[Wild Blue]

Just to point out to everyone hopping on from the Bimmerpost front page (which I'm quite grateful for), we're only getting started here. I'll be posting in this thread every day for the next 1.5 months as I go through this journey.

And the PCD itself isn't even until tomorrow's post!

[snowbimmer]

Looks like an awesome trip, Wild Blue I figure just over 2,000 miles to OKC and then over 8,000 back home to Anchorage. Wow.

I don't know if your front page map is an accurate depiction of the route or just a generalization, but you're coming close to, and missing (In my humble opinion) some spectacular country. Particularly Butte to Edmonton. Get off 15 and take 90 to Missoula. Then up to Glacier Park and east along Going to the Sun Highway. Then north a bit, cross the border and hang a left into Waterton Lakes. Ho Le Crap this is nice.


Then shoot north to Banff


Lake Louise is a little further


Follow the highway north to Jasper and then make your way to Dawson Creek. The Canadian Rockies are truly a site to behold.

Apologies if you've already been there and would rather see Calgary and Edmonton but Banff to Jasper is one of my favorite places on the earth.

Really looking forward to your journey.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by snowbimmer

Looks like an awesome trip, Wild Blue I figure just over 2,000 miles to OKC and then over 8,000 back home to Anchorage. Wow.

I don't know if your front page map is an accurate depiction of the route or just a generalization, but you're coming close to, and missing (In my humble opinion) some spectacular country.

YES!!! You hit the nail on the head there. Yes, my route depicted in my original post is somewhat accurate, but doesn't capture all detail, and I do intend to do exactly what you're talking about at the end of the trip. Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, cross the border and drive through Banff/Jasper to the Alcan up to Alaska.

I am in complete agreement--Banff and Jasper are next-level beautiful. I'll be doing that in early/mid October, where it won't be as sunny, but hope to still get some of the spectacular views.

[snowbimmer]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

YES!!! You hit the nail on the head there. Yes, my route depicted in my original post is fairly accurate there, but I do intend to do exactly what you're talking about at the end of the trip. Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, cross the border and drive through Banff/Jasper to the Alcan up to Alaska.

I am in complete agreement—Banff and Jasper are next-level beautiful. I'll be doing that in early/mid October, where it won't be as sunny, but hope to still get some of the spectacular views.

Ah.....thank you. I feel so much better now.

Are you expecting to encounter snow when you get to the nether reaches of Canada or crossing the frontier into Alaska?

[Wild Blue]

Day 8:
Performance Center Delivery (PCD)!!!
Total Miles: Reset to 0!

Woot woot! It's the big day!








Breakfast at the Marriott in the morning is eggs made to order, and as much as you want from the breakfast buffet. The buffet was bigger than last time, which had been drawn down during COVID. Yummy and solid to start the day.

The waitress said I had to try the grits, which were the best in the county. Why not? I'm not a southern boy, but hey, when in Rome. They were indeed pretty good.





Then we loaded onto two shuttle vans at 7:40 AM to head to the Performance Center.

Short 10 minute drive. Thank goodness we weren't going the other direction on the highway, into Greenville!








Arriving to the PC. Once again, right away I spotted my X5 I'm taking delivery of, in the 2nd garage delivery bay. (closest one to the middle of the building)

It was just a bit of a tease not getting to see her until later in the day. But there was much fun to be had first.

Good weather today. Nice and dry, partially cloudy so it's not getting too hot. Rain from yesterday, so the pavement has a little moisture in it. Overall good track conditions.





Things happen at a rapid pace as soon as you arrive. The PC runs 4-7 different driving classes simultaneously every day. Deliveries are only one of them. So they work dilligently to keep everyone on time and not impede on the other classes.

Our delivery class had 15 people taking delivery of 8 cars, the same as I had last year during COVID. I was the only solo driver (which was awesome because that meant I got double the track time. Woot!). Mostly X cars. One 2023 X7. There was one 340i, and I think one Z4.

First thing, you get shuffled into a classroom for a brief intro, high-level theory, and basic safety instructions. Here, as soon as I picked up my camera to take a picture, instructor Adam immediately mugged for the hero camera shot.




















Derek walked us through info on each of our days' exercises. And this map on the wall just shows the layout of the PC tracks. For the PCD, we stayed on the left 2/3 of the track, plus the offroad course at the bottom.








Quick bathroom break, and we were straight into the cars! Because I was picking up an X5 40i, that's what I got to drive. Common question--NO, you don't drive your own new car on the track. You get to beat up and test the limits of BMWUSA's cars, on their tires and brakes, using their fuel. Sweet. Besides, I wouldn't want to take my own baby on the track straight from the factory without breaking her in, no matter what model I was taking delivery of.

I found it humorous there was a car number "911" on mine. Hmmm... perhaps a sign of things to come?








Just a couple pics of the interior of my loaner X5, which I popped into "sport plus" mode. I was amused the map location it showed at the bottom of the dash there was "Autocross".

I'm going to link several Youtube videos that I made of the day's activities. Bear with me--might take a while for the videos to upload, and Youtube to process them. So if they don't show up immediately, check again tomorrow! I'll refine and edit this post too, as I have time.

We split up into 3 groups, rotating between 3 exercises. First exercise--max braking, ABS demonstration, steering during panic braking.

Adam demonstrated in these vids what we're doing, what ABS does for you, and how speed compounds braking distance. Then we got to try for ourselves. First starting at 35 mph, working up to 55 mph, max braking at the set point and steering. Good practice.

Next exercise, Dynamic Stability Control (DSC). This one's fun, using the wet skidpad. Using the instructor's M340i, with him in the passenger seat right next to you, you drive at a steady 25 mph around the pad with DSC off. Then, on command, you jam the gas pedal, causing the rear end to break free and spin you out. (again, I pushed her hard into the spin with steering, and almost got a full 360 out of it)

Then you turn on DSC, and do the same thing again. This time, you get just a little wobble, and stay tracking around the pad.

Last exercise of this module, mini autocross! We took the loop of the right-middle portion of the track, and got to have some great fun. First, the instructor took us 3 laps around the track, leading the pack, talking to us on the walkie-talkies installed in each of our cars. He explained what the various cone symbols meant, showed us the best lines to take, where to look, where to brake, and how to salom. Then he pulled off, and let us hit it hard.

And again...
I.
Tore.
Her.
UP!

I slowly dialed in the feel of the X5 40i to the track, picking up speed, feeling where I could keep the speed, where I needed to control it a bit better. (I'm car 2 Adam's referring to on the radios there)

The point here isn't to try and make the X5 40i into a track car. It's not. Nor is it to become an autocross driver from inside an X5. It's to learn the limits of your car in an aggressive environment, and improve some of your own driving skills. Can she go a little faster through the slalom without hitting cones? Can you hug the curve and feel where to accelerate from the apex?

A couple times, I came up behind the person in front of me, and the instructor was very good and clear about directing each of us to integrate on the track, building spacing so each of us could get max use out of the exercise.

Two observations--first, the car. Very capable, even with street tires, and keep in mind this is "just" the 40i. I've always felt the 40i on both the G05 and G07 had plenty of power, and it does on the track, too. The M50i is just a different level. My 40i didn't have the sport package, or DHP, and still felt great, although I could tell the difference from my X7 M50i. (I could also feel the weight difference, although DHP on the X7 is amazing at hiding the car's bulk)

The other observation, personal to me. My muscle condition is progressing, and has gotten much worse in the last 2.5 years, particularly after getting sick during mandated work travel at the height of the COVID explosion. My walking is pretty bad now. So I was wondering how my driving skills would compare, under an aggressive track environment. I was very pleased to see that, although I could tell a difference, my fine motor skills for driving were still quite sharp.

I'm not an experienced track driver. But as a pilot, I have some fine motor and operational skills that translate quite well to driving.

Gathering the whole PCD group back together, we capped off this section with the intructor "Hot Lap". The instructors always seem to love this just as much or more as us students.

To me, this is the highlight of any PCD class. You ride shotgun while the instructor tears around the track in a performance model like an M5Competition. He/She shows you how a performance BMW, with an expert driver, can really rip around the track.

Just in case you got thinking you were hot S@#$ in the student exercises, you end up looking like a fool when you see how much better the professional instructors are.

And it's just so much fun. I got the short video snippet above, but unfortunately when I used my GoPro during my own Hot Lap ride from inside the car, the camera battery died at just the wrong moment, so I didn't get that portion. But fear not, I'm doing another Performance Center class tomorrow, and will make sure I get it on video!

Such a blast.

Then... it was time!

[Wild Blue]

We split the whole PCD group into 2 parts now. My half did the vehicle delivery first, while the other half did the off-road section and factory tour. Then we switched after lunch.





So, for my X7 PCD last year, I had Seth as my delivery specialist. He was so fantastic, I specifically requested him for my PCD again this year, and BMW thankfully accommodated.

I'm sticking to what I said last time--EVERY BMW delivery should aspire to be this good, no matter what dealer it is, anywhere in the world. Seth had thoroughly inspected the car beforehand, and pre-configured every thing on the car that didn't require my own input. Everything was ready to go.

We took 2 hours, going over every feature, every button. Since I took delivery of my X7 last year, a lot of the information transferred over due to the similar platform, and we were able to go even further into the detail weeds, comparing and contrasting features and options.

Seth was patient, answering every one of my questions, no matter how nerdy-forum-geek-detailed they were. And, naturally, he again said "of course, I set your dash trim accent lights to blue. You're Wild Blue". Mic drop on another awesome delivery.





I really like the look of the car. Arctic Grey wasn't my first choice of color. The family chose that. But it looks good





Small thing, as I did my initial walk-around, I noticed a small 1" scratch on the left rear side door. Scratches can be hard to take pictures of, but in this pic it's just below Seth's hands in his reflection.

My fingernail was catching on the scratch, so there was definitely something there. But after we finished the delivery, Seth whisked the car off to their shop, and before I even finished my salad, he was back and said the scratch was all gone. No worries.























Good looks, good finish, good options. No big ugly wrinkles in the 2nd row seating, like some Bimmerpost forum members insisted in early G05 models had to be intentional for comfort, because... well... science, and because no way BMW could make a mistake.

The 2nd row seats are plenty comfy, and well made.

As before, I asked Seth not to put the front license plate bracket on, but he said they never do, unless the customer requests it. Cool. BMW David again sent my temp plates to the center, before the PCD, so they were ready for me when I arrived. Smooth sailing.

If my previous PCD experience was colored a bit by COVID, this time, I would say the ordering and PCD was colored a bit by "de-content". I'll talk more in future posts over the next few weeks about this in more detail. Nothing was was earth-shattering, destroying either the vehicle production, or the PCD experience, but just a string of little things here and there that were a bit odd, or at worst, minorly annoying.

Small examples--last year, BMW gave drink mugs as a gift during the PCD delivery. No mugs this year. The top of my X5 iDrive controller is missing the touchpad functionality. Nothing I really ever use, but just one of many things that either is missing or has been removed. I'll talk more later.





After a great delivery, Seth had me pull my new baby in front of the center, and it was time for lunch.











Closed last year during COVID, the center cafe is now reopen. Many choices for lunch, including hot and fresh options. All free to the PCD guests.

I had a tomato soup, salad, and pork chops, which were quite delicious.

Belly full of good food, re-hydrated, and fresh batteries in the GoPro, after lunch we hit the off-road course.

All X5's for this exercise. One thing I find significant, though, NO mods to the X5's. Completely stock, including street tires.





Think that X5 on top of hill 1 is tilting a lot?





What if Derek goes up there and pushes on you even more?



Lol. good demonstration of X5's resistance to rollover.








This is just showing an 18% incline, as we head up hill 2.











Good times. Then we all got back in our own personal new shiny cars we just took delivery of, and caravan'd a couple miles down the road to the BMW factory for a tour.

I don't have any pictures to show of this portion, as cameras (and any other sensitive electronics) are not permitted inside the factory.

But it was a great tour. And, to note, last year during COVID, we received a partial factory tour, which was inside the X5/X6 building. This time, it was a full tour in the X3/X4 building. If nothing else, it was great to see a different assembly line, and from a different perspective, even if there were of course many similarities.





And that was the end of the official PCD, right around 3:00 PM. Free to go, most of us headed next door to the Zentrum museum.





Last year, we parked and entered the tour through the Zentrum, which is right next to the X5/X6 plant building. Since no cameras were allowed on the tour, we couldn't bring them into the Zentrum either. But this time, cameras were ok, so I got pics this year.











Perhaps my all-time favorite BMW, the Isetta.








Next, just down the road, between the factory and Performance Center, is the BMW Car Club of America. (BMWCCA). All you Yanks are BMWCCA members, right? Small membership fee, and big cash-back rebate checks when you buy a new BMW. $1,000 rebate last year when I bought my X7. Another $1,000 rebate this year for my X5. I don't know how BMWCCA does it without going out of business, losing money.








Because BMW is celebrating their 50th anniversary of the M this year, special models are currently on display in the BMWCCA museum. Worth a look.





After that, it was 12 miles down the road, and straight to the detailer! I highly recommend Extreme Colors to wrap and protect your new Bimmer, straight from the factory while she's still brand new. Extreme also wraps all of the BMW Performance Center cars, so they for sure know what they're doing, and do a fantastic, professional job. And this time I got to meet the owner Doug!

For me, about to drive literally 10,000 miles back to Alaska, I wanted to make sure she was properly protected. So I went with their "Cross Country" Paint Protective Film package, which wraps the whole front end of the car, and a few other highlight areas. I added on a couple of extras I wanted, like film on the interior center dash entertainment screen, and driver's door sill to prevent scratches.

Also asked for the front 2 windows be tinted to match the rears. I'm going to hold off having more done to the car, like ceramic coating, until I get back to Alaska, this time.

Extreme worked with me on timing, as well, as I need to rush off down to Orlando for a conference this weekend. So they're letting me pick up the car in 2 days, to get the work done and have a minimum cure time. Meanwhile, I'm staying in Greenville and gonna do more BMW fun!








What better way to cap off an awesome day of performance driving, and a new car, than tacos? I mean... seriously, right? Greenville's "White Duck" does ala carte tacos. A little pricey, but some seriously good and creative flavors.

Unfortunately, me not being a millenial, I forgot to take a pic of my food this time before scarfing it down. . But it was good, take my word for it.

Tomorrow, more BMW fun!

[NoClosedDoors]

No MSport this time? How do you like the Sensafin?

[cellarrat]

Just great stuff! I waffled on doing this when I got my 45e, but ended up taking delivery here. Regret it. Maybe next time.

For those who follow, PLEASE don't "quote" Wild Blue's posts; makes scrolling much more difficult. Thx

[mckman]

I enjoyed reading your X7 thread. This one is going to be even better. Have an awesome trip and thanks for letting us in on the fun!

[NoClosedDoors]

Originally Posted by cellarrat

Just great stuff! I waffled on doing this when I got my 45e, but ended up taking delivery here. Regret it. Maybe next time.

For those who follow, PLEASE don't "quote" Wild Blue's posts; makes scrolling much more difficult. Thx

Same, Just got really busy around the time my delivery came up!

[calbears]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

Next, just down the road, between the factory and Performance Center, is the BMW Car Club of America. (BMWCCA). All you Yanks are BMWCCA members, right? Small membership fee, and big cash-back rebate checks when you buy a new BMW. $1,000 rebate last year when I bought my X7. Another $1,000 rebate this year for my X5. I don't know how BMWCCA does it without going out of business, losing money.


Because BMW is celebrating their 50th anniversary of the M this year, special models are currently on display in the BMWCCA museum. Worth a look.

The rebate actually comes from BMW North America, not out of the CCA coffers.

The museum is the BMW CCA Foundation Museum. BMW CCA headquarters moved across the interstate from the factory from downtown Greenville in the last few years.

[Keithwand]

Great pics and commentary
Totally forgot about this type delivery when I replaced my 2016 with a 2022 3 months ago.
Safe travels back to Alaska. Beautiful area.

[eh777]

Really like the interior color. This trip report is fantastic! Looking forward to reading the rest!

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by NoClosedDoors

No MSport this time? How do you like the Sensafin?

Ideally, I would have done a full loaded M50i MSport. But, because (1) this is the secondary family car, not my primary driver, and (2) it was an unexpected purchase, I chose to save money. No MSport this time. I did, however, get the full Merino leather interior, so I don't think there's any Sensafin. Also tried to get the luxury seating package, but that was a dropped option at the time of my order.

[kkratochvil]

Congrats on the new X5 Wild Blue , I'm looking forward to the continued journey.

Agree, PCD is awesome. I've done PCD twice now and then 3 various driving schools at the Performance Center East facility. (Hopefully, that's what you're doing tomorrow or did today??) (Note: If you think PCD is fun, do a 1 or 2-day M School! I've done 2-day M-School and then done a BMWCCA M Chapter and an X Chapter arranged 1-day event, where the performance center caters the day to BMW enthusiasts and the BMWCCA. All have been awesome!)

I see Adam Seaman in one of your pics. While every one of the Instructors there is a great driver, has unique things to offer when it comes to guidance/encouragement, Adam is simply a very, very funny guy! (And it doesn't hurt that one of his race experiences is drift racing...so, doing a hot lap with Adam is an extra blast!)

Three items of note on your journey, all of which you're already past, so not much help for you, but maybe for others that are passing through the Midwest.

1. If you're cutting through Nebraska, do yourself a favor and get off I-80 and cut through the Sand Hills. (Take Highway 2 from Thedford to Ericson...) Roads are pretty straight, but the rolling grass hills are a unique site. Much like the Badlands, you're simply suddenly "in the sand hills"...until you're not!

2. Those "water sprinklers" are called "center pivots". In some places, they've actually converted some of the irrigated cropland back to grasslands. Turns out, while there's plenty of water, all of the fertilizer, water costs and environmental impacts weren't worth it...

3. While it's no Udvar-Hazy museum, the https://sacmuseum.org, just off I-80 between Lincoln and Omaha is a little gem for military plane lovers. I happened to get there this past weekend for the first time and was impressed. I've lived within 150 miles of the museum since it opened in the 90s and had never been there...I attached a couple of pics, the first of an SR-71 Blackbird and the second being an F-117A that is under restoration. (The U2 they have is cool, as well as many others.) They also have a cool little desk...anyone remember the desk President Bush was sitting at on 9/11 when he'd been quickly sent off to be secluded???

[jeep]

Awesome thread, had a great time reading it. Safe travels back to Alaska!

[zhangyi17]

I remember you had a pretty serious sunroof incident with your X7 on that trip. I hope you have better luck this time with the X5..

I will follow your trip. Long distance road trip is something I really want to do as well, but got no time with young kids at home and busy schedule work. So I can only read journals like yours to experience.

Good luck..

[Edwardsc1]

This thread is incredible! The badlands pictures remind me very much of the painted desert. My dad and I flew out to Arizona when I was in middle school and drove a car back across the country and this reminds me of that time.

I live here in Greenville, SC so it was great to see you take the X5 over to Extreme Colors; they've done quite a few cars for me and my family and they always do a phenomenal job.

I actually just got back from Anchorage last week visiting a friend up there, so it's so cool that this popped up on the news feed. Alaska is beyond incredible; I can see why people want to live there. I look forward to following you on the rest of your road trip!

[P1]

I noticed your white PCD X5 had two "up and down" switches. One is similar to what the 45e had (air suspension) but what is the other one for?

[boneca]

great write up Wild Blue

congrats on your new X5 and safe travels back!

I will definitely follow your journey!

I just did 2000 miles in my X5 and it was great, can't even imagine driving from SC in to Alaska, just WOW

[roxxor]

Originally Posted by P1

I noticed your white PCD X5 had two "up and down" switches. One is similar to what the 45e had (air suspension) but what is the other one for?

The other switch is for the Off-Road mode selection if you optioned the Off-Road Package, but AFAIK this hasn't been available since MY2020.

[Wild Blue]

Apologies, all, long day at Disney and videos for next day's writeup aren't uploading. Will get to it tomorrow!