[SteveInfante]

Originally Posted by opfreak

My only requirement that its missing is the sport seats. Otherwise I have no problems with low options, and the color is cool.

That's what the aftermarket is for.

Oh in case anyone was wondering....I'm pretty partial to blue and driving quickly through curves.

[SteveInfante]

So I will be the owner of the car in the first post in the coming weeks. Being that I'm buying this car through BavarianMotorCars which is a special program company for active duty service members of the armed forces stationed here in Europe there are some things that are unique. The Bill of Sale has to go through the governing organization and that takes up to two weeks. In which time they car is cleaned up and given a once over check. It has less than 2800 miles on it. So all I'm waiting on is the paperwork to be completed. I got a great interest rate through the Credit Union.

In case you all are wondering why it has this many miles on it, here's why. This car is a car that was used as a loaner for someone who ordered a car through the company. They give you a loaner of similar make while you are waiting for your car to come in. When it reaches around 3K miles or when the ordered car arrives, the car is taken back and posted for sale as a used car and then discounted 5%. This one being that it's a manual and a non-M Sport model has been sitting on the lot just long enough to be discounted a couple more thousand bucks.....lucky for me. I'm paying $34,011.00 out the door. A car with these options in the states is a lot more than that. I know you can find some program cars out there but none of them have the lighting package and none are manuals. I will blow up this thread with pictures when I finally get the car. I will only have it for a few weeks before I have to ship it back to the states so it will be there when I arrive and finally leave Germany when I retire. More to follow......

[drivethemachine]

Can't wait to see your photos, and congrats!
When do you think both you and the car will be finally in the states?

[SteveInfante]

Middle of August is when me and the family get back there. The car should be there before us since I'm shipping it back ahead of time.

[SteveInfante]

I just went and checked out the car today. It has a ton of paint swirls. I'm going to spend a good amount of time getting it perfect once I finally get my hands on it. They are supposed to be cleaning it up and buffing it out. It remains to be seen if they will correct everything before delivery. If not then I can do it.

[uberspeed]

Great price and thank you for your service. Will you get to drive it on the Autobahn and the Nürburgring before getting it shipped over?

[SteveInfante]

I will get to drive it on the autobahn as I have with my other cars daily. I cruise in the minivan at 95-100mph easy. I'm trying to take one last trip to Nurburgring on the 6th of July with all the Ringheads I hang out with that go every chance they get. I'm not going to buy new tires just for that so the All Season Run-flats are less than optimal. I want to just hang out and see where the stregths and weaknesses are as far as the chassis is concerned. What better place to try and find out? I will see exactly where the speed governor is as well. I hope to have some good videos to post once I get it.

[uberspeed]

Originally Posted by Stevedotmil

I will get to drive it on the autobahn as I have with my other cars daily. I cruise in the minivan at 95-100mph easy. I'm trying to take one last trip to Nurburgring on the 6th of July with all the Ringheads I hang out with that go every chance they get. I'm not going to buy new tires just for that so the All Season Run-flats are less than optimal. I want to just hang out and see where the stregths and weaknesses are as far as the chassis is concerned. What better place to try and find out? I will see exactly where the speed governor is as well. I hope to have some good videos to post once I get it.

Looking forward to your impressions

[SteveInfante]

Just waiting on some Canadians for the paperwork. Car is already legally mine. Just waiting on the bill of sale.

[drivethemachine]

Canadians?

[SteveInfante]

So the reason I can buy it tax free is because of the Status Of Forces Agreement here in Germany for NATO forces. The managing Gov't is Canada so all the paperwork and Bill of Sale has to be generated through their office. Once the Bill of Sale is complete then I can have the car. I'm just waiting on that.

[SteveInfante]

They got the Bill of Sale this morning! I just have to get insurance today. Then registration tomorrow and pick her up at lunchtime. So excited.

[opfreak]

Originally Posted by Stevedotmil

I will get to drive it on the autobahn as I have with my other cars daily. I cruise in the minivan at 95-100mph easy. I'm trying to take one last trip to Nurburgring on the 6th of July with all the Ringheads I hang out with that go every chance they get. I'm not going to buy new tires just for that so the All Season Run-flats are less than optimal. I want to just hang out and see where the stregths and weaknesses are as far as the chassis is concerned. What better place to try and find out? I will see exactly where the speed governor is as well. I hope to have some good videos to post once I get it.

I'll probably miss you by a day. Not sure yet, but doing my ED pickup on the 3rd. Going planning on doing the ring on the 7th maybe a day sooner.

[SteveInfante]

I'm probably not going to the Ring again because of insurance reasons. With the new owner being a private citizen of Russia instead of the country of Germany it's maintenance is now the responsibility of a private party and it's not considered a public German road anymore. Insurance companies around the globe have included the "Ring exclusion" in their policies since it's purchase. My insurance company couldn't tell me if the exclusion was included so I'm not risking it. There is still a company that offers track day insurance but we are all still trying to do the investigation on whether or not it's a viable option for the occasional Ring Tripper.

I would much rather Road Trip down to the Stelvio pass in Italy from here. It's a day's trip from here if I leave at like 4AM and I get back around 10PM. Three countries in one day and the best driving road in the world. The drive just to get there is breathtaking right now. I just drove through Innsbrook, Austria yesterday on the way back from Italy with the family.

[uberspeed]

Originally Posted by Stevedotmil

I'm probably not going to the Ring again because of insurance reasons. With the new owner being a private citizen of Russia instead of the country of Germany it's maintenance is now the responsibility of a private party and it's not considered a public German road anymore. Insurance companies around the globe have included the "Ring exclusion" in their policies since it's purchase. My insurance company couldn't tell me if the exclusion was included so I'm not risking it. There is still a company that offers track day insurance but we are all still trying to do the investigation on whether or not it's a viable option for the occasional Ring Tripper.

I would much rather Road Trip down to the Stelvio pass in Italy from here. It's a day's trip from here if I leave at like 4AM and I get back around 10PM. Three countries in one day and the best driving road in the world. The drive just to get there is breathtaking right now. I just drove through Innsbrook, Austria yesterday on the way back from Italy with the family.

No 'Ring is superseded by the road trip you have planned, godspeed!

[SteveInfante]

Pick up day! I still have to make it through the huge line at vehicle registration. That should take me an hour or so. My insurance ended up being pretty cheap at around $80 per month full coverage. It pays to be old finally.

[SteveInfante]

I'm really loving the car so far. The color. The comfort. The manual transmission. Sport mode is great. More to follow when I have some more time. I'm dealing with movers for the next three days.

[drivethemachine]

Congrats!! Post pictures!
I see you changed your username too...

[SteveInfante]

I will once I get her cleaned up. I changed the username because I'm going to be a former dotmil guy. Retired.

[SteveInfante]

So today I took my wife to the track for the first time. I decided to go to the Hockenheimring with some friends. One with an E92 M3 manual and one with a 135i M Sport and lots of mods. My wife was a little apprehensive about riding on the track but since she loves roller coasters I assured her that she would like it.

We left this morning at around 6AM and hit the autobahn averaging around 98mph according to my vehicle info screen. I also managed to get 28.8mpg over the corse of the whole trip. We arrived at the Hock around 9:15 after driving around for about half an hour looking for a specific gas station so we could get gas tax free. It was just the M3 that needed gas. I still had a little more than half a tank in 198 miles driven.

After we got gas we made out way to the track. It's always a sight you won't forget when you drive in seeing the stands and paddock get you excited. At least me anyway. We actually wanted to get there a little earlier but being Sunday a couple of the gas stations we tried were still closed. We were about 50-60 cars back at the gate.

We got in and it was already 99 degrees. For Germany that's face of the sun hot. We bought two tickets each which are ?15 per. The other guys were checking tire pressures on the MPSS's. I headed to the car to soak up some A/C. I texted the other two and seems they snuck in ahead of me which I kind of figured would happen. They were staged for the first session in the paddock. I was still in line. Sneaky bastards. It was Apexresistance's first time there although he has been to the Nürburgring and Spa before. I finally got in while the other two were already hauling ass around the track. After I was staged my wife was at the fence on the main straight taking pics and video of the other two.

It was our turn so she hopped back in the car. I started the GoPro and Harry's Lap Timer and off we went. She was taking video with her phone too. By Turn 4 (right hairpin) a nice track prepped E30 flew by me and backfired right next to us. Scared the crap out of us. Epic! We did the rest of our laps dodging vet aggressive drivers and passing a couple of people. Overall great fun for both of us. I can't wait to watch the videos to hear my wife's reaction to it all.

We came off after the cool down lap and the drove back around. While my wife was using the bathroom I checked the car. The tires are scrubbed evenly and the brakes held up well. No fading. I actually walked away from a couple of cars that kept catching me while I was dealing with all the understeer. While we were driving over to the where the other guys were parked I was smoke coming from the track. Then they told me that there had been a bad motorcycle wreck right on the front straight. There went the rest of the day. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure there was a fatality from the pictures and descriptions they had. A bike basically exploded after impacting another while about 10feet in the air. 3 riders involved, one almost lifeless, two banged up pretty bad.

We decided to forgo the rest of the day and sold our remaining tickets to a first timer in a Honda. Lost ?5 on the deal but I know when to say enough risk for one day. It was 100 degrees out and were wee all hungry. We went to the shop and got our stickers then headed out to eat at McD's.

Overall the car is very balanced and predictable. Had a great time. I will pair the video in the next couple of days.

[e46m3to335i]

Nice pics Steve! Wish I could have made it out there with you guys yesterday :-(

-Nick

[SteveInfante]

It was fun for about 20 minutes. It was so hot that I almost literally melted. I'm thankful that the hotel room that we booked on the water in Heidelberg had A/C. This morning we were eating breakfast there and just so happens that Craig Robinson from Hot Tub Time Machine was staying there so he joined us for breakfast. He's filming a movie here in Germany. I'm still dehydrated.....is it bad when your pee is the color of rust? LOL just kidding....kinda.