Road trip from Toronto to Atlanta - preparing the 1er

[Lucky1]

I'm planning on taking a road trip from Toronto, Canada to Atlanta, Georgia in late June. Hoping my fellow 1Addicts can make suggestions for me on two things:

1. What is the most scenic route to drive?

Is there anything to see along the way? What route would you recommend?

2. What should I do to prepare my 1er?

I'm getting the battery terminal cable recall done hopefully next week. Since I also recently changed out the run flats to non RFTs I'm thinking about buying a spare tire but I'm not sure I'll have room because I'm taking passengers and luggage with me. I'll be bringing the spare fob and entrusting it with one of the passengers (just in case). The only other concern I have is that I've past 60,000 miles on the odometer and I'm still on the original water pump and thermostat. Its going to get a workout down in the hot south I'm sure I wonder if I can convince BMW to replace the pump pre-emptively under CPO warranty.

3. Will BMW Roadside assistance support me in the U.S. ?

The back of the card I received when I bought my 1er says the phone number is available throughout the U.S. and Canada. Does that mean the tow trucks are too? Will phone to find out.

Any other thoughts are welcome. I might have access to an Infiniti G35x to take but only if the fuel meter is fixed beforehand. We shall see.

[vertebra]

Not the most scenic trip... once you get down to Hotlanta there will be a lot to do.

[Cemoto]

I'd go through the finger lakes of NY (wine country) then the PA/NY/NJ Delaware water gap area then onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Bring her to the dealer and tell them about your trip, get them to inspect the car.

Don't think they will replace anything that is not broken.

Good luck and have a great trip!

[drcollie]

Blue Ridge Parkway is great if you don't mind taking a LONG time to get there. Its slow (45 mph) and takes 3x as long to get there, I've done it many times on a motorcycle. I'd say take i-81 and bypass most of it, but DO go into the Smokey MTNS and do Deal's Gap (Tail of the Dragon) and there to The Cherahola Skyway to Tellico Plains. Those are the best roads on the East Coast. From Tellico Plains take the backroads into Atlanta. Have fun!

[tccox]

+ 1 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Beautiful road but very very low speed limits and very very agressive park rangers handing out tickets.

[dorkdog]

Last summer I did a cross country trip in my 128... from PA to WA. Before the trip I did exactly as a previous poster suggested; took it to the dealer and had them check it over and do an oil change (on my dime even tho under maint package).

I set my GPS to 'shortest distance' rather than 'shortest time' and it took me thru every little scenic fiefdom along the way.

Only mishap I had was a headlight went out. Stopped at a dealer along the way; they swapped it out and did ANOTHER car check and I had the oil changed again (6000 miles after the oil change I'd had done a week or so prior) and headed home.

Have a lot of fun, and stay safe!

[Lucky1]

I took the car to the dealer today to do the battery recall and to have a 55-point inspection on the car's overall health. Most of the checks were silly (checking pedal and headlight operation, give me a break I can do that on my own) but they did put the car on the hoist and check the suspension which was good. They did not accept my suggestion to pro-actively replace the water pump under warranty.

The other thing I learned besides the fact that my car at 107,000kms is perfectly healthy is that my wiper blades are squeaking (which I knew already). Get this: BMW offered to replace the blades for me for $120 CAD

You can imagine what I told them. After that I bought some coolant and some engine oil and called it a day.

[Lucky1]

Geeze a spare tire kit is expensive! The tire plus the jack kit on http://www.bavauto.com shipped to Canada is $447 not including any duty or customs.

Maybe I should just see if I can bring one of my 17" winter tires mounted to the rim and still fit luggage for three people.

Perfect time to have ditched the runflats eh? Wish I had factored this in when I budgeted for non-runflat vs runflat replacement tires.

[NorthernDancer]

Buy a copy of Bimmer magazine (or borrow a copy of Roundel) and keep in car. Tons of very useful phone numbers. Check out Tire Rack web site & maybe talk with them on a "just in case" situation. If you get a flat, best to try and get a replacement from them vice the dealer. I believe they still do installs at their warehouse in Ga. May consider getting a membership in CAA altho I think you said you still have BMW roadside assistance.

[slim_e90]

Originally Posted by drcollie

Blue Ridge Parkway is great if you don't mind taking a LONG time to get there. Its slow (45 mph) and takes 3x as long to get there, I've done it many times on a motorcycle. I'd say take i-81 and bypass most of it, but DO go into the Smokey MTNS and do Deal's Gap (Tail of the Dragon) and there to The Cherahola Skyway to Tellico Plains. Those are the best roads on the East Coast. From Tellico Plains take the backroads into Atlanta. Have fun!

This<<<.

I'm originally from TO and now living in TN. I can tell you that these are def the best roads east of the Mississippi. I'd skip Blu Ridge only because its too slow and winding. Have a good trip.

[hassanchop]

if you decide to head down the coast, route 1 is really nice going through maryland over those long bridges to virginia

[JimD]

If you don't drive the parkway (it goes from Virginia almost to Georgia) you should still think about driving through the Alleghanys. They are more big hill than mountains compared to the Rockies but it is scenic and cooler than the flats near the coast. Not only is the speed limit low on the blue ridge parkway but there are tons of scenic stops. But that is because it is so scenic. It's a good 2 day drive.

I have non-run flats now too. I carry a Viair 70p with separate battery clips (if you look on Amazon I think they'll bring up the combination) and a good tire plugging kit. Combination is less than $100 and doesn't take up a lot of space (compressor is about $50). It won't deal with a large hole but gives you a pretty good chance.

Jim