Well day 2 is in the books. I type this blog entry from our hotel room in Cambridge OH. What an epic day. We burned through 425 miles of road and 5 states today (Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and OH), before doing a final DC fast charge at Electrified America (at a Wally World of course) and then checked in for a much needed night of rest. Once again we are staying at a Holiday Inn Express. A few more of these and I get my certified Nuclear Engineering degree is my understanding. 🤣 - at least thats what the add says - right?!?
The day began at 7:00am where I discovered the hotel has a robotic pancake machine. If you have never seen one of these, seek them out! I understand it is one of the only reasons Aliens consider us still a sentient species.
Our SA from BMW of Cantonsville picked us up around 9:00am and we headed the short distance to the dealership. A very VERY nice BMW dealership that it is. Once we signed the final, final paperwork (how many powers of a attorney does one car take anyway) we were then briefed on the IX, got our phones connected to allow us access to the car and sent off our our merry way. I did not take advantage of the Genius session, since I needed to meet up with a buddy of mine in Tysons Corner for lunch and that was at least and hour jaunt away. I have read the manual twice, watched every video on it three times, and I still need to spend time with it too get everything configured.
We made it to Tysons corner for a great lunch with one of my best buddies in the area and then headed off to the Air & space museum at Dulles to see the SR71 Blackbird they have on display, but more importantly to see he actually Space Shuttle Discovery. Damn - that thing is HUGE!. It is hard to believe that thing flew in space 39 times with technology that is at least 10 times dumber than my Apple Watch. If you ever get to the the Dulles area, go see it. It is truly a site to behold. May I also say - Space Shuttle Crews had large attachments. Even the cute ones 😂
That reminds me, I am taking lots of photos during this trip - I need to figure out how to attach them to each post. Don’t worry I will make that happen. I even got an epic shot of Bucky outside of the museum I definitely want to share.
After the museum it was time to turn and burn and get some pavement under us to get back home. Thats where the aforementioned 425miles and 5 states comes in above.
Some observations on the road trip portion so far and more importantly on my initial day 1 impressions of Bucky.
1) SO GLAD I WAITED! It was a long wait for this car, but sooooo worth it. It drives like no other EV I have ever driven, and it completely justifies and wait and the cash outlay for said purchase.
2) OMG - the value for money is unbelievable. Go look up and price out a Jeep Grand Wagoner or a Chevy Suburban. Then RUN do not walk to your nearest BMW dealership and plunk down your deposit money down. Trust me - you will Thanks Me Later.
3) Smoothest ride of ANY vehicle I have ever owned. I lost count over the years of the number of cars I have purchased - just ask my wife. I have never had a ride like this, or the luxury the IX simply exudes just getting into it for the first time. IT IS SO QUIET. Road noise is at a minimum.
3a) I managed to get the Bowers and Wilkins stereo in my IX 50. Yep - lucky me (thanks Hans!) This is like being in a concert hall, while driving 90MpH.
4) Range is IMPRESSIVE! I noted the Edmunds testing article on their range tests and they are not kidding around when they say 350mile per charge.
5) I was worried about DC fast charging, BIG TIME, especially after watching countless videos on youtube of the problems I have seen folks have at Electrified America with their Mustangs, Hyundais, Rivian, etc, etc. So far - knock on wood, not a single issue other than me being stupid and hitting the wrong button at the EA dispenser and stopping my first charge session after just 2 minutes. I swear the dispenser actually let out a Home Simpson - DOH sound when I did that. Hmmm maybe it was me. But EA, if your reading this. Bonus points for including sound effects on the charging dispenser stations. Your Welcome.
6) A little off topic, but maybe not so much. The truck drivers in the 5 states I have driven through today DO NOT GIVE…. AF! We will just leave it at that. OMG - At one point I was passed by a trucker going at least 30MPH faster than me, going up hill and carrying a load that must have been secured to his trailer by a bunch of whacked out crack smoking gnomes.
7) Back to Bucky - I still need to spend more time with it, but the on board NAV system , while epically cool especially in the augmented reality mode when directions come up over live video, I find it overly cumbersome to use (so far) and needlessly complicated in its directions. For example the turns and mergers need to be announce much sooner as especially if you are going at Speed (which trust me - you will be. At this point I think I like the simplistically of Apple Maps and Car play. I have 2400 more miles to change my mind though.
8) I LOVE the layout of the center console, especially the control panel. So glad I got the Walnut control panel instead of the Piano Black. The fingerprints would have driven me nuts. The panel was designed by genius's. After about 200miles I had everything down to my right hand on the center console controls, and my left hand on the steering wheel. IDrive 8 is a little cumbersome, but the center console and steering wheel controls help ALOT!
9) The drivers assistance pro is great. It helpedwith the Long drive, but BMW needs to give you a little more slack time before you have to touch the wheel again before it goes all pouty.
Those are initial impressions for now. I’m exhausted and need to get some sleep. More on the adventures of Bucky and it’s cross country adventure tomorrow.
Night all!
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