the first time we'd autocrossed an X3 without the sport package. It was a blast although we both wanted more time on course. I wasn't going that fast but I kept running up on the car in front of me. It would have been nice to have some time on the track with fewer cars.

Lunch was on BMW at the center cafe. It was food. During lunch we talked with the other guests and the staff. One of the instructors had just come back from 2 weeks at the Nürburgring with the new M3.

Wanting to keep lunch down, I declined a post-lunch hot lap in a 500HP M5. Debbie went out. I took photos.

Drifting in the M5.
Powering out of a wild slide.
Full throttle reverse. Note the backup lights. Driver did a 180 and then coasted into the parking area like nothing had happened. Debbie came out all grins.

Factory tours are closed until the X6 is released sometime this spring. In lieu of the factory tour, we took an X3 on the off road demonstration course. I wanted to hop out and take pictures while Debbie was driving, but she needed a second set of eyes to help keep the car out of the fence rails. BMW's off road course takes an X3 just a little short of the design limits. The course starts out easy, with some little hills that balance the car up on 2 wheels. After that we drove through a water trough. The water just covered the exhaust pipes on the X3 in front of us. That's about an inch short of the 20" maximum. Way more than I'll ever put our car through. The next bit was a little unnerving. We drove up a very steep hill. So steep you couldn't see anything but sky. Debbie watched one edge of the road out the passenger window and I watched out mine. Just past the crest of the hill, they dug a pit under the left track so that the car would fall in and pitch over at a 40 degree lean. YIKES. Perfectly safe, but unlike anything else we did that day it was a bit scary. Your mind is telling you the car is going to roll over. It has to roll. But it doesn't. I wish had a photo or a movie clip.

The Performance Center closed off the lobby during our delivery presentation. A delivery specialist spent over an hour going over every feature of our new X3.

There is a full service department at the Performance Center. The main function is to provide maintenance and service for the local fleet. They told me BMW NA has about 4000 cars between company owned and employee leases. I'd guess the techs there are among the best in North America. The Performance Center provides training for other BMW technicians. They also get an early look at cars coming over. Besides the 1series I saw, there were also some other cars hidden away in tents. My best guess is 5-series diesels and an X6 or two.

The PC techs perform the pre-delivery inspection on Performance Center Delivery cars. If you buy any dealer installed accessories, they install it. The service is first rate. Somehow my car key memory form never made it there. I asked, and we filled out a new form in the lobby. I asked for several things not on the standard form. A tech appeared out of nowhere, pulled our car around to the shop and put in the changes in about 10 minutes. Not even a word about my hand written requests. He just did it.

The detail work was first rate too. Our car was quite dirty at drop off. I'm sure it got even dirtier on the trip over. As you can see from the photo, they did an excellent job cleaning it up.

We had some time while we were waiting for the car/key memory programming. I asked if they would open up the 1 series car for us to look at. Much to my surprise they said yes.

First time I've sat in a pre-production BMW. I liked the 128i convertible. It is a much better looking car than the 3 series. BMW has gone back to a cleaner design with simpler smoother lines. Front seat was great. The back seat is a bit cramped.

We took a short stop at the Zentrum accross the street. They let delivery customers park on the lawn. I wish I'd taken a photo of our two cars there. It was a nice day, so I drove the miata back with the top down. Debbie drove the X3.

Trip Report -- Day 9

Tuesday was a travel day. We ordered a room service breakfast. We split breakfast for one. It was more then enough food. The Dutch breakfast was much like the food we'd been having in Germany. The biggest difference was a small box of shaved chocolate to have on top of toast. I liked that.

After breakfast, we took a taxi to Schipol airport and headed home. I missed my connecting flight in Newark.

We dropped the car October 1. Redelivery is scheduled for November 16.

Trip Report -- Day 8.1

After doing paper work at the USA office, we drove the X3 into a parking area inside the fence. I removed the front plate, the first aid kit and the warning triangle. Those items are for Europe only. If they go missing during shipment they are gone for good. BMW North America will replace anything else stolen from the car during shipment. We said good bye to the car, and took a taxi back to our Hotel. From there we took a bus into the city center.

Photo of me taking a picture.

Picture I took.
Debbie's photo of Canals.
More canals.
We went to the Van Gogh Museum. We cruised the canals. We ate Greek food for dinner. We walked. Miles.

Amsterdam was my favorite city of the trip. Really it was the only city. We didn't spend much time in Munich.

Historic Amsterdam doesn't have much room for cars. The streets are narrow and parking is difficult. The way the city is built, I'm not sure if it would be possible to build an underground parking garage. An above ground garage would be ugly and require removing historic buildings. In any case there aren't any. Most of the locals walk, use public transportation and ride bicycles. It seemed to us that there are more bicycles than residents. Near the central train station there is a multi-story parking deck crammed full of bicycles. There are bicycles locked to just about everything and parked just about everywhere. Going back through our photos of Amsterdam I was only able to find one or two that didn't have a bicycle in them.

In a wealthy city where bicycles are the main transportation, you'd expect to find the newest, coolest high tech bikes in existence. Well you won't. A typical Dutch bike is a heavy, low tech, rusty thing kinda like a 1950's English lightweight. Rock solid, dependable and kinda boring really. A few uniquely Dutch bikes caught my eye.

A bakfiets is just what the Dutch name implies, a box bike. I didn't get any decent photos, but there are plenty on the web. Have a look: here or here or here. I saw several in use transporting children, groceries, pets, whatever. A bakfiets is Amsterdam's SUV. I'm sure they weigh a ton with that wooden box. Bakfiets are expensive at just over €1,500. I've looked and there are a few Americans selling them here in the US. Prices are close to $3000. Still if we ever live in a bike friendly city I'm getting one.

Trip Report -- Day 8

Monday morning we hopped in the X3 and headed for United Stevedores Amsterdam. It wasn't far, so I plugged the address into the Nuvi and let it guide us there. Bad idea. There is a lot of road construction in the area. Some of the roads the Nuvi wanted to take us on were just plain gone.

I had looked at the area on Google Earth a few days earlier, so I had a rough idea of where we needed to be. I wandered around a bit annoying Debbie to no end. Eventually I got us to about the correct place. The Nuvi kept trying to take us down the wrong pier. Any readers planning to drop a car in Amsterdam: Email USA and get directions. Don't try and use GPS.

For fellow EDer's planning an Amsterdam drop off:



View Larger Map

The correct building is highlighted in blue.


Drive up this street.


Turn right at this building.


Park here, outside the gates.


Go inside this small red building. This is the one highlighted in the Google map.


Enter through this door.

Trip Report -- Day 7

Sunday breakfast was the now familiar bread, cheese, cold cuts and assorted extras. The Berghotel provided ample portions served at our table instead of a buffet.

The previous night I had carefully checked the Nuvi's route from Holzerath to Amsterdam. The route took us back on the one-lane road we came in on and eventually north east on the A1. We were only on the A1 a short distance. At first I thought this was another Nuvi error, but the maps showed a large section of the A1 is still unfinished. Instead we cut north west on the A60 towards Belgium. Traffic on the A60 was very light and I set the cruise control at 150km/h. I don't remember passing a single car. As we approached the border, the speed limit dropped to 80 or 60 and the Autobahn narrowed to 1 lane each way. Possibly this was a choke point at the old border crossing. The Schengen Treaty ended border controls between a dozen and a half European countries. Driving from Germany to Belgium is like Driving from Georgia to Alabama. There is a sign, the football team changes and a few of the traffic laws are different.

We stopped in Belgium for fuel at one of the ubiquitous rest stops. After filling up, I was going to use the restroom but Debbie warned me off. She said she'd seen about 15 men go in but none of them had come out. One woman ventured in but ran right back out and grabbed her husbands arm. They both left quickly. I decided that my bladder could wait for The Netherlands. Belgium was just a drive-through.

The national speed limit in Belgium and The Netherlands is 120km/h. After the Autobahn, driving at 75mph felt terribly slow. Traffic as we approached Amsterdam dragged us down to 40km/h or so.

We stayed at the Golden Tulip Amsterdam Art, a modern 4-star just outside central Amsterdam. The hotel has secure underground parking for 14Euros per night. In Amsterdam, finding a hotel with parking is essential. The hotel room was quite nice, if a bit strange. Think stereotypic gay. We unpacked quickly and headed out into the city.

The front of Amsterdam houses and building lean out into the street. I suppose this was done to give the upper stories a bit more room. It may also have something to do with the Nuvi's total failure to work. I had set the Nuvi to give us a walking route to the Anne Frank house. As soon as we got into historic Amsterdam, the Nuvi turned into an evil box. It did things like put us 2 or 3 blocks from our actual location and gave directions that made no sense. I finally turned the navigation off, and used the Nuvi as a dumb map.

We queued for the Anne Frank House a little before closing. That is the best time to go as the crowd is much smaller. The museum consists of the building her family hid in as well as the adjacent house. The Nazis took the furniture, but much of the rest remains. The book case concealing the entrance to the secret rooms, the wall paper, even the magazine pages that Anne used to decorate her room are all still there. It was quite a contrast to Dachau. This was home to several families. No one was murdered here. But it was equally haunting.

That night we had Indian food at a restaurant somewhere between the Anne Frank House and our hotel. After a week of German food, something else, anything else was a welcome change.

Back at the hotel we watched a little Dutch TV. Dutch programming is an intersection of Dutch and American culture. We watched the Blues Brothers Movie in English, with no subtitles. The commercials were very Dutch. The next channel over had music videos. Dutch rap seemed very odd.

Trip Report -- Day 6

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel buffet. Food was quite good. Cheese, cold cuts, bread, fresh pastries, and other assorted goodies. A large Japanese tour group decimated the buffet right as we sat down. The staff apologized and put out fresh food for us. We stayed at the Prinz Hotel Rothenburg. Good location right inside the town wall. Tourists walking the wall had a wonderful view of our room. Room was fine, the curtains worked and the price was reasonable. Staff was a bit cold but not too bad.

After breakfast we walked the town wall. Worth doing if you are there. We went to the market set up in the town square. Most of the shoppers looked like locals, not tourists. We bought bread, fruit and cheese that became our lunches for the next few days. I don't remember what kind of cheese we got. Wish I had, it was really good. Debbie bought chocolate from one of Rothenburg's many shops. I also stopped in a at a book store and got paper maps for Germany, Belgium and the The Netherlands.

We set the Nuvi to Trier, and then checked the route against the maps I'd bought. The route to Trier was mostly Autobahn. There were long stretches on the A6 with no limit. Debbie and I took turns running the X3 up to the 100mph break in maximum. The car was smooth, quiet and comfortable at 100mph and clearly would have had no trouble going even faster. There was a lot of construction and the speed limits constantly changed. We had to keep a careful watch for limit signs. None would suddenly become 120km/h and that could change to 100, 70 or even 60 with little notice. 60km/h is darn slow after you've been running at 160.

Driving the Autobahn requires constant attention. Even at 160km/h one is expected to drive in the slow lane. The left lane is for passing only and must be used with care. Cars in the left lane might be going warp 9. More then once, I had cars run up behind us in the left lane. With the break in speed limit, I couldn't go faster. My only choice was to get back into the right lane as soon as possible. Most of the time we were under no speed limit, I set the cruise control for 140km/h which kept my time in the left lane down to a minimum.

Autobahnen have many opportunities for a break from driving. A typical Rastof has a Tankstellung (gas station),clean restrooms, parking, and a restaurant or two. There is usually a 50 cent charge for the restrooms. In between the Rastofs are smaller pullouts marked by a blue and white P sign. Most of these smaller pullouts (we called them P's) are wooded and only have trash cans and parking. We used the occasional P to switch off driving. We would have liked to use one as nice place to eat lunch. However the main use of a P prevented that. Most German males are too cheap to spend 50 cents to use the restroom at a Rasthoff. Instead they take advantage of one of the numerous trees at a P to relive themselves.

Just past Ramstein air base we turned off the A6 onto the A61 and then onto the A1. That part of the route goes through a hilly region with some spectacular high bridges over valleys. Debbie drove part of that segment and I was able to enjoy the view. As we approached Trier I reset the Nuvi to Berghotel Holzerath, our actual destination.

Holzerath is a small vilage about 15km south of Trier. Exiting the autobahn, the Nuvi took us down an ever decreasing set of back roads, ending with a one lane road through a forest. Nice to look at, but it made us wonder about the Nuvi's sanity. Just about the time I was ready to check against a map, we popped out of the forest into the tiny village of Holzerath.

I picked the location mostly because I couldn't find hotel room in Trier. After we saw Trier, I'm glad we stayed out of town. The hotel was solid two star. Nothing fancy at all, but it was clean and comfortable. Inexpensive too. The staff (owners??) speak English and are very friendly. After the 3 and 4 stars we'd be staying at it did feel less luxurious. The bathroom was decidedly cramped and much more like the Europe I remembered.

Trier is home to Dom St. Peter and a holy relic or two. Trier itself was a let down. Maybe we didn't go to the right places, but most of what we saw wasn't worth the trip. The only photo I took was of the inside of the Dom. We ended up eating dinner back at the Hotel. Food at the Berghotel was quite good. Better than we expected. If I had the day to do over, I would have skipped Trier and explored the forest around Holzerath. Even better would have been staying an extra day at any of our other destinations. Amsterdam certainly deserved more time then we gave it.

Trip Report -- Day 5

Friday was a near disaster. Our next scheduled stop was in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. That was a bit far, so I picked a town about half way there and punched it into the Nuvi.

Driving on the Autobahn took considerable concentration. I paid attention to what the Nuvi was telling me but not to where it was taking us. We left Hohenschwangau the way we came, back through the terrible Stau in the Munich area. After a miserable couple of hours we cleared that and were making 150km/h on the Autobahn. Which Autobahn, I had no clue but at least we were getting there fast. After a while we saw signs for Ingolstadt. Ingolstadt is the birthplace of Frankenstien and home to the Audi factory. It was also not anywhere near where we wanted to go. First chance I got, I pulled off the Autobahn and into a Tankstellung. Debbie was upset. I was less then pleased. At least we were still in Bavaria. I fought with the Nuvi for a few minutes and finally convinced it to take a reasonable route to Rothenburg odT. The best route took us back the way we'd come, something that did little to improve things. I made a mental note: always check the Nuvi.

We stopped for fuel and split a miserable sandwich I'd bought at the Tankstellung. 1/2 tank of gas for the X3 cost us about $70.00. The wretched sandwich about $7.00 After that I made the best possible speed. During the break in period, BMW recommends keeping the speed under 100mph. I set the cruise for a little under that. The kilometers flew by. Approaching an interchange, I saw a sign in German saying the ramp was closed and suggesting an alternate. I misunderstood the directions and sent us off in the wrong direction again. Fortunately we caught this almost immediately and only lost a few minutes getting turned around. Did nothing to improve the mood though.

We arrived at Rothenburg odT in the late afternoon. The T and the H are both pronounced. It sounds something like wrote heN berg. The Nuvi and I both did a terrible job navigating inside the city walls but we eventually found the Hotel. I found a safe place to park the car.

We wandered around town a bit and then had dinner at one of the many restaurants. The waitress spoke no English, so we ordered in German. I likely if unwittingly offended her, the town and Bavaria, but they served us anyway. I had wurst, sauerkraut and bread. Debbie had the same. The meal was wonderful and that did a lot to improve our spirits.

After dinner we wandered towards the town square where several crowds were gathering. One was heading to a play. I checked and the performance was in German. The other was crowded around someone talking about the town, in English. That sounded interesting, so we followed along. Just by luck we'd come into Hans Georg Baumgartner's Night Watchman tour. Luckily we'd caught his English performance. The tour is both entertaining and informative. Highly recommended. Having come in just after the start, we didn't realize until the end that he charges for the tour. We were happy to pay as his tour saved the day. We didn't have enough euros, but he happily accepted dollars.

We don't have any decent photos of Rotenburg. We didn't have much time and the town itself is a difficult, if beautiful subject. I put the best I've got at the top of the post. Google or the night watchman's website have more.

Trip Report -- Day 4

Thursday morning we sampled the buffet breakfast that was included with our stay. The spread included breads, cheese, cold cuts, cereal, muesli, yogurt, assorted fruit juices and more of that amazing butter. Like the dinner, everything on the buffet was first rate.

We scheduled a tour of Neuschwanstein early in the day and a late tour of Schloss Hohenschwangau leaving us most of the day free. The plan was to drive up into the alps and get lunch in a town on the Austrian side of the border. It was raining, so I checked the weather. Sure enough, it was snowing just a bit farther up. The X3 isn't afraid of snow, but some of the snow falling on the local weather cams looked quite heavy. I wasn't sure what the road conditions would be like and I didn't want to get stuck, even for a few hours. Debbie agreed and we decided to spend the day in Hohenscwangau.

After breakfast we hiked up to Neuschwanstein. It is a pleasant walk with fantastic views.


Hohenschwangau castle overlooking the town. Alpsee in the background. Hotel Müller is the yellow building in the center of town below the castle. As always you can click the photo to enlarge.



The tours leave exactly at the scheduled times. There is an automated queue system that admits you to your tour at the precise time. Very German.



Cameras are not allowed inside. I took a few photos while we waited for our tour time. The tour itself felt very rushed. I was not impressed with the tour guide either. Schloss Neuschwanstein is bizarre. Ludwig built it as an homage to Richard Wagner. Left unfinished by King Ludwig's death (likely murder) it is a reflection of his personality.

After the tour, we hiked in the area around the castle. While the castle is very crowed, as soon as we got 10 meters out on a trail the crowds were gone and we had the woods to ourselves.





We went back down into town for some warm tomato soup and a ham and cheese sandwich. After that we went back to the room to relax a bit before touring Neuschwanstein.



Me on the patio of our hotel room.

The room has a great view of Neuschwanstein but this photo Debbie took came out better.

We caught the last tour of the day at Neuschwanstein. The guide makes the tour and this time we did much better. Funny, informative and we learned a bit more history too. After the tour we ran into our guide as she walked down to her car. She is a Human Biology graduate student as was working as a guide only during the German fall holiday.



After dinner at the Müller we watched German TV. There was a Stargate SG-1 marthon on. Having already seen the show, we know enough German to follow along. Stargate dubbed into German was so funny I nearly threw up. The dubbing was just terrible. I have no idea why they couldn't just subtitle it and leave the dialog alone. I do have new respect for how good the Stargate cast is. Christopher Judge really stands out as someone who excels in subtle body language.

Trip Report -- Day 3

Wednesday morning we walked the 2.5km from our hotel to the old BMW Kundenzentrum Freimann. It would have been a pleasant enough walk except it was raining and the Nuvi didn't work. While the Nuvi works great in a car, it doesn't work at all well in pedestrian mode. The buildings and trees along the sides of a road cut into the signal. Although the Nuvi has a pedestrian mode, it doesn't seem to understand you aren't in a car. It kept assuming we were on the right hand side of the road and that caused all sorts of position and navigation errors. In the end I turned it off and guessed the way there. Fortunately I made a few correct guesses and we got there with little trouble. Well Debbie was a bit annoyed.

We just about turned out the lights at Freimann. The old customer center is now closed and BMW will be starting European Deliveries in an impressive new facility. One that we didn't see. We saw an old but well lit industrial building. Freimann reminds me of the buildings my father-in-law used to design. Big cement boxes. Practical and no nonsense.

Even though we arrived early in the day, the customer center was already busy. We had about a 45 minute wait at a table in the small cafe. A large number of people arrived just after us. We shared our table with a German family. They were picking up a 116i.

Eventually the wait was over, a BMW rep went over the German paperwork with us and finally took us down to the car. Since we told him this was our fourth BMW, he gave us an express delivery. Instead of the usual 1 hour, he went over the car in about 5 minutes and we drove out the very narrow door. Debbie would have liked a longer introduction.


One of the advantages of ordering a car is you are the first and only customer to drive the car. Our X3 had 4 miles on it when we took delivery. Munich built cars often have less. The X3 is built in Austria and had to be driven a bit during the longer delivery process.

Once we were outside, I activated the Nuvi and had it take us to the Dachau war memorial. If you are ever in Muich, go. Yes it is depressing. It should be. Didn't take any photos. Seemed disrespectful. I was surprised how very crowded it was. Mostly Germans, but at good mix of people from all over were there. If you can't make it to Dachau, rent The Ninth Day. It is not a typical concentration camp movie, but Dachau wasn't typical.

Cold, depressed and hungry we ate lunch at a nearby cafe. Lunch was fine, but not memorable. I don't remember what I ate. After that I set the Nuvi for Hohenschwangau and we headed south.

My first experience with the Autobahn was in heavy rain mit Stau. Stau is German for traffic. Endless stau. Stuck in stau. Stau stau stau. Eventually it cleared out and we were cruising at 120km/h in the slow lane. Higher speeds could wait until the car was broken in a bit.

We stayed at Hotel Müller. The Müller is one of the best hotels we've ever been guests at. Friendly helpful staff. No excessive charges for extras. For example, irons are not allowed in guest rooms due to fire hazard. However the hotel laundry will iron your clothes free of charge. Our room was large, with a patio that had a great view of town and Schloss Hohenschwangau.

Our dinner at the hotel was the best meal of the entire trip. The cuisine is a gourmet version of classic food from the region. Expect to see deer, veal, Spätzle, and fish on a menu that offers little for vegetarians. I decided against potatoes for dinner. The meat was wonderful. So was Debbie's fish. The little things made the meal. The butter was simply amazing. The bread and cake was excellent as well.

Trip Report -- Day 2

Tuesday morning we arrived in Amsterdam. After clearing passport control and customs I checked into my Lufthansa flight to Munich. On my way out to the gate, I turned on my cell and called Debbie. To my surprise she had done the same and was about 200 feet behind me on her way out to the gate. I waited for her to catch up.

Our flight to Munich was running late so we wandered around Schiphol Airport and found some food. After that we sat out at the gate and stared off into the spot where our commuter jet should be.


Eventually our Lufthansa Avro-RJ arrived. The Avro-RJ is small short range 4 engine jet. This little jet was designed back in 1973 by Hawker Siddeley. With the nationalization of Hawker into British Aerospace, the plane was named the BAe-146. The early version was plagued with in-flight engine failures. Pilots and others in the know joked that BAe stood for bring another engine. British Aerospace changed to more reliable engines and wisely renamed the re-engined design the Avro-RJ. Avro's are quite rare in the USA. Anyone old enough to remember PSA might have seen one of their BAe-146s. US Air retired the PSA 146's shortly after they took over.


Once we were finally on the way, the short flight to Munich was fine. The LH flight safety demonstration was very Teutonic and too darn serious. I had a hard time not laughing. LH served us a light snack. Food was fine and very welcome.

Rather than taking an expensive taxi to our hotel, I decided to use the Lufthansa Airport Bus. The bus saved us about 50 Euros. We highly recommend using the Lufthansa bus and then walking or a taxi once you are in central Munich. The bus driver didn't speak English. Somehow the correct German for "2 one-way tickets to Schwabing, please." found its way out of my mouth. Even now if I try to think about it, I have trouble remember exactly how to say it.

The Munich hotel was fine although nothing special. Typical large corporate 3 star hotel. No personality, clean and comfortable if a little sterile and unfriendly. It just changed ownership and is now the Tulip Inn Muenchen Schwabing. The area is changing from low density industrial to mixed-use residential. There are some new shops located immediately behind the hotel. Useful if you forgot bar soap like we did. Many of the 3 star hotels in Europe have miserable liquid soap dispensers in the showers. This particular Tulip Inn also features killer shower curtains. Do be careful they attack without warning. Here is the view out the room's window:



The hotel is within walking distance of the now closed BMW Freiman customer center and the Englisher Garten. There is a U-Bahn station nearby that makes it easy to reach Central Munich. We'd stay here again, but now that deliveries have moved to a different part of town there may be better hotel options. We had dinner in a nearby bar / cafe. Food was fine. Waiter spoke zero English. Once again my miserable German saved us.

Trip Report -- Day 1

We are back from our delivery trip. I will be making an entry for each day of the trip. Day one was a travel day.

Monday morning we took a shuttle to the airport. Driver couldn't find the house. He kept insisting that we lived in a part of Atlanta about 15 miles from here. After ten minutes of talking in circles, I asked him if he had a map. He didn't and refused to just take directions from me. He drove back to his dispatch to get a map. In the end we did get to the airport, but I'm not using that shuttle company again.

Debbie was flying United to Amsterdam connecting at Dulles. I was on Continental to Amsterdam connecting at Newark. After going over our Amsterdam contingency plans one last time, Debbie headed off to her United flight and I boarded my Continental flight. On approach to Newark we got a decent view of Manhattan.



People flying into Newark see this view all the time. I don't so I took a quick snapshot. On the ground at Newark I traded voice mail with Debbie. We both made our connecting flights.

The long flight to Amsterdam on Continental was better then I had feared. The equipment was 757. Usually that means a miserable ride in a very old airplane. This one turned out to be a newer 757-300 with a modern interior. The food was ok too. Nothing like Virgin Atlantic but much better than the last couple of rides I've had with Delta. I even slept a couple of hours.

7 days and counting

We leave for Munich next Monday. Our travel plans are set.

Monday ATL-->EWR-->AMS. Arrive AMS Tuesday morning.
Tuesday AMS-->MUC. Bus or Taxi to our Hotel in Munich.
Wednesday Pick up the X3! Drive to Dachau and visit the memorial. Then off to Hohenschwangau.
Thursday Tour the castles in Hohenschwangau. Go for a drive in the Alps if the weather is nice.
Friday Take the Romantic Road north to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Saturday Zip west on the Autobahn to Rheinland Pfaltz. We are staying in a tiny village south east of Trier.
Sunday Off towards Amsterdam with a stop in Düsseldorf to visit a friend.
Monday Drop off the X3. See a little bit of Amsterdam.
Tuesday Fly home.

Learning German

We are both taking a German Language night class in preparation for our trip. Although we could get by with English only, knowing some German will be helpful. It is a bit easier for me as I had two years of German in College. I've forgotten nearly all of it though. Debbie is making amazing progress. I'm just starting to realize how much I've forgotten. I used to be able to read Kafka. Now I couldn't even order breakfast without offending the waiter.

The class is using two Berlitz books Berlitz German in 30 Days and Berlitz German Phrase Book. The inexpensive Berlitz books are ok but really aren't enough if you are trying to learn German on your own. I'm also going back through Deutsch Heute, my old college text book. If you are willing to spend a little, get a used copy. I also recommend working through several free on-line resources. My favorite is BBC German Steps an on-line course for beginners. The Beeb also has intermediate German on-line but I haven't tried that yet. Deutsch-lernen is also worth a look.

A Car is Born

Our car was assembled a few days ago. BMW North America's website says is our car is awaiting transport. The automated 800 number says our car is en route to the Port of Exit. Debbie says our new X3 is lonely and it needs us. Can we go get it now?

Pokey Clock

Our Pokey clock arrived yesterday. The clock itself isn't a big deal. Receiving it is. Along with the clock was a letter from BMW of North America confirming our production number, color, options, pickup date, European registration and insurance.
As "small gifts" go the clock is kinda cool.

Nail Biting

Obtaining and confirming a European Delivery date is a multi-step processes. First your Client Adviser (CA is BMW speak for sales person) sends in a pre-reservation request with the date, model, color and option. A few days later BMW responds and lets you know if there is allocation to build your car and also availability at the Delivery Center for your requested date. Once you have a confirmed pre-reservation, your CA will create a Purchase Order and ask for a copy of your passport. Even after BMW accepts the Purchase Order you don't have a guaranty the car will be ready on your pickup date. The factory isn't scheduled to build it for another month or two and things do happen. The car gets a VIN number and goes into production about 3 weeks before the pickup date. This is when a sane person buys their plane tickets and makes hotel reservations.

Not us. When we found out about the current X3 promotions we scrambled to find a way to get to Europe on our frequent flier miles. The promotion rules require that we take delivery within 90 days of the end of June. Debbie searched on United and the only flight she could get arrives in Amsterdam September 25th. I got on the phone with Delta and they found a seat on Continental that arrived within minutes of Debbie. Delta put the ticket on hold. I contacted our CA and had him submit a pre-reservation request for a Red X3 with September 26th pickup.

Here is a photo showing the complex system BMW North America uses to assign ED pickup dates:
http://edbmw.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=17&pos=4

The hold on my SkyMiles flight was going to expire before we would hear back from BMW. We committed to our flights. If BMW ran out of post-its we'd be taking a vacation in Amsterdam without a car. A few days later BMW responded. Our future X3 has a production number and is in 112 status. 112 is the final status before production. We signed the PO. I started looking into getting from Amsterdam to Munich.

I hadn't paid much attention to dates. By dumb luck we are going to be in Munich during Okoberfest. Munich. Oktoberfest. The Oktoberfest. 3 months ahead of time and most of the berths on the night train from Amsterdam to Munich were already taken. Yikes! I did an extensive airline search and found cheap tickets on Lufthansa. I think we got the last pair. During Oktoberfest Munich hotels triple their rates. Several of the hotels frequented by ED customers were already booked. I used several internet search tool and picked a 3 star hotel more or less at random. 175 euros or $235 at the current exchange rate. During the off season people using Priceline can get a 3 star hotel for $75 or less. After I made the reservation, it occurred to me to look at a map. We ended up very close to the Delivery Center and the Englisher Garten, home to several of the best beer gardens. Dumb luck again.

We haven't gotten notice back from BMW that they've accepted the PO. We don't know when our car will start production. Most BMW factories shut down mid-August to switch model years. The X3 is built under contract by Magna Steyr in Austria. The customer center in Munich closes permanently a few days after our pickup. There are rumors of a fuel injector shortage.

I just checked. No fingernails left.

Replacing our e46

Debbie has been dreading lease turn-in on our e46 325i. She once told me she would "lie down in front of the car and refuse to move." I like the e46 too. If we could we lease a new one. BMW decided otherwise. Our 325 is a 2004. 2005 was the last year for the e46 in any form.
The replacement e90 3 series sedan is an entirely different car. The e90 is a technological wonder. It easily out handles our 325. It is faster. It uses less fuel. The N52 engine takes pages to fully appreciate. Lowest weight per HP of any 6 cylinder engine.

The new 3 series is also infuriating. The guiding principal of BMW design has always been Form Follows Function. BMWs have a long hood not for style but because a 50/50 weight balance and a long inline-6 motor require a long hood. As the cars became more sophisticated the number of controls increased but always in a logical fashion. The cruise control on my 1990 was a model of simplicity. A stalk on the steering column was the only control. Pushing the lever forward turned the cruise on. Tap it forward again to increase speed. Pull it backwards to decrease speed. Taping the brakes turned the cruise control off. Simple. Form follows function.

Things went horribly and suddenly wrong in 2002 with the introduction of the new 7 series. The sleek body of the old 7 was replaced by an ugly angular shape. Logical controls were replaced by an i-Drive control that took months to learn. Even someone familiar with the car has trouble finding the turn signals. The disease spread infecting the 3 series in 2006. The e90 sedan is bloated and ugly. The controls are quirky and unnecessarily complex. I've never understood why you need a Start Button. Putting the key in should be enough. The start button is redundant.

And then there is the price. A 328i costs $4,000 more than the car it replaced. Ouch. We started shopping for something other than a BMW.

We shopped. We were slimed. A few cars weren't too bad. Mazda 5 and Subaru Forester were the highlights. Even the best required compromises we weren't comfortable with. None of them were a BMW. After horrible slimy hours trapped at a local Jeep dealer ("let me introduce you to my inventory manager") we gave up. Stopped looking. I'd rather walk to work then endure the hard sell from yet another sales manager. Debbie could have the Miata. I was done.

A few days later Debbie asked me to check one last time to see if there were any incentives from BMW. Maybe an attractive offer to purchase our e46. No deal. But I did find that an unusual combination of incentives made it possible to get an X3 at an absurdly low price.

The X3 is a small SUV based on the e46 platform. e46, like our old 325. The X3 is sort of the old 3er wagon on steroids. We'd discounted the 2004 X3. It was underpowered. The interior was cheap compared to the 325 sedan. We didn't need the extra space. 3 years later BMW upgraded the interior and installed a 260HP version of the new N52 engine. We needed the extra space. A short test drive and we were sold.

Car Lite

We turn-in our 325i this week. 5 days. We will be left with a Mazda MX-5 Miata as our only car. 2 Adults. 2 Parrots. 5 dogs. 1 Great Dane. 1 Great Pyrenees. 1 lab mix. 1 corgi mix. 1 Shih Tzu. Oh and we are fostering a Pyr for Atlanta Pet Rescue. In a Miata.

We pickup the X3 in Munich on September 26th. We drop it off in Amsterdam around October 1st. It will be back in the US 6-8 weeks later.

I have been riding my bike to work a lot lately. There is a Whole Foods in walking distance. I've got a Marta card and a Flexcar membership. We can do it.

Farewell Red-Red

I sold my 1990 BMW 535i this week. I first met the car back in San Diego. Christine, our neighbor and the previous owner used to wash it every Saturday. Every Saturday Christine would was her car and I wouldn't wash ours. This went on for years. One Saturday instead of washing, Christine was showing her prized BMW to a potential buyer. I didn't know she was trying to sell it. Potential buyer didn't want a 200,000 mile car. I didn't know much about BMWs then, but I did know that 200,000 miles didn't mean much if the car had been well taken care of. This one was. The price was right. I took Debbie for a test-drive and we bought the car about 10 minutes later.

That was 7 years and 50,000 miles ago. Older BMWs are amazingly durable. Don't confuse durable with reliable though. Like any older car they can and do break now and then. Nevertheless when I sold my 535i it still had the original engine, transmission, alternator, starter, power steering pump... Well a lot of parts that would have long since failed on a lesser car. Once you learn to think German, older BMWs are easy to work on. I did nearly all the repairs myself.

I made sure that Charles, the new owner would give the car a good home. He correctly identified and named the idle control valve. He knew that the fluid filled control arm bushings were the cars weak point. He owned the special 5-sided screw driver needed to remove the radio. Charles didn't realize I was screening him.

When I was going through all the paper work to hand over to Charles, I figured the total cost of owning Red-Red. Seven years cost about $7000. By far the least expensive car I've ever owned and driven. Likely to stay that way too.

BMW started replacing some metal under hood parts with plastic around 1992. Water pumps, other cooling system parts. It kinda made sense as plastic parts are both lighter and cheaper. That makes the car both faster and less expensive. It also reduced durability. Modern BMWs have endless cooling system problems as all plastic parts in the cooling system become brittle and break. This usually starts around year six and continues into year 7. Usually things fail a few months apart and at the worst possible time. I've seen a cooling fan break free from the radiator on a '96. The 99 cent plastic rivets holding the thing together had just come apart. Disaster caused by someone trying to save pennies and a few grams. Not good.


BMW still makes great cars. Red-Red was the first and the one that sold me on the brand. We just signed a purchase order for BMW number four, an e83 X3.

After signing the PO, we stopped at the parts counter to pick up a part for BMW number 3. You should have seen the disappointment on the counterman's face when I told him we'd sold our e34 and were ordering an e83. They just don't make them like they used to. This car never stranded me, put up with all sorts of abuse and started right up after sitting under a tree for six months. Farewell Red-Red we will miss you.