I am taking Euro delivery of a new 5 in March. Has anyone who has already done it chime in with some suggestions, places to visit (other than the car museums), places to stay, and possibly driving in Austria, etc. Would love to hear someone else's experiences in full detail - don't leave out the good stuff!

Check out http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25. There's literally hundreds of threads about people's ED experiences. I'm picking up a 545 at the end of April, and that forum has been invaluable.

-MrB

sweet....thanks...E

No sweat. When are you going? How long are you staying?

I'll be there almost a week; here's my itinerary:

0. Leave USA via Charlotte on Lufthansa on Wednesday
1. Arrive in Munich and Picking up on a Thursday, staying in Munich til Saturday morning. Going to Dachau concentration camp and driving (maybe to Czech border) on Thursday after delivery. Doing the factory tour and museum on Friday.
2. Driving to Salzburg on Saturday morning and staying over night
3. Driving to Fussen/Schwangau (to see Neuschwanstein, the Disney castle) via the Alpenstrasse on Sunday and staying overnight
4. Driving to Rothenburg via Romantischestrasse on Monday afternoon after castle tours and staying overnight
5. Driving back to Munich on Tuesday afternoon
6. Dropoff and return to USA on Wednesday

Do you already have your hotels lined up? I got $60/night + tax at the Munich Marriott for Thurs/Fri and Tues nights by using Priceline.

-MrB

I am flying on the 15th of Mar, arriving on the 16th in the AM. Staying in Munich on 16 and 17 (picking it up on the 17th). From there to Stuttgart (Porsche Museum) and maybe Leipzig. Would like to hit Vienna as well. I am flying home on the 22d. How about you? What days are you going?

Flying over on 28 April, coming back on 5 May. Good call on the Porkchop museum in Stuttgart, but I doubt that the wife will let me do so much car stuff. I think the plant tour in Munich and the Bimmer museum is enough.

So what's the skinny on your new vehicle? I'm torn on the exterior color. Currently I'm going with Silver Gray, but I saw some pictures of Black, and that might convince me to go with Black Sapphire.

-MrB

All silver or goldish metallic colors were off limits per the wife, as we have a silver Boxster, a silver X5 (selling) and a titanium (grayish) Cayenne. I used to have an Orient Blue 3 series that I LOVED. We thought we would go for the Oxford Green this time (ironic with a St Patties Day delivery), then I changed my mind last minute back to Orient Blue (it's just the best color out there). Oh yeah, black interior (I think it hides dirt best and looks classy, esp with titanium or aluminum trim).

I have done two ED's and it's a great experience. Driven to Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Cologne, Paris, St. Tropez, Venice, and Zurich. I would also recommend the Schwangau/Neuschwanstein visit if you have the time, it's only a couple of hours from Munich even with the more scenic route. If I had to recommend one city to see besides Munich it would be Berlin, it's an awesome place.

I don't know the extent of your driving experience in other countries but here's my experience. It was really easy to drive in German cities and after a week of driving in different cities in Germany I felt pretty confident and decided to drive to Paris. The minute I entered Paris I was shocked at how different from German cities and how chaotic it was. Wide boulevards with no painted lanes on the pavement, cars cutting in front of you, virtually no signs to follow to get to different parts of the city, small dirty street signs that are on the side of buildings instead of on poles in the corner of the sidewalks, etc. I parked my new BMW in the hotel parking lot and did not drive it the 4 days that I was in Paris, then left Paris at 4 AM so there would be no traffic. So I would not recommend driving in Paris, but the south of France is much better.

I think that I read on BMW's ED web page that you need an International Drivers License if you are planning on driving in Austria, which you can buy from AAA. The rest of Europe is OK with your US License.

Good Luck and enjoy,
rodybmw

You're right, that's lots of silver. My 330 is Steel Grey, so I initially thought I wanted to go Orient Blue, but we went over to a nearby BMW store and coincidentally enough, they had a Silver Gray and Orient Blue 3er coupe parked right next to each other. Now, granted the colors would look different on a 5er, but my wife said that she definitely liked the Silver Gray better than OB.

I've currently spec'ed out the Beige leather, but after seeing it this morning, I may have to switch. I would really like Truffle Brown, but that's a Euro-only color and my CA has already told me that he's never had any luck getting BMWNA to accept special order interior colors. That takes me back to possibly Auburn, but I've yet to see Auburn in person. Before, with the OB exterior, I didn't want to fool with so many different colors (OB paint, Auburn leather, black trim, and brown wood), but since changing the exterior to Silver Gray, the Auburn might be an option since the black and silver gray are in the same pallette, more or less.

Probably more info than you wanted, but I'm pretty pumped about the whole thing and I just ramble on and on.

-MrB

I've rented cars in France and Scotland, and I have to agree with you about driving in France.

My wife and I were returning to Paris after having driven through the Loire Valley and Normandy. We didn't have a better map than the Hertz map, and we missed the exit to get on the outer Autoroute ring to go up to CDG airport. We go into this really long tunnel and when we came out, I was staring that the Arc de Triomphe. Fortunately, I was able to turn around before getting into that maelstrom of a roundabout and get back on the Autoroute heading out of town. It's humorous that I went through the same toll-booth three times before I actually got on the proper road.

The French country-side was a pure pleasure to drive through. The roads (all of them) were in fantastic shape, and the signage was excellent.

Driving in Scotland (on the wrong side of the road, and on the wrong side of the car) was a little nerve-wracking for the first 20 or so minutes, but it became just like normal. The main difference in Scotland is on the B-roads where these stone walls come right to the edge of the road; there's no shoulder sometimes.

I don't know about Munich or other German cities, but what kills me about driving in European cities is the placement of the traffic signals; low and on the corner. It took me the longest to adapt to that.

-MrB

Yes, that's another thing to watch out for in Europe (including Germany). Unlike in the US the traffic signals in Europe are on the "near side" of the intersection instead of the "far side" (accross the street). So sometimes when you stop at the intersection for a red light you can't actually see the lights anymore because it is right next to your car and beeing blocked by the roof of your car. But you get used to it pretty quickly.

One thing I have not done yet is drive on the left side of the street (UK). I don't know if I would want to "get used to it" in my brand new BMW on my next ED. I would probably rent a car just in case.

rodybmw