[Cruzer]

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.

 

[PhilH]

Congrats! :thumbup: Nice choice on the car. Maybe it's time to take the nonya out of your profile (whatever that means)...

I used to have my OBC chime come on at 80mph, but it's easy to go over 80mph. So, then I turned it up to 85mph. Well, if I'm doing 85, in my car I'm pretty much on the gas and know darn well I'm on it (by the cars I'm passing if nothing else). At that point I've already made the decision to throw caution to the wind when it comes to the cops, so why do I want a chime? I turned off the chime completely after having my car for about two weeks.

 

[Cliff]

While I'm waiting for that bitmap to crawl down the wire from your Roadfly account, can I recommend you use some some image editing software and use it to convert the image to a tiny little jpeg that will manage to retain the probable beauty that is your new baby yet shed the excess bytes from that .bmp file? FWIW, I liked Paintshop Pro enough to buy it and t's a very economical alternative to Photoshop (<$100 versus ~$600). They have a 30 day trialware version whose expiration logic is a tad faulty, i.e.: it never expires.

 

[Cruzer]

Done...profile updated...

Nonya...as in "nonya bidness"

 

[Cruzer]

While I'm waiting for that bitmap to crawl down the wire from your Roadfly account, can I recommend you use some some image editing software and use it to convert the image to a tiny little jpeg that will...

I recommend you upgrade to broadband...I was too lazy to save as a jpg rather than bitmap. Makes no difference to me since I have the bandwidth. Sorry, I'll remember that next time.

 

[Cliff]

I recommend you upgrade to broadband...I was too lazy to save as a jpg rather than bitmap. Makes no difference to me since I have the bandwidth. Sorry, I'll remember that next time.

As a professional software geek, I'm fairly well wired. I reliably get 1.5 Mbits inbound. Your picture is taking forever to come in and I gave up.

 

[Cruzer]

Edited...

 

[Cliff]

I was going to compliment you on your car now that I've seen it, but never mind. Have fun. Hope you're feeling good. Over and out.

edit: I would guess that it is probably because Roadfly's ability to serve up files blows, but then you are likely getting your money's worth from them, i.e. free.

 

[Cruzer]

Well, FWIW...

You have a kickass car, and I like it very much.

I will now chill, drink a beer, and rest my well worn buttocks from the 500 miles I spent in the car the last two days. I am a little irritable it seems. :dunno:

 

[Cliff]

Forgiven, and Lodi's finest white wine here. I just got back from a 43 mile bike ride (actually, that's kind of short but I'm largely taking this year off the bicycle) and I'm tired too.

I like the 5 series a lot, but the light is kind of poor in that shot and it doesn't show off the gray much at all. Be nice if you'd post a few new ones to the showroom when you get a chance...

 

[dredmo]

wtg, excellent car, and your gonna love it :thumbup: GO DRIVE!

 

[Cruzer]

Hey Cliff, you are one tough customer. I walked in the door and before even hugging my kids (who were napping), I downloaded one pic and typed up my message. Since everyone has seen a 530i, I thought I'd give them a pic with some of Austin's scenery. In any case, I transferred the pic to my roadrunner account in jpg format. That should help downloads.

Being that I'm doing this stuff all with Microsoft products, you should be glad you can see any pic at all :yikes: (When you are cranky, take it out on Bill Gates. He's rich, and he doesn't care.) Well, when I have more time I'll post better pics. The car is dirty and wet now, so it might be next weekend before I can wash and polish it for a better pic.

 

[Cliff]

Yep, well, from this end of the Internet connection I don't know your circumstances. All I originally knew was the transfer for the pic was more likely to time out than be successful. I was just trying to give you helpful suggestions.

That's still the case. I like the car, but the picture doesn't do it justice. As I said, when you get the chance...

Wanna beer?

 

[Cruzer]

I'm having another beer...

Thanks for the feedback...I agree it doens't do the car justice. I'm just laaaaaaaaaaaazy and posted the first pic I could grab off my server. It's all good.

 

[Cliff]

When you get the chance does not mean tonight, tomorrow, or soon. To me, at least, it means at your convenience.

It would appear that every word from my keyboard is offending you tonight, so you can call me Mr. Sphinx.

Nitey night.

 

[Cruzer]

No, I'm not offended...

I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine. I didn't take anything too seriously (I'm mostly kidding). Talk to you later.

 

[JPinTO]

You did a Euro Delivery in the spring and ONLY put on 170 miles? :yikes: :yikes:

 

[DaveN323i]

You did a Euro Delivery in the spring and ONLY put on 170 miles? :yikes: :yikes:

Actually that is not bad, compared with guys who drive a car around the dealership and fly back. :lmao:

 

[Cruzer]

Yep, it's pretty common...

...for people to drive from the delivery center to the shipping company and drop off. That's only about 5 miles. I actually hooked-up with another board member and we drove along the A9 towards Nurnberg, cut across to Regensberg, and drove back to the shipping company. Having been assigned to a project in Europe for 12 months (flying back and forth every 2-3 weeks), I have been to Germany and Austria enough times. I had a lot of fun, and was glad to get back quickly. Maybe next time I'll stay longer.

 

[Jon Shafer]

Re: It's here...

Congrats Cruzer!

I bet that you are totally stoked!!!
:thumbup::thumbup: