My CLA45 AMG European Delivery and AMG Factory Experience! (Pics and Vid)
#1
My CLA45 AMG European Delivery and AMG Factory Experience! (Pics and Vid)
Hey everyone! Not sure how I missed MBworld aside from Private Lounge and the CLA forum but here I am.
Figured I'd share our EDP from a couple months ago so I'll just leave this here....
I just got back to the states from an unforgettable trip to Europe. Spent a total of 1 month traveling throughout, 2 weeks by train and then my girlfriend and I picked up the car and drove around for another 2 weeks hitting Paris, Barcelona, Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Milan, Zurich, and back up to Frankfurt. I was also able to take the AMG factory tour in Affalterbach the day before drop-off and It was awesome. Looking at these pictures and videos is a reminder of what hard work can turn into, I'm not a huge tangible person unless it's an appreciating asset but sometimes you need to enjoy your hard work efforts. Truly blessed and grateful to have experienced this considering I come from having nothing.
I took delivery at the Center Of Excellence in Sindelfingen after waiting about 5 months for the MY15. After waiting 5 minutes, we were introduced to our delivery specialist Peter who was super nice, informative and seemed just as excited as I was. He first walked us into the customizing portion of the mini-tour heading into the private delivery area, essentially its just a quick tour of all the things you can do extra to your car when you order it, like custom paint jobs, custom leather, etc etc $$$$$. He was very nice and I get it, but it was essentially a small pitch saying "hey your next car if you drop $25k more you can have some awesome custom aesthetics." We then walked into the delivery area where my car was under a sheet with a huge red bow on it.
From here I'll just post the pictures showing the experience and hopefully it will help anyone who is on edge of doing the european delivery. Most of the pictures will be car related but we stopped at a lot of places in between the main destinations, I may add them in later but trying to keep it car related. I highly recommend it and its the only way I'll ever buy another Mercedes, I'm sold on the EDP for life. It doesn't hurt that the autobahn is nearby
If anyone has any questions I would be more than happy to answer them, so please feel free to ask.
Unveiling
This smile comes after way to much work and sleepless nights, making it all worth it.
Lunch, 1st course was a Lobster App
2nd course was Veal.
3rd was a delicious trio of goods.
View from above during lunch.
Nice views at lunch of the new GT, was able to sit in and pop the hood on it as well, amazing machine
Someone taking delivery of their GT.
Just before departure
From there we headed to Paris to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday.
Arc de Triomphe Paris
Proposed to my girl at the Palace of Versailles
From Paris we went south to Barcelona.
Stopped at a castle in the middle of nowhere in the middle of France, the village was perfect photo opp.
On top of Barcelona, literally.
1,000 mile break-in period over!
From Barcelona we headed northeast to the French Rivera, we stayed in Nice but visited both Cannes and Monaco as well. I don't have many pictures of the car during this time but I'll add a couple of the area. If you haven't been I recommend checking it out.
Woke up in Nice
Finally a good day of nice weather.
Joy rides along the coast.
Pulled over a few times in EU, this one in Monaco and this one wasn't because of speeding but "is this your car?" I thought it was strange I was asked this by all police that pulled us over and it was always the first thing out of their mouth. This one in Monaco was super nice tho after making sure everything was legit.
From the French Rivera we went north to Milan and Lake Como, I didn't take any pictures inside Milan with the car b/c we parked and kept the car parked but Lake Como was AMAZING.
Ferrying across Lake Como
I have a lot of GoPro footage of this area that I will post at some point, the scenery is unreal. Funny pulling into a gas station in a remote part of the area and a bunch of guys come out from inside and all just drooling over the car, it was a bit sketchy at first but they really just wanted to look and say how beautiful it was. An older man with a cane came out and said in Italian that it was very beautiful car, he was so nice. I have footage of this all happening on the backwards facing camera lol. The people were so nice in the area, also funny because one guy was talking fast and I asked my girl who is Italian what he was saying and she said he was basically saying "Good looking kids and beautiful car, very blessed." I love Italy so much or at least the more family cultured areas.
From Lake Como we headed North to Zurich for lunch before stopping again in Stuttgart for the AMG tour.
The day before drop-off I had setup a AMG tour previously (let me know if you need the contact for this) and I can't express in words how awesome this experience was. I drove up to Affalterbach by myself and was greeted with American flags setup all around the HQ. There was an father and son from Britain there as well taking their own tour as well so they had his flag up. Would have made for better pictures with just the USA one but it is what it is. I won't bore you with all the details of the basics that you can see on that youtube video professional done explaining the tour but to experience it was another thing. After the tour I headed up to the in-real-life Private Lounge (haha) and had some snacks and Nespresso. I wish I could have taken pictures inside the tour but there was a strict no camera policy. Was able to see some technicians assemble the V12s from scratch which was pretty amazing, their workspace is like nothing I've ever seen, very very VERY clean and everything is super organized.
Private Lounge
With only 1 day left until drop-off I hit the autobahn a few times and that is a crazy experience. Here in the USA, everyone loves to drive in the left lane going at the speed or even slower of the right lane. On the Autobahn you'll end up in crash or bullied out of the lane very quickly, it was a "get in and get out" type of lane in my opinion lol. Since I was well over the break-in period I was able to let it open a few times. The weather conditions were not the greatest since it was raining off and on and the wind was at 20mph+. Regardless I found a couple of opportunities to take a safe shot at opening it up. The top speed I hit was about 140mph before I got sketched out and had to let off, mind you the 80mph to 140mph happens fast in this car but the wind scared me a bit at that speed and I'm still traumatized from a tire blowout I had years ago. It was a bucket list check mark to drive on the Autobahn at high speeds in a true "no speed limit" section of the autobahn, still smiling about it.
The last morning we stopped by the delivery customer center again to use our lunch voucher, why not
Dropped off my new precious in Frankfurt and now I'm back stateside awaiting her arrival with enough time to get back to work.
I hope everyone in here enjoyed the pictures and post as it took me a while to organize. Obviously if I can answer any questions let me know, I feel like I really had the full experience of the EDP so I'm more than willing to help out if I can. There isn't that much detailed info about it but I think I have it picked from top to bottom so I'm here to help.
Enjoy!
Figured I'd share our EDP from a couple months ago so I'll just leave this here....
I just got back to the states from an unforgettable trip to Europe. Spent a total of 1 month traveling throughout, 2 weeks by train and then my girlfriend and I picked up the car and drove around for another 2 weeks hitting Paris, Barcelona, Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Milan, Zurich, and back up to Frankfurt. I was also able to take the AMG factory tour in Affalterbach the day before drop-off and It was awesome. Looking at these pictures and videos is a reminder of what hard work can turn into, I'm not a huge tangible person unless it's an appreciating asset but sometimes you need to enjoy your hard work efforts. Truly blessed and grateful to have experienced this considering I come from having nothing.
I took delivery at the Center Of Excellence in Sindelfingen after waiting about 5 months for the MY15. After waiting 5 minutes, we were introduced to our delivery specialist Peter who was super nice, informative and seemed just as excited as I was. He first walked us into the customizing portion of the mini-tour heading into the private delivery area, essentially its just a quick tour of all the things you can do extra to your car when you order it, like custom paint jobs, custom leather, etc etc $$$$$. He was very nice and I get it, but it was essentially a small pitch saying "hey your next car if you drop $25k more you can have some awesome custom aesthetics." We then walked into the delivery area where my car was under a sheet with a huge red bow on it.
From here I'll just post the pictures showing the experience and hopefully it will help anyone who is on edge of doing the european delivery. Most of the pictures will be car related but we stopped at a lot of places in between the main destinations, I may add them in later but trying to keep it car related. I highly recommend it and its the only way I'll ever buy another Mercedes, I'm sold on the EDP for life. It doesn't hurt that the autobahn is nearby
If anyone has any questions I would be more than happy to answer them, so please feel free to ask.
Unveiling
This smile comes after way to much work and sleepless nights, making it all worth it.
Lunch, 1st course was a Lobster App
2nd course was Veal.
3rd was a delicious trio of goods.
View from above during lunch.
Nice views at lunch of the new GT, was able to sit in and pop the hood on it as well, amazing machine
Someone taking delivery of their GT.
Just before departure
From there we headed to Paris to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday.
Arc de Triomphe Paris
Proposed to my girl at the Palace of Versailles
From Paris we went south to Barcelona.
Stopped at a castle in the middle of nowhere in the middle of France, the village was perfect photo opp.
On top of Barcelona, literally.
1,000 mile break-in period over!
From Barcelona we headed northeast to the French Rivera, we stayed in Nice but visited both Cannes and Monaco as well. I don't have many pictures of the car during this time but I'll add a couple of the area. If you haven't been I recommend checking it out.
Woke up in Nice
Finally a good day of nice weather.
Joy rides along the coast.
Pulled over a few times in EU, this one in Monaco and this one wasn't because of speeding but "is this your car?" I thought it was strange I was asked this by all police that pulled us over and it was always the first thing out of their mouth. This one in Monaco was super nice tho after making sure everything was legit.
From the French Rivera we went north to Milan and Lake Como, I didn't take any pictures inside Milan with the car b/c we parked and kept the car parked but Lake Como was AMAZING.
Ferrying across Lake Como
I have a lot of GoPro footage of this area that I will post at some point, the scenery is unreal. Funny pulling into a gas station in a remote part of the area and a bunch of guys come out from inside and all just drooling over the car, it was a bit sketchy at first but they really just wanted to look and say how beautiful it was. An older man with a cane came out and said in Italian that it was very beautiful car, he was so nice. I have footage of this all happening on the backwards facing camera lol. The people were so nice in the area, also funny because one guy was talking fast and I asked my girl who is Italian what he was saying and she said he was basically saying "Good looking kids and beautiful car, very blessed." I love Italy so much or at least the more family cultured areas.
From Lake Como we headed North to Zurich for lunch before stopping again in Stuttgart for the AMG tour.
The day before drop-off I had setup a AMG tour previously (let me know if you need the contact for this) and I can't express in words how awesome this experience was. I drove up to Affalterbach by myself and was greeted with American flags setup all around the HQ. There was an father and son from Britain there as well taking their own tour as well so they had his flag up. Would have made for better pictures with just the USA one but it is what it is. I won't bore you with all the details of the basics that you can see on that youtube video professional done explaining the tour but to experience it was another thing. After the tour I headed up to the in-real-life Private Lounge (haha) and had some snacks and Nespresso. I wish I could have taken pictures inside the tour but there was a strict no camera policy. Was able to see some technicians assemble the V12s from scratch which was pretty amazing, their workspace is like nothing I've ever seen, very very VERY clean and everything is super organized.
Private Lounge
With only 1 day left until drop-off I hit the autobahn a few times and that is a crazy experience. Here in the USA, everyone loves to drive in the left lane going at the speed or even slower of the right lane. On the Autobahn you'll end up in crash or bullied out of the lane very quickly, it was a "get in and get out" type of lane in my opinion lol. Since I was well over the break-in period I was able to let it open a few times. The weather conditions were not the greatest since it was raining off and on and the wind was at 20mph+. Regardless I found a couple of opportunities to take a safe shot at opening it up. The top speed I hit was about 140mph before I got sketched out and had to let off, mind you the 80mph to 140mph happens fast in this car but the wind scared me a bit at that speed and I'm still traumatized from a tire blowout I had years ago. It was a bucket list check mark to drive on the Autobahn at high speeds in a true "no speed limit" section of the autobahn, still smiling about it.
The last morning we stopped by the delivery customer center again to use our lunch voucher, why not
Dropped off my new precious in Frankfurt and now I'm back stateside awaiting her arrival with enough time to get back to work.
I hope everyone in here enjoyed the pictures and post as it took me a while to organize. Obviously if I can answer any questions let me know, I feel like I really had the full experience of the EDP so I'm more than willing to help out if I can. There isn't that much detailed info about it but I think I have it picked from top to bottom so I'm here to help.
Enjoy!
The following 2 users liked this post by tcache:
kowyzg0moo (09-02-2016),
Wassaby (03-26-2016)
#3
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2018 GMC Sierra Denali
You pulled off my dream vacation. Congrats to so many things.. The car, your engagement and a trip of a lifetime.
I just proposed to my fiancé last month so kudos to you, what a way to do it. Beautiful ring for her and I love your 16710!
Enjoy it all in good health!
I just proposed to my fiancé last month so kudos to you, what a way to do it. Beautiful ring for her and I love your 16710!
Enjoy it all in good health!
#4
I highly recommend it! Minus the waiting times of everything, this is the only way to buy a MB, especially AMG.
It really was the trip of a lifetime, which is hard to say because we travel international a lot. Couldn't have asked for a better situation
Congrats to you as well, welcome to the club!
And thank you on the compliments, we both love her ring and she gets complimented on it all the time which means I think I did good lol. Good eye on the watch, I just got it a few months ago and really lucked out on finding a mint one with box, papers, etc.
Congrats to you as well, welcome to the club!
And thank you on the compliments, we both love her ring and she gets complimented on it all the time which means I think I did good lol. Good eye on the watch, I just got it a few months ago and really lucked out on finding a mint one with box, papers, etc.
#6
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#9
More to come now that I finally have the car back.
#10
Thanks for sharing this experience. I really enjoyed the last 10 minutes. Congrats and I mean congrats for the wedding. I loved the shots of the car but the car will be gone in less than five years, your wife will be with you forever. Blessings to you and her.
#11
Really enjoyed hearing those words, and you're right
#14
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2015.5 Volvo V60 Polestar
Not sure what is more amazing, the experience you had from Euro Delivery and time across Europe, or that your work allowed you to take a month vacation.
Awesome review and photos. This confirmed I will be taking part in Euro delivery. I have to admit, I'd be paranoid leaving my car everywhere though.
Awesome review and photos. This confirmed I will be taking part in Euro delivery. I have to admit, I'd be paranoid leaving my car everywhere though.
#15
Super Member
OMG congrats OP. That rock is amazing! Those pictures definitely put a smile on my face and instantly reminded me of when I first visited the Palace of Versailles.
P.S.
The car is nice too
P.S.
The car is nice too
#16
Junior Member
Amazing delivery I'm taking delivery of my new Black 2015 CLA45 AMG on Tuesday 4th of August and I could only wish this is how it goes down !! But our dealership in Australia is being re-built and is only half finished. I've taken delivery of a few Mercedes and never seen it done quite like that , Thanks for sharing.
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#17
Thanks MJ!
Hahaha! I work for myself so I was blessed to make it even happen like this granted work took a dive so I had a lot of recovering to do lol.
It was a little scary leaving the car around in different places, I'm already paranoid as it is so I def checked up on her a few nights out of the trip in the middle of the night haha.
Thank you, my jeweler and myself designed it and just made it happen, I'm glad you enjoyed the it The Palace of Versailles is amazing, we've been 3 times now I think and still haven't seen all the gardens lol.
Thank you! How did your EDP go?
Not sure what is more amazing, the experience you had from Euro Delivery and time across Europe, or that your work allowed you to take a month vacation.
Awesome review and photos. This confirmed I will be taking part in Euro delivery. I have to admit, I'd be paranoid leaving my car everywhere though.
Awesome review and photos. This confirmed I will be taking part in Euro delivery. I have to admit, I'd be paranoid leaving my car everywhere though.
It was a little scary leaving the car around in different places, I'm already paranoid as it is so I def checked up on her a few nights out of the trip in the middle of the night haha.
Amazing delivery ���� I'm taking delivery of my new Black 2015 CLA45 AMG on Tuesday 4th of August and I could only ���� wish this is how it goes down !! But our dealership in Australia is being re-built and is only half finished. I've taken delivery of a few Mercedes and never seen it done quite like that , Thanks for sharing.
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C230 Sport Coup (03-25-2016)
#19
MBWorld Fanatic!
Wow! I just happened across this thread and it has to be one of the top 10 posts ever on mbnworld! And from a 'newbie' no less.
I've been driving the same car for so long, but I did buy it new.
I scoured Cali to find the exact color and options I wanted, and mostly got what I wanted from a dealer in So Cal, flew down to pick it up 2 weeks after putting down the deposit.
I didn't know about the EDP at the time, and when I found I was kicking myself so seriously. At the time, they gave you a 10% discount, which more than paid for the 3 days trip they planned for you through Germany, not to mention the plane tickets and all. I had the money and time, and kicking myself ever since!
Sadly the new C Class is made in he USA so no EDP for new c class owners.
Really REALLY nice pics. Thanks so much for sharing. Me so jealous!
I'm assuming you're married by now. Congrats!
I've been driving the same car for so long, but I did buy it new.
I scoured Cali to find the exact color and options I wanted, and mostly got what I wanted from a dealer in So Cal, flew down to pick it up 2 weeks after putting down the deposit.
I didn't know about the EDP at the time, and when I found I was kicking myself so seriously. At the time, they gave you a 10% discount, which more than paid for the 3 days trip they planned for you through Germany, not to mention the plane tickets and all. I had the money and time, and kicking myself ever since!
Sadly the new C Class is made in he USA so no EDP for new c class owners.
Really REALLY nice pics. Thanks so much for sharing. Me so jealous!
I'm assuming you're married by now. Congrats!
#20
Wow! I just happened across this thread and it has to be one of the top 10 posts ever on mbnworld! And from a 'newbie' no less.
I've been driving the same car for so long, but I did buy it new.
I scoured Cali to find the exact color and options I wanted, and mostly got what I wanted from a dealer in So Cal, flew down to pick it up 2 weeks after putting down the deposit.
I didn't know about the EDP at the time, and when I found I was kicking myself so seriously. At the time, they gave you a 10% discount, which more than paid for the 3 days trip they planned for you through Germany, not to mention the plane tickets and all. I had the money and time, and kicking myself ever since!
Sadly the new C Class is made in he USA so no EDP for new c class owners.
Really REALLY nice pics. Thanks so much for sharing. Me so jealous!
I'm assuming you're married by now. Congrats!
I've been driving the same car for so long, but I did buy it new.
I scoured Cali to find the exact color and options I wanted, and mostly got what I wanted from a dealer in So Cal, flew down to pick it up 2 weeks after putting down the deposit.
I didn't know about the EDP at the time, and when I found I was kicking myself so seriously. At the time, they gave you a 10% discount, which more than paid for the 3 days trip they planned for you through Germany, not to mention the plane tickets and all. I had the money and time, and kicking myself ever since!
Sadly the new C Class is made in he USA so no EDP for new c class owners.
Really REALLY nice pics. Thanks so much for sharing. Me so jealous!
I'm assuming you're married by now. Congrats!
#21
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2020 C8, 2020 defender 110X, 2019 720S, 2014 GLK 350 4matic, 2015 escalade platinum, 2013 RRS HSELux
Awesome shots! Visited Europe two years ago Christmas in rome, nice and southern France. Visited the Ferrari factory as well. Too bad bought my glk locally in US but planning to do an EDP and so far my choice is a GLA45. Is there a geographical limitation of the drive? Like, can I go to the transfagarasan and stelvio pass with my EDP delivery? My MB dealer doesn't seem to know. Thanks for sharing!
#22
Wow! I just happened across this thread and it has to be one of the top 10 posts ever on mbnworld! And from a 'newbie' no less.
I've been driving the same car for so long, but I did buy it new.
I scoured Cali to find the exact color and options I wanted, and mostly got what I wanted from a dealer in So Cal, flew down to pick it up 2 weeks after putting down the deposit.
I didn't know about the EDP at the time, and when I found I was kicking myself so seriously. At the time, they gave you a 10% discount, which more than paid for the 3 days trip they planned for you through Germany, not to mention the plane tickets and all. I had the money and time, and kicking myself ever since!
Sadly the new C Class is made in he USA so no EDP for new c class owners.
Really REALLY nice pics. Thanks so much for sharing. Me so jealous!
I'm assuming you're married by now. Congrats!
I've been driving the same car for so long, but I did buy it new.
I scoured Cali to find the exact color and options I wanted, and mostly got what I wanted from a dealer in So Cal, flew down to pick it up 2 weeks after putting down the deposit.
I didn't know about the EDP at the time, and when I found I was kicking myself so seriously. At the time, they gave you a 10% discount, which more than paid for the 3 days trip they planned for you through Germany, not to mention the plane tickets and all. I had the money and time, and kicking myself ever since!
Sadly the new C Class is made in he USA so no EDP for new c class owners.
Really REALLY nice pics. Thanks so much for sharing. Me so jealous!
I'm assuming you're married by now. Congrats!
I'm a "newbie" in this forum for sure, but not to the forums
Actually not married yet but I'm sure it will happen in 2017.
#23
Awesome shots! Visited Europe two years ago Christmas in rome, nice and southern France. Visited the Ferrari factory as well. Too bad bought my glk locally in US but planning to do an EDP and so far my choice is a GLA45. Is there a geographical limitation of the drive? Like, can I go to the transfagarasan and stelvio pass with my EDP delivery? My MB dealer doesn't seem to know. Thanks for sharing!
The Ferrari factory was probably amazing?! I was trying to schedule things as I went and didn't realize the Ring had specific open to public days so next time I want to plan around that as well as the MB Museum as I didn't have time for it but drove by it on the way to the AMG HQ.
As far as limitation I'm pretty sure you can go anywhere you want that is legal to drive. I wanted to do the Stelvio Pass as well but the time of the year is important as when it's still "winter" there are things that are closed or you are required to have chains on your tires or you can be fined heavily. I believe Austria is one of the strict ones about that, but you'd have to double check.
Sadly most of the dealers hardly know anything about the EDP so your best bet is finding a specific one that deals with them often and if you have to do it out of state, it might be best for the long run. My dealer messed up a bunch of times so just be prepared to be pro-active in any and all info surrounding the journey.
Insurance covers you for 14 days and fun fact while I was reading through it one of the nights at a hotel, it's a 7.5 million euro policy! You can stay longer than 14 days but then you have to pay for that insurance on your own after that and you just have to export the car in 90 days I believe, it's either 60 or 90 but you'll have to sign that paper at pickup.
Also if you buy the AMG, set up the delivery in the Center of Excellence, it's a private experience with the lunch, desserts, wines etc while overlooking your car. The other side is like a dealer pickup area, avoid it.