Okay, so when we left our intrepid adventurers they had just arrived at the dealership and gotten a look at the X5 they had traveled so far for (that sounds dramatic...).
Into the dealership we went to take care of a couple final signatures and to print out an insurance card since I forgot to bring one. Finance manager is asking about the truck and our story wondering what kind of nuts fly out from Texas to pick up a vehicle that was purchased sight unseen. Can't say as I blame him, but since we are all car folks here I'm sure you can relate.
Since everything was in order the above only took about 10 minutes or so. Finally it was out to the car to start her up and go for the "test drive." Skipper went with us as well, not sure if that's a dealership requirement thing or if he was excited for me and wanted to share the experience. I know here in Texas it is a law that a test drive be performed when purchasing from a dealer or the deal isn't valid. He gives me all the books and even the spare key from the vehicle which surprised me (saved me at least $250 replacing the books and buying a spare). And now... the first start video.
To avoid getting a little ahead of ourselves here... let's talk about what we found on the walk around. There are a few minor paint blemishes like rock chips and the sort. One fairly major scratch on the driver's side door (~6" long). All of them have been touched up with Imola Red BMW paint pen though. None of them look too bad, so I was very pleased with the aesthetic condition of the vehicle. The trim under the BMW roundel on the lift gate is faded as is common... but I'm sure I can buff it out. Time to go over the mechanical aspect. Everything looked very clean under the hood and we could tell they had detailed it up. Fortunately then did not go too in depth so I could see a faint oil film from valve covers and nothing from alternator housing gasket area or timing covers. This pleased me greatly. I'll degrease the entirety of the engine when home so I can see how bad the valve covers really are, but they definitely are not an immediate action needed item. Underside of the truck was dry and pretty clean too. Nothing like my 4.4i. Tires look good... rears are new and fronts have ~60% tread. Suspension bushings look good... we'll see how it sounds/feels on the test drive. On to the interior which looks to be in amazing condition. No wear on the steering wheel rubberized finish even. Never seen that before. All the springs are even in place on the drink holders in the center console. Everything works, though I was hesitant to roll the windows all the way down knowing what we do about BMW window regulators. No heat damage present on the headliner like we get here in Texas. I guess 75 degree summers are a lot easier on car interiors than 105 degree ones. Whodda thunk it?
Now the test drive results. Now at this point I probably look full on Jerry's Kids with how big my smile is but I wasn't going to let excitement interfere with the assessment. Suspension felt great and needs nothing much to my surprise. We did note a little metallic clicking or clinking noise coming from somewhere under the vehicle (middle of truck or the rear). You'll be able to hear it in the Dinan drive by video further down. The brakes need a flush and replacement STAT. They function and aren't dangerous but they are loud and the pedal is not nearly as firm as I would prefer. The reservoir appears to have ATE blue in it so I'll throw ATE gold in when I do the brakes. I was very tempted to buy the BBK for sale here on the forums while I was in Cali but I figured I should hold off on another poor financial decision until the first was completed and recovered from.
And that was about it as far as necessary repairs. Cooling system appears to have been done at some point... minus maybe the radiator. Oh, it did indeed smoke after idling for 10 minutes, so the only major repair would be the valve stem seals. I'm going to try and mitigate it like I did on my 4.4i by using a heavier oil and some Lucas oil additive. No biggie. We'll see what the consumption looks like on the ~2000 mile trip and go from there.
Test drive completed we dropped Skipper off, said my "thank yous," and headed out. We intentionally made ZERO plans about where we had to be or anything like that. We wanted to just enjoy the shakedown of the truck and California with no schedule. But after we left the dealership (~9:30PM) we did look up the Dinan headquarters on the nav and head that way since we were planning on visiting there as our first top in the morning. It was a short 10 or 15 minute drive from the dealership to Dinan and we grabbed some pics... and of course a drive by video.
Shenanigans complete we headed out to find a nearby hotel. After about 20 minutes of random driving we found a pretty nice Marriot Courtyard to stay at. It was only 5 minutes from Dinan so location was perfect. Man, hotel prices in Cali are different than in Texas though. After negotiating with the hostess (read begging) I got it for $180/night, down from $230, which she tells us is pretty good. It was a nice place with an indoor pool, spa, and a gym. We were pretty bushed and hungry after the long day of travel and all the delays so I was fine with the price at that point. There was an In and Out Burger right next to the hotel so we ate there and then called it a night. Let me just say that everyone in California was extremely nice. And most of the population was pretty attractive. In Texas I feel like I'm a 7 or 8... there I felt like a 2 or 3. LOL... I guess TV and movies really doesn't exaggerate that much.
Day 2 (Friday 8/21)
I woke up earlyish, (8AM) considering my lack of sleep the night before and late bedtime, and did my morning routine... pushups, brush, etc. Then I decided to go make use of the hotel pool and spa. No one was in there at that hour so I had the place to myself which was nice. Took a quick 10 minute spa and then jumped into the pool. Did some laps (I'm from Hawaii remember, I like to swim) and then took another spa. After a shower it was time for the highlight of the trip as it turned out. Dinan HQ.
We walked in and explained our situation and why we were there to the receptionist. She was very friendly and took the VIN of the truck to run in their system. Only software is trackable by VIN, the hardware isn't unfortunately. Nothing came up in her system which left me a
little disappointed but not surprised. While I was doing this someone had come out and greeted my bud while he was looking at the showroom and taking pictures. I don't remember his name, but he was also very nice. I thanked the receptionist and joined the conversation which consisted of our reason for being there (LOL tourists), the truck I had just bought, and the trip. I guess the tourist part rang with him because after about 10 minutes he offered to go see if he could find someone to give us a tour. HELLZ YA!!! But we tried to be cool saying, "that would be great if you don't mind, we don't want to take anyone away from business." Yeah right!!!
So out comes Jeff, the Western Dealer Development Manager, which I assume means he is in charge of product distribution for the western half of the country. Jeff is also extremely nice and talks to us for a bit there before taking us out of the showroom to where "the magic happens." Now, we were planning on taking pictures... but Jeff immediately starts showing us products in development, prototypes, and that sort of stuff. So we both (unspoken communication) agreed pictures would not be happening on this tour. They had the new X5M in there doing clearancing for what I assume will be a new carbon fiber intake. They had the clay on top of the OE intake to check hood clearance for a new one. They also had new intercoolers coming out for the 2 series and 4 series. Was really cool to see the progression since they had a bunch of them sitting everywhere in various stages of development. It was funny he was showing us the welding area where everything was assembled... the exhausts, intercoolers, it's all hand welded using jigs. Awesome. Well, I noticed between a crack in one of the curtains a set of really nice LONG tube headers... "Hey Jeff, you guys make or are developing long tube headers for which which engine/platform?" Jeff, "Uh, what... oh haha, no that must be an employee side project. We can't do long tubes for emissions reasons." DAMN! Oh well. Then we got to the really awesome stuff (if that were possible, it was all awesome)... the chassis and engine dyno areas. They had 3 S62's just sitting there with awesome looking exterior oil pumps for dry sump oiling. He said they were development engines for one of the race teams they work with. They had an N series engine from the 328i on the engine dyno and were working on baseline runs before starting development on upgraded parts. Then he showed us an F chassis M5 on the chassis dyno with a ridiculous fan (it was at least 8 feet long and 5 feet tall) in front capable of simulating an 80mph cruise speed so they can get accurate test results. Jeff then proceeded to show us 3D modeling area with rapid prototyping, some components which I recognized and some I had no clue of. It was good we came on a Friday since the developers and engineers are on a 4 day work week. So we were able to move about for the most part without disturbing anyone. After proceeding through the various office areas we came back around full circle to the front where the receptionist was. We then talked to Jeff more about my vehicle, he says he's always liked the E53 chassis, and that the 4.8 is worlds above the 4.4 I had (sorry 4.4i owners). Interestingly, he asked who the original owner of the truck was. I had no idea, as I could only find the second owner's name... but it turns out that one of the software engineers there had an imola red 4.8is just like mine and that would explain why it wasn't in their system. Employees just get the gear and no record is kept, especially considering how easy the software would be for him to install. This was exciting but I have my doubts this is the case, I'll do some more research and find out. I made note of the engineer's name so I could check. This section is getting long so I'll end it here, but will say we tried to buy some hats and shirts from the receptionist. Turns out they were doing inventory so nothing could leave the building... which is just our luck.
She went and asked Jeff who came back out and said to give him a call next week and he'll take care of it... whether that means discount, free shipping, or what I have no idea. But I thought it was cool none-the-less. We said our thank yous and were on our way to continue the journey.
Daughter woke up, and in the interest of keeping these sections the same general length I'm going to end it here for now.
TO BE CONTINUED