MG M4 On Order for ED...Tips, Pointers, Pitfalls?

[ChrisJay]

Hey guys, got my order in late April, waited for early May allocation and got accepted with a confirmed production number & delivery date of 7/7/15. I am super stoked. Flights and hotels are booked but I was careful to not pay in advance for the hotels as to not be locked in.
First info on the car....
Model Code 154H M4 Coupe
Color B39 Mineral Grey Metallic
Upholstery X3DA Sakhir Orange/Black Full Merino Leather
Options ZDB Driver Assistance Plus
5AG Active Blind Spot Detection
5AS Active Driving Assistant
5DL Side and Top View Cameras
8TH Speed Limit Info
ZEC Executive Package
248 Heated Steering Wheel
322 Comfort Access keyless entry
3AG Rear view camera
502 Retractable headlight washers
508 Park Distance Control
610 Head-up Display
655 Satellite radio with 1 year subscription
ZLP Lighting Package
552 Adaptive Full LED Lights
5AC Automatic high beams
2MK M Double-clutch Transmission with Drivelogic
2VF Adaptive M Suspension
2VZ 19" Black Light-Alloy Wheel Double-SpokeStyle 437 M with Mixed
428 Warning triangle
4LX Highlight trim finishers Black Chrome
4MC Carbon Fiber Interior Trim
5AP Decoding for no-dazzle high-beam assistance
688 Harman Kardon surround sound system
6NS Enhanced USB and Bluetooth plus Smartphone Integration
8S4 Variable Light Decoding
ZTM Tier 2


Next, here is our current travel plan.
We arrive in Munich on 7-6-15
Pickup for the Welt is 7-7-15 Delivery & Tour set.
We leave later that day to head to Vienna, Austria
We will stay there a couple days then off to Prague, Czech Republic.
Staying there a few days then to Frankfurt, Germany and after a couple days there off to Munich for drop off and flight home.

So I am looking for any tips, pointers or any pitfalls to watch out for during our adventure (everything from pick-up to drop off and all in between). I have never been to Europe so I am very green, any advice, no matter how trivial is absolutely appreciated.

This worked out great because my wife and I have our 20 year anniversary this June and we were planning a European trip even before I decided the M4 was the car I wanted.

Thanks in advance guys!
Chris

[Mark's M]

Chris, congrats on the car and your anniversary!! There's a whole bunch of ED threads in this forum so find a comfortable chair, sit back and read through them all for the info you're looking for. It's already out there and the contributors have put a lot of work into their adventures and travel tips. Seek...and you shall find. And have fun over there btw...it's a blast!!!

[lawrenc967]

To piggy-back on this thread--do people think it's possible to do both the plant and museum tours on your delivery date (assume an early AM pickup), or is that not recommended?

[Bluex]

Originally Posted by ChrisJay

So I am looking for any tips, pointers or any pitfalls to watch out for during our adventure (everything from pick-up to drop off and all in between). I have never been to Europe so I am very green, any advice, no matter how trivial is absolutely appreciated.

This worked out great because my wife and I have our 20 year anniversary this June and we were planning a European trip even before I decided the M4 was the car I wanted.

First off, congratulations!

Secondly, to go off what was just said, there are tons of European Delivery threads here with a huge amount of great information. You'll find them either in this subforum, or the "Pictures" sub-forum (I just posted mine there this week, actually). I did months of research, subscribed to threads and pretty much found all I needed. Even so, there still are some tidbits that I found out while there (I've included as much as I can in my thread) that never were mentioned here.

I did months of research...you don't have that luxury, so get to it!

Enjoy every second of it...my wife and I used it as our first vacation away from the kids in a LONG time. You will hear people say it's a "once in a lifetime" experience.....it's very true.

Incidentally, I got to take my M3 up to 145 mph indicated in Germany. She'll NEVER hit that speed again for the rest of her life. Pretty damned cool.

Originally Posted by lawrenc967

To piggy-back on this thread--do people think it's possible to do both the plant and museum tours on your delivery date (assume an early AM pickup), or is that not recommended?

All depends upon when your flight gets there and how aggressive you are. I would say "no".

Our flight arrived at 8:30am, delivery day, from a red-eye. The flight was less than comfortable, i'd say (economy) and by the time we got to our Sixt driver it was say about 9:15 or so. Arrived at the Welt by 10 and we were fairly tired, but amped up on adrenaline to be sure. You need to do paperwork and then just walk around for a bit, maybe shop...before the 11:45 english speaking factory tour. That goes for about 2.5 hours (roughly). Our delivery was at 3:30 pm, so that just gave us enough time to have a nice relaxing lunch in the lounge beforehand. By the time delivery was finished, we just couldn't even fathom doing the museum. We just wanted to get to the hotel, hofbrauhaus and enjoy the night.

My opinion is that it's too much to do all 3 on the same day (delivery/factory/museum), but i'm sure that some have done it. Most it seems do the museum/factory a day before delivery. We would have done that too, if work hadn't been a pain in the ass and refused to allow my wife to leave a day earlier.

What you can fit in and FEEL like doing is up to you. YMMV.

[ChrisJay]

Thanks guys, was up reading last night until I fell asleep with my phone laying on me.
There is a whole lot of info. I do have some very specific questions but will wait to ask if I don't see the answers.

[IRNM4N]

Awesome build and looks like you have a nice trip planned. My ED thread is on here as we have almost (maybe actual) identical builds.

[funk74]

Chris,

Looks like we are taking delivery on the same day. I almost picked the same color combination that you got, but then ended up going a little out of my comfort range and went for Austin yellow.

I think you are the only other person I know of taking deliver of a M car on that day.

Devang

Originally Posted by ChrisJay

Thanks guys, was up reading last night until I fell asleep with my phone laying on me.
There is a whole lot of info. I do have some very specific questions but will wait to ask if I don't see the answers.

[DFW_M]

OP, was based out of Prague for 3 years. Beautiful place.
Berlin (Dresden on the way) is just 3 hours drive from Prague and definitely worth seeing.
Budapest is super fun and beautiful city.
Slovenia is fairly easy drive from Vienna and definitely worth visiting.

It will take you 3.5 hours to get to Prague from Munich. Uneventful drive although, you should stop in Regensburg.
Prague to Vienna is a long, boring and dangerous drive on D1 in CZ that is in terrible shape (especially the right lane).
Driving through Austria is easy, nice and expensive.
Don't forget to buy vignette (toll sticker) in CZ and Austria. Free in Germany (for now).

Also, Prague is not the safest place, so be careful where you park the car. Czechs are poor drivers and a lot of road rage so be careful.

Czech food is blah, so is German. Austrian a little better, but nothing special. Beer is probably the best in the world in that region.
Slovenian and Hungarian food is excellent!

Enjoy the trip!

[LDSM]

#1 ED Rule: Do Not Speed In Switzerland!

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by ChrisJay

Hey guys, got my order in late April, waited for early May allocation and got accepted with a confirmed production number & delivery date of 7/7/15. I am super stoked. Flights and hotels are booked...

Welcome to the family and it's going to be an awesome 20th.

As others have stated there are lots of EU Delivery Posts with lots of good information, experiences.

My recommendation is to start doing your research on everything you want to do and try to eliminate some of the items off the list.. I mean there is a lot to see and do, and I found it can be hard work to see it all. You can waste a lot of time standing in line to see something and be like.. awe that was it? 2hrs in line/traffic that is it? When a hidden gem is across the street and everyone is blind to it.

Also, plan the routes and figure alternate routes and possible stops along the way if you have the time. The car GPS isn't always a sure thing. You can find epic roads that gives you epic time to experience the M and gets you to your destination without wasting too much time.

Some of the best experiences as far as food/culture are outside the major cities. Also applies to the mom/pops B&Bs.

Hotels, look for ones that offer secured parking- Think park the car for entire day in the city. Try to find hotels near mass transit stations or have your hotel central an within reasonable walking distances to what you want to see/do. Booking.com is decent. Google map all the spots you want to see, so your not a lost tourist. If you can save an offline map with your walking routes its highly advised on your phone. Especially if your directionally challenged.

Once you get your itinerary 90% locked in post it on the forum. People will chime in and tell you the things to avoid or must stops on your route.

Bring 3-4hrs of quality music, MP3 CDs, USB thumb Drive(These May work/May Not it depends on the Nav setup) or have Bluetooth streaming device Iphone/Ipad also a cigarette charger for your Phone. XM will not work and not all the stations play common western English music.

Take photos and post them.

An however long you want to stay, add 2 days lol....

Also as you have questions post them.

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by lawrenc967

To piggy-back on this thread--do people think it's possible to do both the plant and museum tours on your delivery date (assume an early AM pickup), or is that not recommended?

Bluex

Is right, its hard to do. Only way you can do it is if you it schedule perfectly. The plant tours are set( You should be able to schedule this in advance) and there is a bit of flexibility in the Welt pickup, the museum is self guided.

But it can be done, but I wouldn't do it all 20mins after you get off the plane

[Bluex]

Originally Posted by DocWeatherington

Bluex

Is right, its hard to do. Only way you can do it is if you it schedule perfectly. The plant tours are set( You should be able to schedule this in advance) and there is a bit of flexibility in the Welt pickup, the museum is self guided.

But it can be done, but I wouldn't do it all 20mins after you get off the plane

lol, very true....those with iron wills certainly can do it. I knew my limits and backed off that I just wanted to get there, take it all in, have a light snack in the lounge, take care of paperwork and then do the factory tour.

It's like doing every ride in the Magic Kingdom in one day....yeah, you can do it, but holy crap on a cracker it isn't easy.

[ChrisJay]

Originally Posted by dr335is

OP, was based out of Prague for 3 years. Beautiful place.
Berlin (Dresden on the way) is just 3 hours drive from Prague and definitely worth seeing.
Budapest is super fun and beautiful city.
Slovenia is fairly easy drive from Vienna and definitely worth visiting.

It will take you 3.5 hours to get to Prague from Munich. Uneventful drive although, you should stop in Regensburg.
Prague to Vienna is a long, boring and dangerous drive on D1 in CZ that is in terrible shape (especially the right lane).
Driving through Austria is easy, nice and expensive.
Don't forget to buy vignette (toll sticker) in CZ and Austria. Free in Germany (for now).

Also, Prague is not the safest place, so be careful where you park the car. Czechs are poor drivers and a lot of road rage so be careful.

Czech food is blah, so is German. Austrian a little better, but nothing special. Beer is probably the best in the world in that region.
Slovenian and Hungarian food is excellent!

Enjoy the trip!

Thanks for the heads up on D1. We are indeed going from Vienna to Prague and I show E49 for an alternative via google maps. It is a little longer drive but I am not worried about the extra time. In your opinion is that a viable alternative?

[ChrisJay]

Originally Posted by funk74

Chris,

Looks like we are taking delivery on the same day. I almost picked the same color combination that you got, but then ended up going a little out of my comfort range and went for Austin yellow.

I think you are the only other person I know of taking deliver of a M car on that day.

Devang

Awesome! What time is your delivery? I envy you for the color choice. I love that color but I was really scared that in six months I might not like it so I went safe with MG.
Plus I asked the wife and since she knows me better than I know myself and said the same thing.

[ChrisJay]

We are planning to do the trio in one day (delivery/tour/museum) however the deal is we have delivery at 7:30 and our factory tour at 11:45. That leaves a little gap to go check out the museum a bit. I don't plan to entirely get through everything in it but I think we will have a solid hour, most likely more.
If this goes well my wife has her eye on a X6 for next summer where we can skip the factory and do the full museum tour.
We get in on the 6th at around 3pm and we plan to head to the hotel and get caught up on sleep, dinner then back to bed early for the 7am pick up on the 7th.

[IRNM4N]

Yeah! I tried to keep it to 5-10km over and x5's were flying by me. Only time will tell.

Originally Posted by LDSM

#1 ED Rule: Do Not Speed In Switzerland!

[buckeyesi]

Originally Posted by ChrisJay

We are planning to do the trio in one day (delivery/tour/museum) however the deal is we have delivery at 7:30 and our factory tour at 11:45. That leaves a little gap to go check out the museum a bit. I don't plan to entirely get through everything in it but I think we will have a solid hour, most likely more.
If this goes well my wife has her eye on a X6 for next summer where we can skip the factory and do the full museum tour.
We get in on the 6th at around 3pm and we plan to head to the hotel and get caught up on sleep, dinner then back to bed early for the 7am pick up on the 7th.

Wow, I didn't think they scheduled deliveries that early. Are you sure that's not the check-in time? I had a 9am delivery with a 8am check in.

The delivery should take about 40mins to an hour depending on if you are already familiar with BMWs and how many questions you have. I would say you should have plenty of time to do the museum before your factory tour . One thing to note about the museum, it was VERY warm inside when my wife and I went a couple weeks ago. I don't know if the A/C was busted or if that is normal but we rushed through it within 1 hour. Just something to be aware of because there are parts of the factory tour where it'll be warm as well so if either of you get queasy easily from heat, make sure you have plenty of water handy!

You will get a little card with your itinerary on it. It entitles you to 10euros credit with the gift shop at the Welt as well as your free engraved keychain. Just show it to the attendant behind the engraving machine inside the gift shop. You may need to purchase an emergency vest as it's required by law to keep in the car in some countries, including Germany, I believe. It was like 3.5euros. Keep it in the glove box during your trip and don't forget to remove it along with the warning triangle and first aid kit when you drop off.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you can't do ED on cars NOT manufactured in Germany. So, no X vehicles, unfortunately.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by ChrisJay

Thanks for the heads up on D1. We are indeed going from Vienna to Prague and I show E49 for an alternative via google maps. It is a little longer drive but I am not worried about the extra time. In your opinion is that a viable alternative?

Yep, I'd say Linz, then Ceske Budjevice, up north either on E49 or to Benesov would be more interesting and less risky. There are some BEAUTIFUL areas to see in that area.
HOWEVER:
- be careful - roads may be "narrow" for the US standards and CZ drivers are poor
- roads may not be of best quality, though, I do not recall any major issues with potholes, etc.
- There are cops all over the place, however, in my 3 years over there, I was pulled over for speeding probably more than 15 times and did not pay a single fine.

[ChrisJay]

Originally Posted by buckeyesi

Wow, I didn't think they scheduled deliveries that early. Are you sure that's not the check-in time? I had a 9am delivery with a 8am check in.

The delivery should take about 40mins to an hour depending on if you are already familiar with BMWs and how many questions you have. I would say you should have plenty of time to do the museum before your factory tour . One thing to note about the museum, it was VERY warm inside when my wife and I went a couple weeks ago. I don't know if the A/C was busted or if that is normal but we rushed through it within 1 hour. Just something to be aware of because there are parts of the factory tour where it'll be warm as well so if either of you get queasy easily from heat, make sure you have plenty of water handy!

You will get a little card with your itinerary on it. It entitles you to 10euros credit with the gift shop at the Welt as well as your free engraved keychain. Just show it to the attendant behind the engraving machine inside the gift shop. You may need to purchase an emergency vest as it's required by law to keep in the car in some countries, including Germany, I believe. It was like 3.5euros. Keep it in the glove box during your trip and don't forget to remove it along with the warning triangle and first aid kit when you drop off.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you can't do ED on cars NOT manufactured in Germany. So, no X vehicles, unfortunately.

Yes. Correct. I worded that incorrectly. We check in at 7:30 and delivery is 9AM.
Ack. Didn't think about the X vehicles, derp. Makes total sense. Might have to persuade her in a different direction. Maybe I see a convertible in her future.

[ChrisJay]

Originally Posted by dr335is

Yep, I'd say Linz, then Ceske Budjevice, up north either on E49 or to Benesov would be more interesting and less risky. There are some BEAUTIFUL areas to see in that area.
HOWEVER:
- be careful - roads may be "narrow" for the US standards and CZ drivers are poor
- roads may not be of best quality, though, I do not recall any major issues with potholes, etc.
- There are cops all over the place, however, in my 3 years over there, I was pulled over for speeding probably more than 15 times and did not pay a single fine.

Thanks for the info, very helpful! I can handle pretty narrow roads, I drive a lot of large vehicles in major cities so fingers crossed I should be ok. Yea, I know, famous last words.

[OneRib]

Originally Posted by ChrisJay

We are planning to do the trio in one day (delivery/tour/museum) however the deal is we have delivery at 7:30 and our factory tour at 11:45. That leaves a little gap to go check out the museum a bit. I don't plan to entirely get through everything in it but I think we will have a solid hour, most likely more.
If this goes well my wife has her eye on a X6 for next summer where we can skip the factory and do the full museum tour.
We get in on the 6th at around 3pm and we plan to head to the hotel and get caught up on sleep, dinner then back to bed early for the 7am pick up on the 7th.

That's a good plan, but there is one problem. The X6 is produced at the Spartanburg plant in SC. No ED for X3/5/6 only the X1 which is made somewhere in Germany or Austria.


Oops didn't see buckeyesi full post before adding my 2 cents. Well at least you know you can get an X1 with ED, but good luck convincing your wife to get that over the X6.

[OneRib]

My few tips:

-Make sure the credit cards you are taking have no foreign transaction fees.

-Try and book the hotels on their website. Many times you will get a better price and its easier for you to avoid overbooking and mistakes. A property can't dispute their own reservation. (Disclosure- I did not do this for my trip. My wife was full speed ahead with hotel bookings on hotels.com and I was not going to reverse that process.)

-Most any damage will be repaired upon redelivery, so you don't have to sweat every small scratch. Just make sure you document and point everything out to the drop off representative.

-My first ED and European trip is the same time as yours, so I can't offer many specifics about the countries or cities.