The Delivery of My 2013 BMW 335i M-Sport

A couple of weeks ago, I published an article about the ordering of my new BMW 335i M-Sport.  That article left off which the car having finished production in Munich, and being placed on a cargo ship (the California Highway) bound for the US.  As nearly as I can determine, the California Highway got underway sometime between 6/16 and 6/17.  As scheduled, my car arrived in the port of Charleston, SC early on 6/28 – right on schedule:

I had been tracking the ship fairly closely for the past couple of days – it actually arrived in the US on 6/23 at the port of Baltimore, Maryland then went on to the port of Brunswick, GA on 6/25.  I’m not certain if the cargo ship unloaded cargo or took on cargo (perhaps both) but it left Brunswick on the evening of 6/27 before docking in Charleston at roughly 8:00am. I was told to expect the voyage across the Atlantic to take between 12 and 14 days.  The California Highway (God bless her) made the trip in no more than 12 days, including the other US port stops it made.

Both the BMW tracking website and their toll free automated status line continued to report the status of my car as “in transit” even after the cargo ship California Highway left the port of Charleston some time on 6/29 and was outside of tracking range – presumably my car was unloaded and in the process of clearing customs.  At this point however, I ran into a considerable delay.  The car was sent by rail to the South Carolina BMW factory, and it stayed on a rail car for approximately two weeks due to the annual plant shut down which happens around the 4th of July.  It wasn’t until July 15th that the BMW website reported that the final “finishing touches” were happening before the car was shipped to the dealer:

On Thursday, 7/18/2013 I finally got the call from the dealership that the car was delivered and ready for pick up.  On Friday, 7/19/2013 I picked up my new baby and brought her home:

Here’s the odometer reading right before I drove my new car away from the dealership:

It looks GREAT parked next to our Melbourne Red 2013 328i Sport:

I’m working on a full review of the car, but my initial impressions are very positive.  I can’t believe how differently this car feels and drives from my previous 335i.  Stay tuned for the review!

I’ll close with a final screen shot from the BMW USA tracking site that I’m very pleased to show: