I've just ordered a 2011 Z4 35is

I ordered a 2011 Z4 35is on Monday, May 24th. Within a few hours the dealer had a production number for me (already impressed). I logged into my account that night on the BMW website and using the production number given, the car came up but without all the packages and options. By the next morning it had them all listed with the exception of the alarm system and smartphone integration. I'm assuming those are dealer installed options, does anyone out there know?
As of just the past 30 min. I see it's gone from "on order" to "schedule for production"! Just what does that mean?
I'm really TOO EXCITED, so if anyone with knowledge of the ordering and production process has some input for me I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

Congratulations!

Now the torment of waiting begins...

I wouldn't worry too much about each little incremental step... just the biggies: On order, In production, Awaiting transport, etc. Otherwise, you can drive yourself crazy.

Here's a nice write up & tutorial for tracking your order...

http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/14/ho...d-to-delivery/

I found it very helpful. Also, count on you dealer for more accurate info than the "Owners Circle."

Finally, the "Search" button is your friend... both on this forum and via Google.

That's a beautiful car darbs. Just another 3 and a half weeks to wait. When did you place the order?

Ordered on Tax Day - April 15th!

Thanks... it just it port (Brunswick, GA) this week... but the soonest I could be scheduled for the "Performance Center Delivery" is June 21.

It's worth the wait... but just barely

Darbs is correct. In addition, the online information is notoriously wrong regarding packages, options etc, so don't sweat it.

Its going to be a long 3 and a half weeks.

Have fun reading up on your car and other Bimmers on Bimmerfest. You have now been officially welcomed to the 'fest - Z4 Forum. Why don't you post your color combo and all the options you are getting?

Thanks z4luvr, Here are my colors.

2011 Z4 35is

Titanium Silver
Black extended leather
Brushed aluminum trim

Everything else except: 6 disk CD & 19" wheels

I really thought I wanted the deep sea blue with white leather, until I saw the car in person next to silver and space grey. The strong lines on this car just seem to "pop" on the silver and space grey and not as much on the darker colors. No matter what color, the Z4 is a beautiful car.

Welcome Z4golfer! Look up atty, he just did an order and tracked his car constantly!

Originally Posted by Z4golfer

Thanks z4luvr, Here are my colors.

2011 Z4 35is

Titanium Silver
Black extended leather
Brushed aluminum trim

Everything else except: 6 disk CD & 19" wheels

I really thought I wanted the deep sea blue with white leather, until I saw the car in person next to silver and space grey. The strong lines on this car just seem to "pop" on the silver and space grey and not as much on the darker colors. No matter what color, the Z4 is a beautiful car.

The Deep Sea Blue is darker than I originally thought it was. It is almost as dark as my Monaco Blue 535. I really like the Montego Blue on my Z4 and prefer it over the darker shades.

Z4golfer, you've got a beautiful car on order! Titanium silver is (for obvious reasons) my second favorite color The link Darbs330 posted is where I got my information on tracking, so it's still good info. When I ordered my Z4, I was fortuante enough to get one of my dealer's production slots, which, once the car was marked as "sold," moved the production date up by three weeks. In what I consider to be an amazing feat of efficiency, I picked up my car exactly six weeks to the day that I ordered it. I do have a couple of remarks, though, on tracking.

The BMW "track my car" feature is several days behind. I would recommend you call BMW NA and track your order there instead. BMW NA's phone number is 800-831-1117. It's all automated, so when the call is answered, simply say, "vehicle production status." You will then be prompted to speak your vehicle production number or last seven digits of your vehicle's VIN. Your car won't have a VIN number yet, so you'll need the vehicle production number, which should appear on your order sheet or can be given to you by your CA. Your car won't be assigned a VIN until it's near complete, and your CA can give it to you. I think scheduled for production just means the car has a slot when it will be produced. I also think you can still make last minute changes. Once your car enters production, though, it's obviously too late. Telephone tracking also gives you a bit more info than the website. I knew, for example, when my car was in the paint shop, when it was completed, when it was being transported to port, etc. Yes, I obsessively called everyday just to hear where my car was at! The only time the website was more current than the telephone update was when my car was loaded onto a vessel. The telephone update still told me my car was at port waiting for a shipping vessel, whereas the website said my car was in transit (and indeed it was).

While the production order number will get you all the updates by BMW, you'll need the VIN to track your car on ship assuming your car boards a Wallenius Wilhelmsen ship. From WW's website (www.2wglobal.com) you can track your vehicle on ship by entering the VIN (under "Customer Centre" and "Track & Trace" enter your VIN, or a portion of it followed by % in the cargo ID field). You should then get info on which ship your car is on, when it will arrive at various ports, etc. If, however, your car gets loaded onto a ship other than a Willenius Wilhelmsen (WW), it's a bit more difficult to track. That's what happened to me. The website and telephone update said my vehicle was "in transit" but I could not find it in WW's tracking feature. I asked my CA who was able to provide me with the name of the vessel. My car was loaded onto a RoRo ship, which is a subsidiary of WW, but which is not included in WW's track and trace feature. But, armed with the ship's name, I could look up that ship's voyage and estimated dates of arrival. I think my car was loaded onto a different ship because it was headed to BMW's Baltimore vehicle prep facility for delivery to the midwest. Most cars seem to go through New Jersey. Once you know your vessel, though, you can track it using various ship tracking websites. I preferred marinetraffic.com, which provided literally minute-by-minute updates of the ships progress from port to port. Be aware, however, once the ship enters the deep Atlantic, it can no longer be tracked until it gets close to shore again, so for me, the whereabouts between Southampton and Baltimore was unknown. I kept checking the ship's schedule on the RoRo website, though, to make sure it's estimated arrival date remained the same (mine ended up being late by a day, but really was only a few hours late but the arrival occurred after midnight EDT).

I hope this helps some. My car was at the vehicle prep center for three days before being loaded on a truck. I understand the time at the prep center can vary wildly. Sorry if this is a rather rambling answer to your PM, but I thought the whole process was exciting, and I enjoyed checking each day where my car was at! Enjoy! Although the wait was hard and seemed like an eternity, it was part of the fun. Somewhere across the globe was a car being built with my name on it!

Oh, also, your CA has complete access to the whereabouts of your vehicle too, so he or she might be a good source of info. But, seeing as how I was obsessively tracking my car, I didn't think my CA would have appreciated a call from me every day asking "where's my car???"! In what I consider to be going above and beyond the call of duty, though, my CA tracked down the vessel my car was on while he was on vacation in Florida. I'd say that was pretty darn good customer service!

Thanks for the information Atty,

Lots of good stuff there. Probably a bit longer in transit for me in California.

By the way, what is on the sticker with the photo of your car inside the drivers side door?

Z4golfer, that's the BMW Car Club of America decal. I like to advertise that I'm a member, but I don't know that I really like the decal since it's a bit large and, shall we say, gaudy. It's just a cling-on though, so it can be removed easily. My local BMW CCA chapter (Windy City) just sent me their decal too, but that's an actual sticker so I don't think that's going on anywhere.

Here in NY, we have a custom plate with the BMW CCA logo, which is going on my Z4.
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/org.htm Scroll down to see the plate.

Awe, that would be awesome! I wish we had something like that here in Illinois. We've got some specialty plates, but not BMW CCA. As soon as my "real" random number plates come in, I'm going to order vanity plates. As long as I pick one of our specialty vanity plates (as opposed to the standard issue Illinois plate), I can have the same letters as what's on my other car. I think I'm going to go with our "Route 66" plate. Seems to fit the vehicle well!

jparnes1, what's "extra enjoyment pkg" :>

Speaking of BMW CCA, is anybody here going to Oktoberfest? It's kind of in my neck of the woods. I'm a newcomer to the BMWCCA, so I've never been to one or know anyone else, or really what it's all about.

Originally Posted by erdoran

jparnes1, what's "extra enjoyment pkg" :>

Isn't that a standard feature on all Z4's???

Vruum!...Vruummm!

Originally Posted by erdoran

jparnes1, what's "extra enjoyment pkg" :>

You don't have that? Oh, that's right. It's a new option that came out for MY 2011. It goes along with their new slogan "BMW is Joy". The package includes your choice of a gorgeous blond, brunette or redhead to ride with you so you look like "you've got it all"!

Originally Posted by Atty

Speaking of BMW CCA, is anybody here going to Oktoberfest? It's kind of in my neck of the woods. I'm a newcomer to the BMWCCA, so I've never been to one or know anyone else, or really what it's all about.

Atty, Where are you going to the Octoberfest? are you going up to Milwaukee by chance? I know in the Milwaukee area there are quite a few people with German roots. You may have seen my post about me having been in Germany last year and I was in München (Munich) on May 9th when they rolled out and introduced the 2009 Z4 at the BMW Die Welt (The World - a very impressive building completed in 2007 you find all BMW car modles and engines there including all BMW motorcycles a must place to visit when one is in Europe). Anyway, of course I also visited the Hofbröuhause while in München. You asked what it is all about the Octoberfest, well in Germany it is a lot of beer drinking and good food. In various areas in North America it is being duplicated in one way or another. In general it is a lot of fun. One tip if you go do keep your gorges car far away from the area park it in a safe place for obvious reasons ~s~

If you like to see some photos of the German HofBröuhaus go to my photo link here http://web.me.com/solgain/Dieters_Tr...s/München.html

For photos I took at the BMW Die Welt go here http://web.me.com/solgain/Dieters_Tr...t_München.html

My next Z4 I will pick up in München then tour Germany and Italy before I have it shipped to Canada ~s~ Note the Z4 video clip I took at Die Welt (you find the clip on top of my homepage as BMW Z4 just click on it), this is a Z4 in the BMW Die Welt Customer Delivery center. Shortly after I took that video clip the new proud owner came along and a blonde Freülein showed him all the options of his new toy and then he drove away. As I said I'll pick up my next new Z4 perhaps the M and if I am lucky I might even meet the blonde Freülein ~smiles~

R-D,

I think Atty is referring to the BMW CCA Oktoberfest, which is being held in Elkhart Lake, WI (in August, actually). More to do with "cruise" than "brews."

More info can be found here.

I am going to be in Chi-town a couple of weeks earlier than that- too bad the timing wasn't a bit better, or we'd try to extend our stay to at least hang out for the first day or two of the 'fest. C'est la vie.

Originally Posted by HospiceDoc

R-D,

I think Atty is referring to the BMW CCA Oktoberfest, which is being held in Elkhart Lake, WI (in August, actually). More to do with "cruise" than "brews."

More info can be found here.

I am going to be in Chi-town a couple of weeks earlier than that- too bad the timing wasn't a bit better, or we'd try to extend our stay to at least hang out for the first day or two of the 'fest. C'est la vie.

Thanks HospiceDoc, for clarifying this ~s~ I may go it is only 422 miles from my place.

Originally Posted by Z4golfer

I ordered a 2011 Z4 35is on Monday, May 24th. Within a few hours the dealer had a production number for me (already impressed). I logged into my account that night on the BMW website and using the production number given, the car came up but without all the packages and options. By the next morning it had them all listed with the exception of the alarm system and smartphone integration. I'm assuming those are dealer installed options, does anyone out there know?
As of just the past 30 min. I see it's gone from "on order" to "schedule for production"! Just what does that mean?
I'm really TOO EXCITED, so if anyone with knowledge of the ordering and production process has some input for me I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

Congratulations and Happy Motoring

Atty, you've got experience with this.
I ordered the 35is on May 24th, and given a production number later that day. Received an email from my CA on the 27th telling me the car was in production and should be completed the following week and we may get the car a week earlier than planned. (He never gave me a date, only an estimate of 7-9 weeks.)
I called the BMW 800 number and followed the prompts to find the completion date to be June 2nd. That's only 9 days after I ordered it! I do realize it may sit for a while before transport, but can I start getting excited for it to be here in that 7 week range?
The CA had said they were snagging one ready to go into production, and it looks like they did.
By the way my car is coming to the west coast. How much extra time does that take on the ship?
How does everyone add their configurations to the end of each post without having to retype them each time, or do you?

Thanks for your input. (This is way too exciting!)

2011 35is
Titanium Silver
Black extended leather
Brushed aluminum trim
All other stuff except 19" wheels and 6 disk CD

Originally Posted by Z4golfer

How does everyone add their configurations to the end of each post without having to retype them each time, or do you?

You can create a signature and put this info there. There should be a link at the top of the page on the menu bar called "User CP"- click this and then select "edit signature."

Congrats on the new ride. My biggest bottleneck in getting the car here was after it left the manufacturing facility. It sat at the port for over two weeks waiting on a transport. Even with that delay, however, it still made it to the VPC in about seven weeks (figure it would have taken an extra week to get to the left coast).

Now, it's just sitting at the performance center waiting for my delivery date to arrive. Sure hope they don't have a hailstorm in the next 11 days...

Thanks HospiceDoc,

Coral red looks great with space grey!

Still too excited!