The Ultimate Road Trip

Postby **RacerZX** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 2:23 pm

I know this isn't Pathfinder related, but I just gotta share because this is truly the Ultimate Road Trip... This Saturday my Dearly Beloved and I will board a non-stop Lufthansa flight from San Francisco to Munich, where on Monday afternoon at the BMW Welt we will meet Dearly Beloved #2:

Hard to believe she's already minted and waiting for us... For 2 weeks we'll drive around the EU, hitting my SO's home town Kosice in Slovakia, Prague, Nurburg (yes, to drive The Ring), Berlin (to work for my company for a few days), and then return to Munich to drop the new girl off and fly back and start an agonizing 8-10 week wait for her to arrive home.

Why doesn't Nissan offer this kinda thing for Japanese delivery?!?

NVSteve · Postby **NVSteve** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:13 pm

RacerZX wrote: Hard to believe she's already minted and waiting for us... For 2 weeks we'll drive around the EU, hitting my SO's home town Kosice in Slovakia, Prague, Nurburg (yes, to drive The Ring), Berlin (to work for my company for a few days), and then return to Munich to drop the new girl off and fly back and start an agonizing 8-10 week wait for her to arrive home.

Carl, I'm jealous. Before I bought the Pathfinder, I was toying with the very same idea myself, although with a Cayenne. I also don't get why this is so easy to do in Europe, but the Japanese companies don't offer the same type of deal. Unless it has something to do with the trade agreements. Including the flights and freight, will it come out less than if you just waited here for its arrival, or was it a break even? Had I done the same with a Cayenne, it would have saved me a few k once all was said and done.

Slovakia, eh? My gf is from a wonderful little town called Decin, a few clicks north of Prague in a river gorge (awesome train ride between Berlin-Dresden-Prague). If we cross paths again, I'm sure the two of them would probably chatter away the entire day. I know every time I overhear someone speaking Czech somewhere, I always push my gf into a conversation. "Go on, she's practically your sister. You have to talk to her." Of course, every Czech we've run across in the US (usually at National Parks) is always amazed that they get to encounter another Czech.

Have a nice trip. Pictures ARE mandatory.

Postby **RacerZX** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:42 pm

I figure there must be subsidies from the German government, because the cost savings are substantial. 7% off the base price of the car, a 2-for-1 ticket voucher for Lufthansa, free 2 weeks of Euro Zone auto insurance, free shipping to send the car back home, and lots of other little VIP perks. Maybe BMW also avoids some sort of US importation tax because the car is no longer new, I don't know, but if that was the trick you'd think the Japanese would be in on it too...

As you know my SO and I are both avid photogs, so there will be a million pictures and videos, we'll post a link to our Picasa page soon as we get it going.

Glad you didn't get the Cayenne!

JAHBLESSINGS · Postby **JAHBLESSINGS** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:48 pm

wow, what great service.

Postby **RacerZX** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:36 pm

Already had a great photography moment last night with a thunderstorm rolling over Munich in perfect view from our 6th floor hotel room. We'll be uploading pictures daily here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cmerritt951 ... teRoadtrip

Picking up the new car this afternoon, wohoo!!!

NVSteve · Postby **NVSteve** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:58 am

Almost didn't recognize you without your trademark hat! I certainly hope that wasn't Lowenbrau that you were drinking?

Postby **RacerZX** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:19 pm

New pics and videos are uploading now...

Postby **RacerZX** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:23 am

Flat out at 155MPH on the Autobahn...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AjkPQmnoWw

NVSteve · Postby **NVSteve** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:15 am

A few things:

1. My girlfriend & I have been planning on spending about 3 weeks in the Czech Replublic & Slovakia, and since I forwarded your pictures to her, we might bump that on our list.

2. You were lucky Prague wasn't crowded. Seriously.

3. Did you happen to walk back down the path to Karlstejn a bit? There are a few beer vendors with some tasty, yet odd, beers.

4. What's next on your itinerary?

blink32 · Postby **blink32** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:21 pm

I'd be interested to hear about the EU delivery setup & experience beside the vacation aspect when you are all done. When I bought the Pathy it was a tossup between a 5 series wagon with EU delivery or the Pathy.

Although I am sad to see no M5 or 5 series wagon offerings currently.

Postby **RacerZX** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:17 pm

Bratislava was cool, Kosice was excellent, Prague was an over crowded tourist trap. I'm sure there are parts of Prague which are for the locals, but with one day to tour around we focused on the big stuff and all the crowds and tourism centric commercialism was a turn-off for me.

If you choose the "European Delivery" option from BMW, then you get 7% off the base price, a 2-for-1 ticket on Lufthansa (and work covered the 1 part for me as I'm working at our office in Berlin right now), and when you pick up the car in Munich at the BMW Welt you get VIP treatment, free access to the BMW museum and factory tour (which is incredible), 2 weeks of free car insurance, and then free shipping of the car back to your home dealer. Add in the $4500 incentive on the Diesels right now and you really can't beat it with a stick.

Postby **RacerZX** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:59 pm

Yesterday we drove all the way from Berlin to Nurburg (over 6 hours and 600km) to attempt to drive on the Nurburgring. There was some doubt about whether a car with a temporary transfer license plate would be allowed, but turned out to be no problem at all. Here's some video from our 3rd lap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpEXET6w2fc

The_David · Postby **The_David** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:15 am

Thats awesome!
I'd love to do that one of these days. I love watching the all the ED's on the BMW forums. I can only hope I'm able to do that one day, and the 335d is awesome.
for now I still buy used

Postby **RacerZX** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:58 am

Wouldn't it be awesome if Nissan did the same sort of thing? Japanese delivery? Well, wouldn't work for the Pathie, it's made in the US, but that would be a great way to buy a Leaf!

Postby **disallow** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:17 pm

RacerZX wrote:Wouldn't it be awesome if Nissan did the same sort of thing? Japanese delivery? Well, wouldn't work for the Pathie, it's made in the US, but that would be a great way to buy a Leaf!

The euro spec pathy is made in spain, right? What about Spanish delivery? I would love to get my hands on a Euro Pathy with that new 3.0L V6 turbodiesel!

t

The Ultimate Road Trip

The Ultimate Road Trip

Re: The Ultimate Road Trip

Good morning Munich!

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