The car
In the late spring of 2005, I initiated the lease of a 2006 BMW 750Li at Chapman BMW in Scottsdale. This is actually the first car I've ever leased. My previous car (a 2003 745iL Sport, which I purchased slightly used from the same dealership) was a very nice car. But after hearing of the purchase, the accountant told me, "Nice car. Not a tax deduction." And so began the leasing process. Here's a rundown of the car that I took ordered:
- Sterling Grey exterior/Dark Biege leather interior
- Premium sound package
- Convenience package (power soft-close doors and trunk)
- Luxury seating package (massaging, heated, ventilated front seats>
- Rear entertainment package (rear DVD>
- 19" star-spoke wheels
- Comfort access (doors unlock/lock "magically")
- Electric rear and side window shades
- Satellite radio
European Delivery
If you can afford it, I highly recommend the Euro delivery option. BMW gives you a 7% discount on the base price of the car, as an incentive. Of course, when leasing, this is hard to notice, but lets just hope I save a dollar or two each month. However, when leasing, BMW pays for 2nd lease payment as well. The cost of the program (because nothing's free) is your trip to Germany and the need to start the lease a few weeks before your trip to Germany. Given the transit time of 6+ weeks to get the car back here, figure that's roughly 2 extra lease payments you make, with no car in the US (although BMW picks up one of those, so its now just 1 extra lease payment).
Personally, I decided the benefits out-weighed the costs and lept (once again!) at the chance. Truth be told, I'd probably do it without the incentives...but hey...that's just me.
As for the trip, it was a short trip, but pleasurable. My itinerary was nearly identical to the last trip, with one notable exception: Jan came with me. Briefly, the plan is to drive a lot, hit the major cities, and enjoy the car. As before, we flew into Frankfurt, and then took a train from Frankfurt to Munich, spending our first night (Thursday) in Munich.
Friday morning we were the first ones at the delivery center, and upon filling out the necessary paperwork, we were introduced to the car. It was perfect. Exactly as I had hoped it looked. I was able to shorten the normal detailed delivery, since my 745 was quite similar, and we were on our way pretty quickly.
Last trip, the A8 to Berlin was a disaster butluck be true, we made our way up to Berlin in pretty good time, even hitting 150mph at one point. Once in Berlin, it was now time to found our hotel...a Marriott. I had a Mapquest view of where it was, which turned out to be completely inaccurate...I mean not even close. We talked to a pharmacist who knew just enough English to point us in the right direction. Once at the hotel, we enjoyed a wonderful room which was located directly over the spot of the former Berlin wall, facing East. The 90 minutes wasted looking for the hotel had Jan thinking we should have gotten the Euro CD for the Nav, even if it did cost $179, for only 4 days usage.
While in Berlin, we did take a couple of hours out, and saw the opening of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. As well, here's a picture of Jan at a monument to the Berlin wall.
on Saturday, we drove to Hamburg. I really like Hamburg. Its a great city for walking around, eating, and shopping. Plus, its a short trip from Berlin, so we had a fair bit of time to enjoy the city Saturday evening. Again, we stayed at the historic Vier Jahreszeiten, a Raffles hotel, right in downtown Hamburg.
On Sunday, we drove to Frankfurt. But of course, we took the scenic route, and drove south of Frankfurt to Heidelberg, where we had dinner. At this point, my luck of really great weather (was often sunny outside, even) turned sour. As we drove North from Heidelberg to Frankfurt, the skies just unloaded on us. This was really unfortunate, as there is some sweet Autobahn south of Frankfurt, that's just perfect for setting personal speed records. But alas...my 150 mph was going to have to be it.
The hotel in Frankfurt was lovely...again. And the drop of at Harm's went without a snag. We flew back to the US, and then got to enjoy waiting for my beauty to take the slow trip to meet me.
In all I drove 1200 miles this trip. I drove consistently in the 130 mph range quite a bit this trip, and the 750 handled these high speeds exceptionally well - even better than the 540 did. When I get a chance, I'm definitely going back.
