Hello everyone!

I just took my first long road trip with my X. 2,200 miles roundtrip over 4 days from New York, through PA, MD, WV, VA, SC, GA, NC, and back to NY. More a family and friend trip than anything, I had to stop in Greer, SC to visit BMW.

I called the number to reserve my spot on the factory tour before I left, only to be told that production is idled on Fridays (has been for about month, and that it will resume in October.) Since they are idling on Fridays, no tours are scheduled (except private PCD customers.) Even knowing this sad fact, I continued to BMW to visit the museum and hopefully catch a picture of something I shouldn't being seeing yet. While I did not see anything special in the factory or the surrounding areas, what I expereinced while there was amazing.

I arrived to the museum, excited, even as the weather was miserable on Thursday. Its an awesome building, only trumped by the size of the BMW facility in its entirety including the expansion. The way BMW designed the museum is great, a progression through the history of BMW, and the models that are very special (however, no X5's in the museum which I thought was odd since its on the location of the facility that produces them.) What was nice is that when the factory does not perform tours, they have a 8 minute virtual tour which is very in-depth and a great snapshot of what is special about the facility, BMW's processes, and how it all comes together.

So as I exit the virtual tour room, I saw a worker near a mint condition 507, did the usual hello's, etc.., and talked about the E70, etc... When I described my disappointment about the factory tour not running (in a nice joking way) and after 15 minutes, he left me, said "I'll be back," and kind of motioned that he could "do something." Well, to my shock, and after waiting for about 25 more minutes, the PCD folks that were supposed to be there by 1:30, were late, and we went, Bill and I, on my private factory tour. Very very cool.

The PCD folks did eventually catch up to us, but it was cool nonetheless. The actual building process and sequence of an entire of X5 is very impressive. From the Just-in-time inventory (and fines of $1,000 per minute if delayed,) to the process of putting the car at every spot in the most efficient and convenient position for a human to work on it, to the automated stacking of unpainted cars in a robotic garage sorted by invoice date then color.

I want to go back again. Certain things I wanted to share with all of you.
#1 - It was like being a kid in a candy store. Every parts bin I passed, I wanted to ask Bill the guide, "Hey, do you mind if I just grab one for a keepsake?" I walked passed the bin of headlamp switches (all of them - US, UK, etc...) I wanted the rear fog switch - Hey Bill, what is that!? - swipe...
#2 - Ever want to see what a brochure can't show you, go to the factory. See each color, close up, as well as interiors, etc.
#3 - No 2010 production models coming down the pike yet (according to Bill.)
#4 - ActiveHybrid X6's are in full blown production, in the assembly lines, and saw approx. 20 of them complete as well 10 still on the line partially completed (in white, light blue and red.)

My car was a joy to drive. I drove 10 hours straight from NY to Charlotte, stopped twice for gas, bunked for the night and continued onto Greer and Atlanta the next day. From there on the same day at night, drove to Savannah, then to Hilton Head. On Sunday, headed home at night, drove through to NJ on two tanks of gas. The X is sooo comfortable.

She's at the dealer for an oil change, check up, brakes, and some other odds & ends....then prepped for the Fall meet in CT.

Sorry if boring, but I had to share my excitement with other X5 owners and aficionado's.

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