[petalmasher]

I have been to Germany for business before and always ended up driving some rental economy car on the autobahn. it was interesting, but when you see the speed limit signs with the slash marks through them indicating the beginning of an open speed zone, you can look in the rear-view mirror and see all the Audis, BMWs and Porsches lining up on the left to get ready to launch and you know it's time to scurry on over to the right with the rest of the plebeians and leave the fun to the people who have the proper equipment to take advantage of the fast lanes.

I picked up my 228i with 6-speed transmission and THP, drove east through Salzburg Austria for some alpine mountain driving, and north to Prague, then back into Germany to drop off the car in Frankfurt, doing all the touristy stuff along the way along with my wife and some friends who moved to Germany a few years ago. I am an endurance bicycle racer and distance runner, my friends have similar hobbies and as such, we are a pretty skinny group of people, but everyone was perfectly comfortable with 4 of us in the car, the only complaint was that the tallest back seat passengers head was brushing against the headliner a bit. I was impressed by the fact that at 100+ mph the cabin was still quiet enough for all 4 of us to participate in the conversation without raising our voices.

The closest thing to a high performance vehicle I have ever owned prior to this was either my 2013 X1 or the 1998 Mitsubishi eclipse I drove when I was in my 20s, so my bar for fine driving is not too high, but I thought the car was fantastic. Driving a brand new car still in its break-in period, I wasn't even trying to drive hard. With the exception of a few M-cars and Porsches for whom I had to get out of the way, I was one of the cars on the left for whom others were scurrying out of the way. The fact that the car can do 124 mph isn't nearly as impressive as the ease with which it does it; the way it makes setting the cruise control to 118 while driving with a full load of passengers seem like a perfectly reasonable thing to do... so quiet and smooth that If not the speedometer and the cars on the right which appeared almost to be parked as I passed by, I would have thought I was going at half the speed, and the way it stuck to the curves in the alps without a hint of lean... I just don't know how to express the experience without sounding like I'm trying too hard to sound poetic, so I'll leave it there.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wALArd2rvo

[DanG]

[SteveInfante]

Nailed it! I agree.

Prost!!!

[petalmasher]

Originally Posted by DanG

[DanG]

Looks great. Congratulations.

[angelbones]

Originally Posted by petalmasher

I have been to Germany for business before and always ended up driving some rental economy car on the autobahn. it was interesting, but when you see the speed limit signs with the slash marks through them indicating the beginning of an open speed zone, you can look in the rear-view mirror and see all the Audis, BMWs and Porsches lining up on the left to get ready to launch and you know it's time to scurry on over to the right with the rest of the plebeians and leave the fun to the people who have the proper equipment to take advantage of the fast lanes.

I picked up my 228i with 6-speed transmission and THP, drove east through Strasbourg Austria for some alpine mountain driving, and north to Prague, then back into Germany to drop off the car in Frankfurt, doing all the touristy stuff along the way along with my wife and some friends who moved to Germany a few years ago. I am an endurance bicycle racer and distance runner, my friends have similar hobby's and as such, we are a pretty skinny group of people, but everyone was perfectly comfortable with 4 of us in the car, the only complaint was that the tallest back seat passengers head was brushing against the headliner a bit. I was impressed by the fact that at 100+ mph the cabin was still quiet enough for all 4 of us to participate in the conversation without raising our voices.

The closest thing to a high performance vehicle I have ever owned prior to this was either my 2013 X1 or the 1998 Mitsubishi eclipse I drove when I was in my 20s, so my bar for fine driving is not too high, but I thought the car was fantastic. Driving a brand new car still in its break-in period, I wasn't even trying to drive hard. With the exception of a few M-cars and Porsches for whom I had to get out of the way, I was one of the cars on the left for whom others were scurrying out of the way. The fact that the car can do 124 mph isn't nearly as impressive as the ease with which it does it; the way it makes setting the cruise control to 118 while driving with a full load of passengers seem like a perfectly reasonable thing to do... so quiet and smooth that If not the speedometer and the cars on the right which appeared almost to be parked as I passed by, I would have thought I was going at half the speed, and the way it stuck to the curves in the alps without a hint of lean... I just don't know how to express the experience without sounding like I'm trying too hard to sound poetic, so I'll leave it there.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wALArd2rvo

OP, I noticed you dropped off in Frankfurt. You may or may not know the answer, and others are encouraged to chime in, but if you do ED, can you fly into Frankfurt? Does it have to be Munich? I ask because they just announced nonstop flights to Frankfurt from Florida, which would be much more preferable.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Nice !!

[uberspeed]

Ferris Bueller reference and all, noice

[petalmasher]

Originally Posted by angelbones

OP, I noticed you dropped off in Frankfurt. You may or may not know the answer, and others are encouraged to chime in, but if you do ED, can you fly into Frankfurt? Does it have to be Munich? I ask because they just announced nonstop flights to Frankfurt from Florida, which would be much more preferable.

The Factory and BMW world is in Munich so the Tour and the presentation of the vehicle happens there. There are drop off points in most major cities in the EU, but these are just shipping companies who take the car and ship it to your dealership. I'm sure you can catch a quick commuter flight from Frankfurt to Munich though.

[TBro2002]

Originally Posted by petalmasher

The Factory and BMW world is in Munich so the Tour and the presentation of the vehicle happens there. There are drop off points in most major cities in the EU, but these are just shipping companies who take the car and ship it to your dealership. I'm sure you can catch a quick commuter flight from Frankfurt to Munich though.

You can take the train also.

[TBro2002]

Congratulations! We did our ED in May for two weeks. Nothing like driving the 228i on the roads it was designed to drive on.

Speaking of the German autobahns, they are very well maintained and very smooth to drive on. I've hated driving on the So Cal freeways since I got back with all the holes and uneven surfaces.

[petalmasher]

Originally Posted by TBro2002

Congratulations! We did our ED in May for two weeks. Nothing like driving the 228i on the roads it was designed to drive on.

Speaking of the German autobahns, they are very well maintained and very smooth to drive on. I've hated driving on the So Cal freeways since I got back with all the holes and uneven surfaces.

I remember that California highways were particularly bad when I lived in that area, the moment you cross into Arizona all the buzzing and vibrating stops... it's like a breathe of fresh air.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by petalmasher

The Factory and BMW world is in Munich so the Tour and the presentation of the vehicle happens there. There are drop off points in most major cities in the EU, but these are just shipping companies who take the car and ship it to your dealership. I'm sure you can catch a quick commuter flight from Frankfurt to Munich though.

Internal flights in Europe can be crazy cheap - I actually have a pair of one-way tickets from Paris to Munich for my ED that I won't be using, because originally I could not get FF award tickets to Munich. $50 on Air France! I was eventually able to change my tickets to fly right into Munich so I will be throwing them away, but for $50 it was cheap insurance! Got caught up in the US Airways/American merger, for awhile award ticket availability was awful.

When I did it four years ago for the 328i, I flew Boston Amsterdam on a Delta award ticket, then booked a <$100 ticket to Munich for that portion on KLM. It was actually cheaper than paying the taxes on an award ticket all the way there, and fewer FF miles too! Wacky how it works out sometimes.

[FelixGTS]

Originally Posted by petalmasher

I picked up my 228i with 6-speed transmission and THP, drove east through Strasbourg Austria for some alpine mountain driving,

Since Strasbourg is in France, I guess you went to Salzburg?

[SteveInfante]

Originally Posted by FelixGTS

Since Strasbourg is in France, I guess you went to Salzburg?

LOL. I was thinking the same thing.

[petalmasher]

Originally Posted by FelixGTS

Since Strasbourg is in France, I guess you went to Salzburg?

R

Yes, Strasbourg is one of the Places I went to on my last trip to Europe... oops got the names crossed in my head.