Oops, I did it again. Another Performance Center Delivery and cross-country road trip home. This time, it’s the G99 M5 Touring in individual Daytona Violet. The journey has already happened, but will update the post detailing the trip home.
Things have changed from the last time we did PCD (G80 M3 CS). Back in December 2023, BMW still covered a night hotel, dinner, and breakfast at the Greenville Marriott. That all changed in January 2024. Now, you are responsible for the hotel stay. BMW does recommend a couple of hotels and one of them (with a special rate) is the Grand Bohemian Lodge. I do recommend this one. The discounted rate is a pretty good deal compared to the regular rate. The hotel will also pick you up from the airport if needed, cover valet parking for the duration of your stay, shuttle you to the Performance Center, and cover breakfast the morning of your delivery in the Between the Trees restaurant–it’s pretty good. It’s an autograph collection hotel, so it’s on the swanky side and very well done hotel.
Our delivery was July 17. And it’s a great experience. You get some “track” time with a vehicle similar to the one you’re picking up. There was one other M5 delivery that day (G90), an M440i coupe, and an X5. You get 3 exercises: skid pad, braking and entering, and a handling course. The skid pad is done in the M340i (not the car you’re picking up unfortunately). The G99 handled well on the short course full of turns, elevation changes, and a slalom. It was fun. Probably should have remembered to switch it to dynamic plus, but oh well.
You’ll get a hot lap after the exercise demonstrations in the M3 Comp xDrive. And after this, the groups split. Some did delivery and others went on the factory tour. We did the tour first (X3/X4) and then back to the PC for the X5 exercise in the off road course.
And then it was lunch time. You can grab anything you want at the cafeteria and the menu changes every day. Plus, they have soft serve ice cream every day (unlike PC West which is M/W/F–PC West has the better ice cream, iMO). After lunch, it’s time for delivery!
We scheduled PPF, Ceramic Coating, and Tint with Extreme Auto Spa in Greenville (who also did the work on the M3 CS). They are a great shop and CCA members also get a discount. Since they aren’t open on the weekend and our delivery was on a Thursday, we couldn’t pick up the car until Monday afternoon–a very long wait!
So now, what to do in the Greenville area for a few days? On Friday, we did the Ultimate Driving Museum at the BMW CCA Foundation. The current exhibit is the Alpina: 60 Years of Excellence. The exhibit includes privately owned Alpinas, some from Alpina and some from BMW NA. It’s a great exhibit and if you’re in town, be sure to do it. It’s literally next door to the Performance Center.
We also did the Upcountry Museum in Greenville, stopped by the Greenville Drive (minor league team) store–they weren’t in town. And then off to a Hub City Spartanburgers minor league game in Spartanburg (new team). It was fun, and luckily we got club level seats with some air conditioning as it was 95 degrees plus humidity (and this was true of our entire trip through this past Tuesday).
Saturday, we took a road trip to Florence, South Carolina for a Buc-ee’s. And this one was wild. We’ve been to a few Buc-ee’s (Florida, Georgia, Texas) and have never seen one so crowded and busy. I thought maybe it just opened (checked and it’s been open for at least 2+ years. But it was nuts. But service was fast, we got some brisket sandwiches for lunch and then it was off to Columbia, South Carolina to pick up some Gamecocks merch because I am a child.
Sunday was another road trip, we considered traveling to VIR for the SRO Sunday main race and then realized the round trip would be 8 hours for a 90 minute race in the heat, humidity, and thunderstorms, so we decided to hit some of the historic down towns in rural South Carolina based on signs that we saw on the interstate from Saturday: Clinton and Laurens. Old time charm, but lots of things were closed. And then off to another historic marker: Musgrove Mill–the site of a Revolutionary War battle. You can take a hike (not in 96 degree weather + humidity) if you’d like around the site.
Monday was the longest day ever as we had to kill more time until around 3:30PM to pick up the car. Then we had to drop the rental off at the airport. Afterwards, we stopped by Thunder Bunny Racing in Greenville. This is a shop that does race track prep, general service, etc. and also a racing team with a huge site that also hosts some events for the Sandlapper Chapter of the BMW CCA and even weddings! They’re staffed by enthusiasts and former and emertius BMW PC staff (including instructors). So why did we stop here? Friends and catching up with the M5 Mom (YouTube BMW commercial below) for a tour and picture with the new M5.
And from there, it was off to the Atlanta area that included a pit stop at Paul Miller Racing in an undisclosed location. Stay tuned.
And intro video for the Daytona Violet M5 Touring:
Last edited by calbears; 08-04-2025 at 11:07 AM..