Well, first of all, thanks to everyone here for all the help making this whole experience a reality for me...I'll spare you the acceptance speech, though.
Here it is 530i/pp/sp/sterling grey/black leather (European Delivery):
I picked up at Garlyn Shelton in Temple on Friday afternoon. The guys there have been great through the whole experience. Unfortunately, they missed a small blemish on the rear bumper trim. We quickly figured that they would order a new one, paint it, and ship it to my house. I noted that the car had 177.8 on the odometer, which means that only 7.8 miles were added during the trip from Munich to Temple. That was that, and we were on the way.
Where o where to drive my new 530i in Austin? Well, we decided to stay at the Hyatt ($45 on Priceline) on the lake overnight, so I had plenty of time to find some twisties. The best road I found was Lime Creek Road from Cedar Park into Austin along Lake Travis (what a great road!). The car performed great (a little understeer for a newby driver going to fast on tight curves), and I never felt like I wasn't in control, although my wife shrieked several times as I zoomed along. After some brewskies and grub at the local microbrewery, we saddled up and headed back into the countryside for some evening driving. FM 1826 south of Austin offers some very hilly driving with a few fun curves. After driving to the very end, we turned back and headed for the hotel.
This morning, we walked into Austin and had a light breakfast. We plotted a rural path (down 290/FM 696/21) east towards College Station. FM 696 is very fast, hilly, and has some very nice curves, but it was a little short and every once in a while my wife got stuck behind a country driver. After some BBQ and beer in College Station, we headed home to relieve the baby sitter. About 2 miles from home, an old [modded] CRX pulled up next to me and tried to cut me off. I downshifted and jammed on the gas, and left him in my fumes as his car gasped for more horses. Once at home, I sat down to program all my stations, the UGDO, etc. My old car is sitting in the driveway looking depressed about losing her top billing.
Can't say how much fun the car is to drive. The sports suspension is firm but not harsh, and IMHO a must have option for this car. My computer says I got 22.8 mpg on this trip, and will get 500 miles from this tankful. Quite a difference from the 17 mpg and 300 miles per tankful I was getting from my J30. It was very hard to stay under 80mph on the highway...I set my OBC to alert me at 80mph and that happened constantly. The clutch was difficult to modulate initially, but I think I'm getting used to it.
Thanks again to everyone here for your help along the way.