Part 2: Road Trip to Black forest region, Germany
If you read
Part 1 (BMW Chronicles : Part 1, Austria) of this series, (If not, please do read it :P) I don't need to explain how happy I was with the 320i experience in a beautiful country like Austria. Perhaps that experience gave me such a confidence boost, that I decided to ditch a secure-permanent job with a Big 4 to take up a digital transformation project with the University where I studied. The BMW taught me one lesson- no compromises on happiness, and I carried that forward to my work life- I didn't want to keep a big 4 corporate brand and job security on my CV but take up something that gives me energy. As I near the 30 years mark, I guess the risk was worth taking. I put in my resignation at the end of August and signed up with my new employer, one month after my BMW drive
The one month notice meant that I'd be leaving my current employer on a Wednesday evening and joining the new employer on Thursday morning. Combined with an impending change of residence, I needed a break. Fortunately, another set of my friends also were looking to a weekend getaway. So in mid September, it was planned. Since it was a weekend getaway, it had to be within 600 KM. Black Forest Germany was decided and agreed as being deep in the nature was exactly the need for the hour for 4 hard(ly) working MBAs.
Again, I was the sole driver, so the choice of car came to me, while others booked the Airbnbs. No prizes for guessing: This time I booked the 320i. Well done Sixt in your upsell strategy! The rental T&Cs said the car would be a 3 series or a similar model and the customer care confirmed that they could not guarantee the model of the car till the date of pickup.
Day 1: Drive to Lauterbach, Germany
The car's pickup time was 9:30 AM this time since most of us wake up late. Walked to the Sixt pickup point again and got a push notification that a Mercedes C class was allocated to us. DAMN! Checking the specs, it was the 180 bhp version of the Merc and it was a mixed feeling. I wanted to drive a bimmer again, but the Merc was much better for the comfort of the others. The 320i for all the good, had poor interior space. All of us met at the car's pickup point. I scanned the parked cars and there was not a single Merc. Puzzled again, I decided to wait till the check in completed since I was behind another customer who came to pick up a car. I was hoping for a miracle, but then the only BMW parked there was a 745e with an M-sport kit, but I felt it was silly to even imagine an upgrade from a 3 series to the 7 series.
Once my turn arrived, the guy in the check in counter recognized me by my face. I had transacted this guy twice- one for the Austrian trip and another time when I had a problem with the Nissan Leaf from their car sharing service, so we kind of knew each other by face. This time, the check in was faster, as my passport and other details were already in the system and a quick check of my license was all that was needed. What happened next is a conversation I will never forget:
Agent: "Do you want to upgrade to zero liability insurance"
Me: "No thanks, i trust my driving skills and have a parking place for the car"
Agent: "If you upgrade, I have an offer for you"
Me: "Go on"
Agent: "If you pay 60 Euros extra you get the zero liability insurance and the 7 series that you were looking at"
Me: * Picking up my lower jaw from the floor* "60 Euros total or 60 per day?"
Agent: "60 Euros in total. xxx would be your new rental price"
Now I entered what's known as a decision paradox. I'd be more than willing to pay 60 for this upgrade out of my pocket, but the 7 being a 3L 6 cylinder petrol monster, would drink fuel. I checked with my friends if they were ok with the prospect and got an resounding WHY NOT! from them. So the deal was done and the contract signed. (Side story: We all have one non-car enthusiast amongst us, and in our case, that person questioned the need of a luxury car for a weekend trip. But he was outvoted 3:1
But when I checked the expenses, we paid just 10 Euros less than the fuel bill for the 320i on the Austrian trip that was 1.5x the distance of this trip. Even considering the cheaper fuel price in Austria, this is a thirsty car indeed!
).
Introducing,
The Spaceship!
The destination was Lauterbach, a tiny town/village in the black forest region.
20 KM into our drive, the car threw up some errors on the infotainment screen relating to the driver assistance system. While the adaptive cruise control was working, every other convenience feature like the lane keep assist, lane departure warning, lane departure correction and a few other driver assistance systems were offline. Managing this behemoth without those systems was not a huge challenge, but an annoyance nonetheless. The rest of the drive was uneventful. Construction activities on the Autobahn meant that our progress was slow and there were traffic jams, plus we stopped for an hour since one of my friends had to take an office call. However we still arrived at our destination by a sane time of 8:30 PM. We also stopped for the Environment sticker ("Milieusticker") since it is required in almost everywhere in the Black forest region. That's a 9.5 hours drive for a 690 KM (as reported by the odometer) drive with breaks. We ended the day with a nice dinner and a walk around the town
Conclusion of day 1
The Milieu sticker
Lauterbach at night
The keyfob, another device that requires charging! Thankfully, the car comes with wireless charging pad and the key can be left on it to charge.