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This will be our family's very first ED (in fact, the first time to even drive in Europe) and I'm wondering if anyone can provide any feedback on a route I put together. This will be during the month of November.
Nothing is set in stone, so any suggestions or recommendations are welcome!
The trip will start from Stuttgart and end in Munich.
Looks great. I've done ED twice, and driven in Europe dozens of times. The drive from Sindelfingen to Freiburg is nothing special, but for the rest of the trip you will have spectacular scenery.
A couple of comments: Don't forget you will need to buy Vignettes for both Switzerland and Austria (separate countries, each with their own taxes etc). For Austria we purchased a 10 day vignette for 9 Euro; I don't know what the least expensive Vignette costs for Switzerland. Purchase these at a gas station just before, when crossing or just after the border, but you must have these before you drive on the Austrian/Swiss equivalent of the Autobahn or you will be fined.
If this is your 1st time driving in Europe, read up on driving rules and customs. Its illegal to overtake on the inside on the Autobahn, and every body drives on the inside lane except when overtaking. You will find its much safer and more relaxing than driving in US!
Your 5th day you should plan on stopping to see both the castles which will take a few hours (there are two and its worth visiting both); expect crowds.
For train tickets there is an App available for the iPhone named DB Navigator that's well worth getting. You can buy your tickets online before you go (assuming you can commit to a particular departure time) and when you do that make sure to purchase reserved seats. 2nd class is fine; for the expense of 1st class you don't get much of a change. On the app you can download your ticket, for presentation to an inspector, if needed (sometimes they don't check). If you print out the paper copy of your ticket in US it will not scan correctly in the inspectors machine unless you print on A4 sized paper!
Have a wonderful trip, and if you can squeeze it in, visit the MB museum the day before you pickup the car (Take the S-Bahn to get there). On the day of delivery make sure to get there by 10-10:30 so that you can do the factory tour and have lunch at MB's expense. Then you have an easy drive to your 1st hotel.
Ditto, especially on the quality of driving there. In my one hour commute here I encounter more jerks that in the 19 days I drove in Europe. In May I found that most driving times took 150% of whatever the navigation unit predicted, apparently due to the same issues we have here with government closing multiple lanes for four months for every single-day pothole repair (and sign and equipment rental companies getting rich off of that). Your itinerary looks very reasonable and November may be better.
If possible, do not miss the museum. It has a lot more than what I expected. Even the parking garage is worth some time because the company parks special cars there and many of the other visitors have interesting cars too.
As for how to get there, I went by it multiple times, taking various routes and saw little difference. But do be careful to obey whatever speed limit applies or Stuttgart will bill you for a traffic violation. I did my best and still got "taxed" 30 Euro for being photographed doing 69 in a 50 KPH zone.
Thank you guys for the suggestions! Really appreciate the help, especially with tips on driving etiquette and the stringent rules. I'll make sure to download the app before our trip - that should come in handy.
Winter or M/S Snow rated all season tires as of Nov 1st
Originally Posted by dtl919
Thank you guys for the suggestions! Really appreciate the help, especially with tips on driving etiquette and the stringent rules. I'll make sure to download the app before our trip - that should come in handy.
You didn't mention what model you are picking up, so be warned that you should not drive in any of these 3 countries after November 1st with Summer Tires.
Hope this helps.
Bill
You didn't mention what model you are picking up, so be warned that you should not drive in any of these 3 countries after November 1st with Summer Tires.
Hope this helps.
Bill
Apologies - It's an E400 coupe. Yes, thanks for the reminder on the tires.
Slight change in plans, and we will be getting a 2019 E450 coupe 4matic at the end of the year. Has anyone had experience doing an ED in December? Should we be worried about poor road/weather conditions?
It all depends on the weather, which varies from year to year, and where you plan to visit after leaving Sindelfingen, but you will almost certainly encounter snow. The most important thing is to make sure you have all season tires, and not summer (performance) tires. Its against the law to drive on the latter in Germany in the winter, and not good for your safety because they have zero grip. All season tires are legal and will be OK except in high mountain roads, some of which by law require that you have snow chains.
I did a delivery (BMW) in mid January. We collected the car in Munich and drove to Basle and back, with a detour through the black forrest; this was in 2008, when there was hardly any snow in the alps, so we were OK. If you are used to winter driving in the US, you will be fine as long as you avoid minor roads, stay out of the mountains, and have a bit of luck. Snow clearance is very good, but during a snow storm driving is not much fun. Have fun, and post a delivery report when you get your car.
We just placed the order yesterday for the E450 coupe 4Matic. Apparently, Mercedes is not offering the Premium packages 2 or 3 and instead, almost everything is an individual option. Furthermore, it was kind of disappointing to see how limited the color choices were. Nonetheless, the car we are getting is family-approved and all is good.
07-10-2018, 10:36 AM
