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      05-09-2012, 09:24 AM   #33
chillin4now
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Drives: F15 X5M, 458 Spider
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dingding View Post
Are you sure you want to drive a brand new M5 to south Italy???If you drop off in Italy (the one exception), your car is driven back to Munich to be shipped back to you. The risk is that you are allowing a stranger to drive your brand new car. And Keep in mind, for Italia drop offs, you must have insurance valid for the drive back from Italy to Munich - at least 4 days!
Also, I was told do not go to south Italy, and Rome should be the stop point.

I find this post on another board:

"Start with the understanding that virtually every other Italian driver; man, woman and child; is absolutely convinced that they too could drive for the Ferrari F1 team if only they'd get a shot.

Pay attention. Concentrate. Focus. Letting your attention wander can have very serious consequences since the roads are narrow, there's lots of merging and other drivers are expecting you to get with the program for their safety and yours.

On the Autostrada, keep yous a$$ to the right if you're not overtaking, and NEVER overtake on the right. Europeans never do it and they won't anticipate you being there. Lane discipline is extremely important too. It's very common to be doing well in excess of 80 in the left lane, right next to a solid line of great big trucks with tags from all over Europe doing maybe 15 . You wouldn't want one of them suddenly deciding to jump over into your lane, now would you?

In town, streets will be VERY narrow and you will have to share them with locals who know exactly where they're going and are intent on getting there right now. This includes pedestrians, kids on motor scooters, other cars, and the biggest damned tour buses you've ever seen. If you can't quickly develop a solid feel for the size of your car and where its corners are, avoid these situations.

NAV is an absolute must IMHO - either OEM or aftermarket. See paragraph above. In addition, it will save much unneccessary tension between you and your map-reading human navigator if you're trying to cope with paper maps and road signs.

Naples and the Amalfi Coast is home to the rightful heirs of the Kamikaze pilots' spirit and approach. I've been a lot of places and driven in all of them, and I don't say this lightly. Not for the faint of heart.

Parking can be very interesting. Everything's built to the scale of teensy Fiats - especially parking garages. Ignore the various "no parking" signs on the streets at your peril - even if everyone else seems to be doing it. Biggest difference is that they're probably locals who know when to move in order to avoid a walk to the local police station to pay a nice fine.

The Autostrada around Genoa goes through scores of tunnels - one right after another. They're narrow, you'll often be overtaking trucks and they can have all sorts of turns and surprises inside them. Make sure you're fresh and focused when taking on this stretch of highway. I did it once at the end of a long day in the car as dark was coming on and it was not fun."
I was planning to drop off in Venice. However I was just on BMWUSA ED website and noticed that it had to be driven back. That is not an option.

As for that description of driving in Italy especially on the coast, that was a tame description. Did Milan to Genoa to Monaco. White knuckled the entire way. Wife kept asking me what was wrong and I was too busy paying attention to my driving to respond. Like Grand Theft Auto with real cars. The tunnels were the best, especially with a semi coming the other way.

To make it even more contentious, you have to remember that you have a maximum speed you are not to exceed in the break in period. so going around others and out of the way sometimes becomes difficult.

I am going to rethink my trip.

Last edited by chillin4now; 05-09-2012 at 01:15 PM..
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