AchtungE30 European Delivery, day-by-day report with pics!

[AchtungF80]

Originally Posted by ptack

Did you drive the car to Florence? I was there last year (Sienna too so your pictures look real familiar). If you did, look out. A lot of Italian cities have access and parking restrictions that require clairvoyance to figure out. The best part is they rarely ticket you in person for a violation. Instead they have cameras posted and in about 6 months from now you will get a letter from them telling you you owe them a couple hundred bucks. It's quite a revenue racket.

Yeah, I have a strong feeling I'll be getting quite a few letters or one long letter in the mail about it. I parked the car in Fiesole at the hotel while we toured, but the only time the car was on the road was the night we got lost finding the hotel, the night before we left to fill the tank and the morning we left to hit the autostrada.

I'll admit though the night we got there, I had my share of Fiat puntos and scooters up my ass trying to get me to hit 80mph on narrow side streets. I should have just let them go.

[Imola.ZHP]

Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful car, awesome pictures...

[jkp1187]

Nice pics!

How did you find the drive through Italy? My wife and I are thinking of driving down there after picking up our car next year (if all goes well.) But she's heard that driving in Italy is too much hassle, and is kind of nervous about taking a new car down there. Any suggestions?

[AchtungF80]

Originally Posted by jkp1187

Nice pics!

How did you find the drive through Italy? My wife and I are thinking of driving down there after picking up our car next year (if all goes well.) But she's heard that driving in Italy is too much hassle, and is kind of nervous about taking a new car down there. Any suggestions?

If I had to do it all over again, I would park the car in a more isolated part of Italy, perhaps Bolzano or Cuneo, and take trains to the major cities to really tour them. I would not recommend driving a car in the major or popular areas like Florence, Rome etc.

The Autostrada was no big deal, the drivers are more intelligent than in the US and know to keep to the right unless passing.

[ptack]

Outside of the cities, driving in Italy is a breeze. The Autostrada has speed limits, but people were going 100+ mph in places. The problem with the cities is that they were never remotely envisioned for automobiles so they're inherently tight and the government strongly discourages cars from city centers. To someone who's driven in NYC for many years, Florence was the only place that was really nuts.

[AchtungF80]

Driving in NYC is a walk in the park compared to Florence

[OrientBlauZHP]

Looks like an amazing experience....congrats on your 135!

[arrutled]

hey, while your in munich, If your going to be drinking at a beer garden, sure hofbrauhaus is great and is a racket for a night, but stop by augustiner for a real taste of authentic beer garden life. I went there for the world cup in 06 and was there for the euro cup in 08 while picking up my 135i. its the best one in town and If your lucky enough to be served by Olsa, shes the bomb! she reserved my family the best seat in the house for the germany portugal match! and get some pork knuckle! YUM!

[GQ 135i]

Nice pics, that hotel looks sick. Congrat on the new car.

[gan08]

awsome pics and amazing experience. Congrats!

[Rakash]

AchtungE30
I saw you drove the stelvio pas, you should hav tryed this:
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17055

[AchtungF80]

Wow! That road looks awesome! I wish I knew about it before.

[Cris]

Great photos & story!

I see that you were pumping with Super at the gas station. Should've put in SuperPlus! "Premium, dude! She only takes premium!"

If you live/stationed here in Germany: this place sucks, along with the rest of Europe (no intended offense to the European 1Addict members). Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cultural experiences to explore. Europe is a beautiful continent, however, I, like yourself, love the US. And people wonder why it takes 15 countries to run one currency... sorry for the rant, but the American way of life trumps all others.

[AchtungF80]

Some gas stations had Benzine/a or Super and then Diesel, if they had super i put in super, if it just had 1 benzine and 3 diesel looking words, i just put in benzine.
Being that I have never been here before, my biggest fear was to NOT put diesel in the new car.

[monaco1]

Frank congrats on you car looks like you had a great time car looks great too i have a couple questions if you dont mind I am going to munich oct 15 to pick up my car 09 135 white coupe was wondering what you paid for gas price and did you pay at the pump using credit card or did you pay cash i dont speak german was there any problems for you with the language also how was the flight on Lufthansa Im flying out of newark non stop to munich how was the inflight entertainment Im not excited about being stuck on plane for 9 hours

[sebaflex]

awesome post man... must've been quite an experience!

Euro delivery is definitely in my things-to-do-before-i-die list.

[JasonCSU]

And now the wait begins. I'm bummed I didn't get to see the BMW Museum on my trip. Looks like it had a lot to offer.

[AchtungF80]

Originally Posted by monaco1

Frank congrats on you car looks like you had a great time car looks great too i have a couple questions if you dont mind I am going to munich oct 15 to pick up my car 09 135 white coupe was wondering what you paid for gas price and did you pay at the pump using credit card or did you pay cash i dont speak german was there any problems for you with the language also how was the flight on Lufthansa Im flying out of newark non stop to munich how was the inflight entertainment Im not excited about being stuck on plane for 9 hours

I was also worried before my trip about the same things. I was told the gas prices were like this...

Switzerland<Germany<Austria<Italy in terms of gas prices.

I noticed on the autobahn or autostrada that the gas attendants there understood basic english at least, or I'd use fingers to indicate which pump but either way I had no problem language-wise there. It is all self-serve and most of the time I just went inside the station and paid. In Italy, there were some totally self-serve stations that had an independent machine for paying in cash or credit. Typically you just choose the nozzle of fuel you want, insert into gas tank and lift trigger, and it begins pumping.

For the 6-7.5hr flight from Newark (I flew from Dulles which took even longer so we could fly to Paris), invest in an iPod with video or try to get some sleep. I did not sleep on the plane at all flying over and went to bed typically at 2am CET so I never really got hit hard with jet lag.

[lambammm]

that looks like a truly amazing experience, i hope to see you on the roads in jersey. i'm finally picking up my montego/coral red within the next two weeks, hopefully i'll make it to bear mountain.

you probably already saw this, but 135i > cayman

[AchtungF80]

Thanks for bumping this...I just took re-delivery last night, so I might as well post up some of those pics. See you around Jersey, make sure to hit up the 2nd 1addicts gtg in 2 weeks

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18175

Onto some crappy quality re-delivery pics.

Yes, we made all the salesman scared with camera flash as we pulled up!




Me scrambling to snap cell phone pics and MMS them to close friends and family.





I dropped off my car at HARMS with 1366mi, when I got my car it had 1372 mi, this was well on my way home.



Safe and sound in my garage finally!



Under my $210 car cover!

[Sephiroth]

Wow, a hell of an adventure. Congrats and thanks for sharing!

[enzo65]

Wow, that was a quick redelivery! Congrats! I'm just waiting for mine to be redelivered now. Dropped off in Paris on 10/22.