Yowzaa!

[mafranz1]

Picked up my 330Ci ZHP in Munich today. Drove 300+ miles and couldn't keep from hitting 100mph a couple of times. I took the "romantic road" to Rothenburg and the Autobahn back to Munich. Highly recommended. Tomorrow I head to Reutte, Austria. 29 more days of this to go. Yes!

Also, I met Todd and Heather (lurkers on this site) at the BMW factory tour this evening. They are picking up an X3 tomorrow. Many thanks to them for helping to navigate back to the Uhland after the tour. My iBook/Route 66/GPS sytem worked like a champ for the most part but the GPS wasn't tracking after the tour and I would have been screwed without the help from my new friends.

Oh yea, I'll send some photos as soon as I can find a Wi-fi site so I can hook up the iBook.

[woody underwood]

Picked up my 330Ci ZHP in Munich today. Drove 300+ miles and couldn't keep from hitting 100mph a couple of times. I took the "romantic road" to Rothenburg and the Autobahn back to Munich. Highly recommended. Tomorrow I head to Reutte, Austria. 29 more days of this to go. Yes!

Also, I met Todd and Heather (lurkers on this site) at the BMW factory tour this evening. They are picking up an X3 tomorrow. Many thanks to them for helping to navigate back to the Uhland after the tour. My iBook/Route 66/GPS sytem worked like a champ for the most part but the GPS wasn't tracking after the tour and I would have been screwed without the help from my new friends.

Oh yea, I'll send some photos as soon as I can find a Wi-fi site so I can hook up the iBook.
Glad my curse on the Nav was a false alarm. How'd you like Rothenburg? Hope it wasn't packed with tour busses and tourists. Isn't Autobahn fun...they did not tell me to keep it under 100, only under 5000rpm...so you should be able to get over 120mph. Buy gas yet? That will be a shock. Have fun and keep posting!

[mafranz1]

Glad my curse on the Nav was a false alarm. How'd you like Rothenburg? Hope it wasn't packed with tour busses and tourists. Isn't Autobahn fun...they did not tell me to keep it under 100, only under 5000rpm...so you should be able to get over 120mph. Buy gas yet? That will be a shock. Have fun and keep posting!

To be honest, I just stopped along the road in Rothenburg at a picnic area to have some lunch (a to-go sandwhich I snagged from the delivery center) before turning around and taking the Autobahn back to Munich. But the drive was absolutely spectacular. No other sight-seing required.

I vistited Neuschwanstein castle today. Tonight I'm at the Moserhoff in Reutte. Tomorrow I think I'll try a luge course. Anyone have suggestions for a route from Reutte (near Füssen) to Salzburg? Should I go via Innsbruck or head back into Germany for the more direct passage?

[Spectre]

I vistited Neuschwanstein castle today. Tonight I'm at the Moserhoff in Reutte. Tomorrow I think I'll try a luge course. Anyone have suggestions for a route from Reutte (near Füssen) to Salzburg? Should I go via Innsbruck or head back into Germany for the more direct passage?Getting over to Innsbruck is probably going to be slow, but you'll enjoy some nice windy roads and pretty lakes. There's a luge a few miles off the motorway as you head in that direction, so that might be convenient, although I had a bit of trouble finding using Rick Steve's directions. You're going to end up going through Germany in any case -- the motorway from Innsbruck that connects to the motorway going to Salzburg heads through Germany briefly, I seem to recall. You won't see a boarder, but you'll see gas prices go up. :eek:

[RayC1]

Just back from travelling the Reutte/Salzburg route but in the opposite direction. It's too late for MAFranz now, but we came through Austria - and tried the luge idea, too. For anyone's future reference, the best luge course (which we saw but couldn't use because of rain showers) seemed to be the one at Biberwier. Coming from Reutte, the Rick Steves' direction "first exit after a long tunnel" is right on. Coming from the other direction you'll miss the exit unless you look very closely for the Biberwier sign and don't expect to see the tunnel before you exit.

And as for 100mph on the first day...! Our delivery rep advised keeping below 4000 rpm for 1200 miles, which I did. And of course you have to remember that there really are speed limits in Europe! In our 3000 miles through Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France we saw surprisingly little complete disregard of the 130 or 110 km/hr limits, and very careful adherence to any lower posted limits through towns and for roadworks etc on highways. That didn't stop us testing the 120 mph top speed on a deserted stretch of autoroute in the Loire Valley, though!

[LDV330i]

Glad my curse on the Nav was a false alarm. How'd you like Rothenburg? Hope it wasn't packed with tour busses and tourists. Isn't Autobahn fun...they did not tell me to keep it under 100, only under 5000rpm...so you should be able to get over 120mph. Buy gas yet? That will be a shock. Have fun and keep posting!It is recommended you keep it under 110 MPH during the break in period. At that speed in 6th gear you should be doing about 3300 RPM's.

MAFRANZ1: Glad to hear you are enjoying your ED trip.:thumbup:

[woody underwood]

It is recommended you keep it under 110 MPH during the break in period. At that speed in 6th gear you should be doing about 3300 RPM's.

MAFRANZ1: Glad to hear you are enjoying your ED trip.:thumbup:
At 130mph I was just under 5000rpm...so I guess I played fair. Glad your trip is going well, I'm off to have popcorn and you should ask the Germans for some in one of the hotels...they love it and might deliver to the room!

[mafranz1]

Just a quick update. I'm linked to a free wireless internet connection in Salzburg's old city. Killer. The trip from Reutte to Salzburg was a pice of cake. The iBook nav system is blazing me thru all parts of the city. Just a little sketch sometimes when I look down at the screen on the passenger seat and then look up to see the road/traffic changed more than I thought. Yikes.

The car is simply awesome. Tomorrow I'm off to Vienna for a couple nights. I'll be stopping for some sightseeing along the way. I'm uploading my photos right now so I hope to post a few pics soon.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
-Mike

[beware_phog]

Just a quick update. I'm linked to a free wireless internet connection in Salzburg's old city. Killer. The trip from Reutte to Salzburg was a pice of cake. The iBook nav system is blazing me thru all parts of the city. Just a little sketch sometimes when I look down at the screen on the passenger seat and then look up to see the road/traffic changed more than I thought. Yikes.

The car is simply awesome. Tomorrow I'm off to Vienna for a couple nights. I'll be stopping for some sightseeing along the way. I'm uploading my photos right now so I hope to post a few pics soon.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
-Mike

Glad the iBook nav is working well. It can become addictive. I missed a few streets due to the slight redraw delay as well.

So you are driving through the old city? Those are some tight spaces. We walked most of the time there and did our tight driving throughout France (among other places).

[mafranz1]

Since I lasted posted from Salzburg, I've been to Vienna, the Dolomites in Italy, Lake Como and now I'm in Chamonix, France. That's my campsite (and car) with Mont Blanc, the tallest peak of the Alps, in the background. Having a blast! I pick up a friend in Paris on Friday.

[gmlav8r]

Have you got it up to 155mph yet. :)

[Roadhawk]

WOW! MFRANZ - what a great tour! You should have spent a bit more time in Rothenburg though (inside the walls)....just came back from a Euro pick up myself (picked up a 330 ZHP sedan on July 19). I've been a bit negligent posting about the trip and pics - but I'll get around to it...came down with an awful chest cold the day we flew out of Paris and am still not 100%..not a great excuse - but I just don't seem to have the energy to go onlne and post anything in the evenings...maybe by this weekend. Your ipod GPS set up sounds cool...I did it by using plain ole maps and had no trouble. I also chose to keep the laptop at home (with family we had plenty to lug around)...though at times I wish I had brought it. Anyway - enjoy the rest of your trip and the Bimmer of course!

I loved autobahning ours - but it was just as fun - if not more motoring up through the alps - car always had plenty of on demand power and could handle any switchbacks like a champ. Once - in Austria - 2 "hot rods" (a VW golf/Gti? and some other small car) came racing up behind us on some downhill switchbacks...though I didn't exactly try to race & lose them (with family in the car) I had fun cornering very tight switchbacks at speed - with no squeal or sliding whatsoever (until wifey ended that...) and enjoyed watching (and listening to) them squeal around at lesser speeds then zoom the strraightaways to catch up...on one I couldn't help myself and shot foreward and around the next bend just to prove my point....lol...could have had a lot more fun if my wife wasn't threatening to sell the car for fear of my future "dangerous" driving... :dunno: :rofl:

[Tanning machine]

on one I couldn't help myself and shot foreward and around the next bend just to prove my point....lol...could have had a lot more fun if my wife wasn't threatening to sell the car for fear of my future "dangerous" driving... :dunno: :rofl:

Sounds familiar. :eek: I want to go back now.

The biggest concern was the lack of guard rails and the completely non-existent shoulder on some of those mountain roads. Well, my wife had more of the problem, but it is a bit disconcerting to imagine yourself losing it on a turn, especially in an unfamiliar car.