Actually-
with euro-delivery you are more restricted in what options you can order. It will be a fight with BMWNA to get them to approve any non-standard options or colors. This is because when you do a euro-delivery, BMW is essentially the dealership. If you walk away from the deal, there's a chance that BMW will have produced the car and will then have to find another buyer. THis is the same reason that many people run into problems when trying to order special options through a regular dealer. Some dealers will do it, some won't. With euro-delivery you're stuck with BMWNA's policy and they won't budge. They may have been a little more lenient in past years, but they're very strict as of 2001. Any rear sunshades, or special paint or other options you've seen on this board have probably been on a regular US delivery. The only thing you *may* be able to get is cloth seats- but I think as of 2002 MY they may have made that impossible too.
I know this sounds counter-intuitive. Many people think that since they're doing a "euro-delivery" they should be able to get some "euro options". Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way. If it did, it would make euro-delivery even cooler!
One other interesting tidbit--
In the course of doing my euro-delivery, I happened to call the delivery center in Munich to check on the status of my car. I happened to speak to a guy who used to work for BMWNA (and was high up but I forget his title now). He was currently working for BMW AG, and happened to be in the Freimann delivery center when I called. The first guy I spoke to didn't speak English so he passed me to this guy.
ANyway- we started talking about all sorts of stuff- the fan problem, steering, why not bring the compact over, BMW competitors, etc.. But, one of the topics that came up was the limited options that are available to US customers. He told me that one of the reasons that we don't get bigger options list with more a la carte options has to do w/ the pricing that BMWNA gets from BMW AG. BMWAG gives BMWNA special prices for the various packages because it allows them to better predict the demand for various options and set pricing. Therefore, BMW AG gets upset when they receive an NA order with an a la carte option-- like sport seats without the sport package. They've gotten stricter and stricter on this point, and have pretty much forbidden packages from being broken apart. The other factor that makes it difficult of course is that dealers want to have a limited number of variations so that they don't have one-off, strange cars in their lots that they can't sell. In EUrope, if you order it, you buy it. Most dealers over there also keep little if no stock.
with euro-delivery you are more restricted in what options you can order. It will be a fight with BMWNA to get them to approve any non-standard options or colors. This is because when you do a euro-delivery, BMW is essentially the dealership. If you walk away from the deal, there's a chance that BMW will have produced the car and will then have to find another buyer. THis is the same reason that many people run into problems when trying to order special options through a regular dealer. Some dealers will do it, some won't. With euro-delivery you're stuck with BMWNA's policy and they won't budge. They may have been a little more lenient in past years, but they're very strict as of 2001. Any rear sunshades, or special paint or other options you've seen on this board have probably been on a regular US delivery. The only thing you *may* be able to get is cloth seats- but I think as of 2002 MY they may have made that impossible too.
I know this sounds counter-intuitive. Many people think that since they're doing a "euro-delivery" they should be able to get some "euro options". Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way. If it did, it would make euro-delivery even cooler!
One other interesting tidbit--
In the course of doing my euro-delivery, I happened to call the delivery center in Munich to check on the status of my car. I happened to speak to a guy who used to work for BMWNA (and was high up but I forget his title now). He was currently working for BMW AG, and happened to be in the Freimann delivery center when I called. The first guy I spoke to didn't speak English so he passed me to this guy.
ANyway- we started talking about all sorts of stuff- the fan problem, steering, why not bring the compact over, BMW competitors, etc.. But, one of the topics that came up was the limited options that are available to US customers. He told me that one of the reasons that we don't get bigger options list with more a la carte options has to do w/ the pricing that BMWNA gets from BMW AG. BMWAG gives BMWNA special prices for the various packages because it allows them to better predict the demand for various options and set pricing. Therefore, BMW AG gets upset when they receive an NA order with an a la carte option-- like sport seats without the sport package. They've gotten stricter and stricter on this point, and have pretty much forbidden packages from being broken apart. The other factor that makes it difficult of course is that dealers want to have a limited number of variations so that they don't have one-off, strange cars in their lots that they can't sell. In EUrope, if you order it, you buy it. Most dealers over there also keep little if no stock.
