Where to begin... this is long... and probably poorly written...
Flew from San Diego to Dallas Friday morning. Arrived at DFW at 12:30pm CST. My BMW sales associate picked me up and drove me to meet my new child.
It's cold as hell in Dallas as they just survived a freak ice storm, but all has thawed.
I get to the dealership and go inside. My guy points to the back showroom and says "There it is." I walk into the showroom and just say "wow". She's beautiful. Silverstone II is stunning in the flesh. He hands me the key fob's and I get inside. Indy red interior, beautiful. Very dark red, more of a dark brick red, nothing like any picture. In fact, the closest I have seen is the BMW website version.
We go through all the typical car buying jargon and after 2 hours I get to leave and start the long journey home (dramatic fears of my vanos line blowing it's load on the highway in the middle of west texas).
First, I have been a stick guy all my life. No more. Not to say I won't ever own a stick again, but the SMG III is terrific. I feel like a kid again, having to learn to drive a manual again. It's fun, it's new, it's very good. Definitely a long learning curve to master, and I still have a long way to go, but so far, it fits the car perfectly.
So I head out of the dealer to find my way to the highways which will lead me out of Dallas. TRAFFIC. Stop and go for an hour. Frustrating and scary, but the SMG handled it without a hiccup. I have not even used D mode yet, and don't think I ever will.
Finally, after an hour of slow stop and go traffic, I find open highway. P400, comfort mode, S3. The car wants to eat road. I am gone.
Thankfully, the night settles in west texas and I don't have to look at the lack of scenery. I drive until 1am PST (that's 3am CST).
My break-in procedure: Run around 70-75 mph in 7th, downshift to 6th, 5th, sometimes 4th, accelerate to 5000 rpm in each gear while trying to maintain under 106 mph (recommended top speed during 1200 mile). Switch between P400 and P500 every 100-200 miles or so. I truly believe the car gets better mileage in P500. Same throttle, push the power button, car lurches forward about 2 mph and 250 rpm. Makes sense to me, but what do I know? Once service is done, the car will never see P400 again. Continuing with break-in procedure...
Feeling naked, I stop to install Valentine 1. Takes about an hour due to low light and creepy west texas cops looking at me in a small town on side of road, but get the job done with use of handy flashlight in the glove compartment.
During the first night, I stop at every gas station I see, excuse to let the car rest and run the lower gears some. My gas mileage? A respectable 17.1 MPG during the entire 1380 mile trip. This according to the on-board comp.
Oil consumption? Left the dealer at 0.9L, after 150 miles it dropped to 0.8L (I'm nervous at this point). But, that was it. Held 0.8L all the way home. No problems. The dealer gave me 3 quarts and a filter to take with me, now they're in my garage.
My service tells me I'm due in 20 miles, so after 1380 miles, that's pretty good. I go in for service on Tuesday. Windows tinted tomorrow (monday). 15 in the backs, 20 in the fronts.
BTW, my mileage at delivery was 1.9 miles, not bad.
Back to the break-in. Once it starts getting late, I start running higher speeds, 80-85, sometimes 90. All the while I am slowing down, downshifting, accelerating, exiting and re-entering hwy, etc... Tedious, but necessary.
Find myself in Deming, NM. A one hotel town in the middle of nowhere. Sleep 4 hours, back on the road by 7am.
I gas up (must have gassed up 12 times, mostly at half tank) and hit the road. I stop for a sausage mcmuffin with egg at McD's and take the meal back to my car. I sit in the drivers seat, take a bite and say to myself, "NO". Visions of a greasy hashbrown crumb falling onto the seat has me going back inside McD's to eat.
Meal done, back on the road.
You can go fast in New Mexico. Regularly running in the 90's range in NM. Yes, varying speeds and revs, exiting and entering hwy, etc...
I finally hit Tucson at 11am. My second hometown (wife and I met there in college at the Univ. of Arizona). Decide to drive through the town and use the gears some in city driving. Nervous of getting hit by an idiot, but the car handles the city well. Stop a the campus bookstore, buy some toys for the kids, gas up, and get moving again.
All the while on this drive, I am constantly monitoring the oil. Nervous, but it never budged.
Finally hit California, then the mountains into San Diego. This is where I start to work the car a little. I turn on the active seats and hit the curves at 95-100 MPH. The seats ROCK!!! They close up on you in the curve, but only on the side your body starts to lean to. VERY COOL! Was doing fast lane changes just for the thrill of the seats! LOVE them!
Anyway, my hands are sweating as I drive through the mountains. I finally reach San Diego and exit the freeway towards my home. For the entire drive, I never once exceeded 5500 rpm's, hit it a few times, but never over. Well, sure enough, about 1/2 mile from my house, some idiot abrupty pulls over to let me pass, I miss shift (still learning the SMG) and hit the throttle and wham! 6000 rpm's in 1st gear. I cry, but figure, heck, I'm beyond the 1200 miles right?
Pull into my driveway, pull into the garage. I'm home.
The car is perfect! I had no problems, and believe I was a week 44 build (production completed Nov. 3rd.)
This morning, I wake up, make coffee, go outside, wash the car, give it a deionizing rinse (I never hand dry my nice cars), and give her a nice coat of Butter Wax (recommended by someone on the board, it's an Anthony car care product).
The car is sitting just outside my door in the garage, shiny and waiting for the window tinter to show up in the morning. Taking her in to BMW San Diego for it's service on Tuesday, then off to 3,000 miles.
I'm in love.
This car has nuts! It truly sounds like you are driving a race car under load. I can't imagine what it will be like after the 1200 mile service and I can open her up a little more. I haven't even hit any real curves yet (just the hwy ones) but when you set the EDC to the firmest setting, the car runs like a go-kart. I mostly ran in the softest setting for the drive home and found it to be VERY comfortable, but VERY taught. This car is it.
Anyway, if I can remember more from the drive, (there's much more) I will post again.
Take care. And for all who are waiting on theirs, it's worth the wait.
Oh yeah, when I take some good pix, I'll post them. Sorry for no pix.
Re: The trip...Dallas to San Diego
. What do you do if you don't dry the car off? Is it one of those armor all things? I tried this without any success years ago. A friend of mine uses a leaf blower. I use microfiber towels with extreme minimal pressure.
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