"how you got your zhp?" thread

[trancenation]

Thread would include the extents and circumstances that it took to purchase your zhp. Whether it be driving home from the dealership 1 mile down the street, or flying to a city on the other coast and driving it 1000 miles home. Let's hear them!

[Washburn]

found it on Carigslist with only 12k miles near Minneapolis, MN.
Talked to owner, settled on a price and had a PPI done at a nearby BMW specialized shop of my choice. passed PPI with flying colors.
Flew with wifey from Raleigh NC to Minneapolis, MN over the wk end - test drove and bought the car. (had no time to drive it home that long of a distance as i had to work the next day)
Then had the car shipped in closed container to NC. :)

[cakM3]

Got mine from one of the BMW mechanics where I have my M3 serviced. All the mechanics there were telling me that I need to buy this car. Turned out sweet and I am enjoying it as my new daily driver :thumbsup

Dane and BP have seen it up close....it's another project I'm looking forward to working on :biggrin

Funny thing is that the mechanic I got my ZHP from is the mechanic who now services it...:biggrin

[johnnyrad]

Saw on Autotrader the first day it was listed, drove up to Bridgeport CT the very next day and told the guy "yes please!" Put down a deposit, drove home, got financing, drove back up the following Saturday..then drove the 2.5 hrs back down and oh boy that was fun fun fun!

[midlandtech]

Had a big truck that was getting 8 mpg due to all the go fast goodies I had on it... Needed a more fuel efficient vehicle so was lookin at saabs merc's and cts's but nothin tickled my fancy... My buddy was moving up here to kc to work as the shop foreman at the bimmer dealership and actually found my zhp... Knowing the type of car it was he told me to jump on the car I drove the 40 miles test drove the car and made an offer the guy needed cash right then so he accepted. Thanks to my buddy I now have a kick butt little car that's in rediculously good condition and fun as hell to drive =)

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums (http://developer.palm.com/appredirect/?packageid=com.newnessdevelopments.forums)

[05ZIPPYZHP]

My next door neighbor noticed I had just bought an 02' 330ci and told me I should have bought his instead. He took me into his garage and showed me his babied ZHP. Told him to give me a month to sell the 02' and I would buy his. 3 weeks later I was a proud owner of an immaculate 05' ZHP. Didn't even know about a ZHP package untill he told me about all the goodies.

[BlackNTan]

I was looking to swap out my 05 3.0i Z4 because the ride was pretty rough and the kids couldn't ride in it so I started a Cars.com search with 500 mile radius. Given my experience with my local dealers, I had vowed not to buy another BMW, but that apparently didn't last long!

I will freely admit that I had no idea about what the ZHP package was, but I knew that I loved the way certain 330s looked. I didn't realize until later it was the 135M wheels and the M body kit that made them look so great. After a few weeks searching, I found my car in Pennsylvania (about 300 miles away). The car was at a BMW dealership so I felt more comfortable buying it without even touching it. I FedExed them a check and drove up to pick it up 10 days later. Only after I bought the car did I figure out the car was a ZHP and I found out more about the car through this wonderful site. Suppose that would qualify as "Dumb Luck" ;)

Now to work on the mods...

[3ZHP]

My story posted before this thread

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?561-The-Best-Christmas-Present-Ever-the-whole-story&highlight=Christmas+present

[lilcdkey]

I had been looking for 330ci's for about a month when I started to give up. The next day I was planning on looking at a 05 G35 coupe, but I saw the ZHP on cars.com at about 4 am. Bought it the next day instead of the G.

[danewilson77]

Mine is posted in project subforum.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[kayger12]

Mine is posted in project subforum.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

+1

Droid X. Tapatalk. Use it.

[GMATT]

My Short story.............Was looking at 2 ZHP Coupes. First was a 1 owner very low mileage (25k) loaded, agreed to pay the price (25K!) Owner decided 4 hours before I brought a deposit that he could not part with the car. Second was a very desirable All White/Alcantara with reported 32k miles $22.5k. Took the car for a PPI and was the best money I ever lost! Car had odometer pixel, light issues and a laundry list of things that needed repair. Finally, after the disappointment of not getting either car. my mechanic said, guy who is fanatical about his car is trading in a ZHP. Long story short, PO traded car at 415 pm, I purchased at 6 pm. Car did need some work, but is in overall good condition considering it has 85k. Paid $16,500

[nike001]

I had an e39 528 i was looking to get rid of, was scrolling through the bimmerforums 3 & Z series classifieds (since those were really the only other cars I liked) and found Terra's ad. This was all before I knew who he was..only ever knew him as the kid down the street with the red BMW i rarely ever saw. Talked to him and told him i'd buy the car..then he ended up telling me he's keeping it for a little longer so then I was on the hunt for a ZHP after finding out what it is.

About 1.5 weeks later I found mine now and went up and bought it. Probably shouldn't have jumped on one of the first ZHP's I saw but I was EAGER for one. Now I'm stuck doing all the maintenance I thought i'd be free from! (belts, tires, brakes, cooling system, vanos, etc)

So far in my life, I've found that impulse buying for me is actually working quite well... Don't know how. Hopefully this streak doesn't come to an end.

[xtremecro]

Was at a Honda delarship on long island ny the BMW caught my eye instead. They didn't know what a zhp was but I did! Asking price was 19500 I walked out on 15500 three days later. Ppi went well just a tire bubble and c.a. Bushings. Car had 42k and its a 05 silver grey sedan

[goofiefoot]

My adventure chronicled here - New Texas ZHP Owner (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?3007-New-Texas-ZHP-Owner)

[johnnyrad]

"Asking price was 19500 I walked out on 15500 three days later."

Stolen! Nice job

[CERF04ZHP]

I initially had been looking for an e46 RWD Touring... Sport/Premium/Cold... with a manual trans. I know, rare find. Well I looked and looked, weeks turned into months, so I decided to open up my search to e46 Sedans. And if I were to go with a sedan, I was going with the best of the best. My ZHP turned up on AutoTrader down in Hartford, CT. From the pictures, description, and telephone conversations I had with the gentleman who owned it, the car was clean, straight, and exactly what I was looking for... and I was ready to move on it. So that Friday, my wife and I drove down with a check. If the car was as expected, I was going to drive it back to Maine. Instead of a PPI, he offered to have it on the lift at his mechanic's garage when I arrived. I gave it a thorough inspection, reviewed all of the service records he had, gave him a check and a handshake, and off I went. :-D

[fricker66]

I got my '03 ZHP from a co-worker. His red BMW had always got my attention for how good it looked and sounded. In the fall of '08 he opted to get a 335 coupe and put up a flyer that the red sedan was for sale. At first I had no thoughts of buying the car as I had two sedans already in the garage and didn't need to max out the then new 3 car garage. However, he knew I'd enjoy the ZHP and kept after me for a number of days. I finally bit at the test drive and was well impressed by how it drove. Still wasn't going to buy it though... A few days later he convinced me to take it home for the night and spend more time with it hoping the additional time would change my mind. Well, it obviously did and I agreed to purchase the car the following day. Has been a great addition but do wonder at times why I have 3 4-door sedans in my garage, ha! The ZHP is the closest it can get to garage queen status!

[SoarinZHP]

I had a 325i with 162,000 mile that I was bored with. All the maintenance had been done. A friend of mine both enjoy fielding the car market. We both found the ZHP on the web. He drove it first. I went to look at it a few days later. It gave me goosebumps. It was love at first sight. It drove great and had a very good ppi report. Had an adversarial buying experience because the dealer knew what he had, as did I. It was a done deal.

I describe a fair car deal like this - both parties feel like they got screwed. I know he feels like he got screwed and I paid a bit more than I wanted. I felt the car and it's condition warranted a couple hundred bucks... Turned out I was right!

[johnrando]

Searched for months (including online and at dealers), couldn't find what I wanted, but found a beautiful 330ci and was going to buy it. Next day I looked in (of all things) the LA Times ads for one last ditch effort and found a Jet Black ZHP Vert, CPO; Nirvana, my perfect car! Couldn't believe my luck. Called the original dealer and told him I found something else, and went out and got the car that day (for less money than the non-ZHP).

More to the story, but turns out I beat someone else to the purchase by a matter of an hour, who had already expressed interest in the car but did not settle on trade-in value, etc of her existing car and had no paper work signed. I walked in with paperwork and immediately bought the car.

[Rovert]

1997: Drove an E36 328i Cab 5-speed for the weekend and fell in love with the 3 series.
2000: Dad bought an E39 540i and drove his E46 323i Auto courtesy car for the weekend and fell in love again!
2001 - 2004: Decided to save money to buy a BMW cash.
2003 - 2004: Went on my search for the mysterious unicorn'ed 2003 ZHP.
2005: 1 year later found it locally at a dealership parking lot by chance when at a BMW meet.
Next Day: It was mine...LOL
2011 (present): Still enjoying and can't wait to drive her. She's been one tough cookie that's for sure.

[llll1l1ll]

My E30 was becoming increasingly irritating and was just becoming senile. She's old. Started thinking about a new car, so I decided to make sure I could afford one and what my budget would be. Narrowed it down to what I would want after a while, since I was torn between a WRX, an M3 or a ZHP. I didn't know much about the ZHP at the time and hadn't even known it existed until I saw it mentioned somewhere when I was looking at M3s. I think what won me over was the fact I could get a sedan. I was sick of driving a coupe, and even though nobody really even rides in my cars, I just like added convenience of not having to fold a seat back. Plus, when people get in my coupes, they always scuff everything up getting in the back.

So, I decided to go for a ZHP. The lower maintenance, better doors and all around usability factor was inviting. I started hunting about two months ago. I was dead set on Imola Red, since I was tired of owning a black car. I wasn't really finding anything at all in the budget I wanted or the mileage I was looking for - or they were simply too far away.

Then, I noticed a craigslist ad for a ZHP in my area. It was black, but it had all the other options I wanted and the price was okay at $15,100. I emailed the guy, and although he answered my questions, he was sketching me out. The car had a little too much work to do for that price, so I just told him no thanks and gave the reasons why. A couple weeks later, I get an email from him saying that he has lowered the price to $13,900. Now we're talkin'. So I went and saw it. The guy is swamped with his job and his new kid, so he didn't have much time to really clean it up and make it look like the pictures. I'm smart and I can see through this. I drove it, and it drove nicely, but there was some smokey smell and some tire noise.

He had to run in when we got back since his wife was mad, so I thanked him for his time and told him I would contact him the next morning. I offered him $12,800 and linked him to the KBB pricing guide I used. He was pissed and could not take my offer. Fast forward another week and a half, and I spot an email saying that it's mine if I still want it.

So I jumped on the offer, but there was a catch: he was leaving out of town for some time, so the sale was going to take some time to complete. No worries, I use Metro everyday so I can wait. Spoke with my bank, did some paperwork, got some monies, and about three weeks later, I drove it home.

PS I forgot to mention that when I first looked at the car, it smelled like smoke and the owner claimed he had just smoked a cig so that was probably the case. I guess it was, since the car does not really even smell like smoke anymore.

[WOLFN8TR]

My wife got a new job as a Pharma Rep. She usually gets a company car but most companies are just giving a car allowance now. We currently own a 2006 4Runner and a 2008 Chevy 2500HD that is lifted with 35's. The original plan was for me to drive the truck to work and she could drive the 4Runner. After figuring how much diesel fuel was gonna cost per month just driving to work we decided to use the car allowance and get her a work car. We always wanted a BMW and always liked the look of the 330's. So the hunt began! I searched craigslist and autotrader in Arizona, Nevada and California. I found a 2005 330i ZHP down in Temecula Calif. The color scheme was what I really wanted. I had her dad that lives down in Temecula go look at it. The guy had a Carfax ready and was willing to take it to the BMW dealership for a complete inspection. They said the Oil Filter Housing Bracket was leaking bad, radiator hoses needed to be replaced, coolant flushed and a broken strut bracket. The total was $1700! The guy knocked off a few hundred for repairs and I did them myself for $100. Her dad drove it up to Las Vegas for us also.

Turns out my wife doesn't feel as safe driving the BMW as she does the 4Runner so guess who gets to drive it all the time!!

Before I bought the BMW I never knew what a ZHP was until after getting it home and learning more about the car. I guess I got pretty lucky buying the ZHP over the standard 330i. Love driving the car, it really makes going to work more tolerable.

[gr330zhp]

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?1500-Gr-s-Imola-Project

Pretty much my long story :)

[danewilson77]

Bump for new fellas.

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[webster]

i decided i wanted a new car in march when i had the timing belt service on my 02 acura done. i know that sounds silly, to shell out a bunch of $$$ for service and THEN decide to get a new car, but the timing belt was overdue by 10k+ miles and i wasn't sure what car i wanted or how long it would take to find it. in addition to the timing belt, the acura dealership said it need a new VCG, a new power steering pump and some other misc stuff, and i decided i didn't want to sink all that into a car i didn't really want anymore. i DID (foolishly) end up putting 2 new tires on the car about a week and a half before i sold it, but again, i didn't know how long i would be driving the acura when i had this done...

initially i wanted an E46 M3. pretty much my dream car since i was 16. my perfect match would have been an 03.5 or newer 6mt with ~70k miles or fewer. oh and my budget was $20k max. after extensively researching the maintenance and repair issues that i would need to address with almost any M3 (valve adjustments, etc) i decided it just wasn't gonna happen, especially given my budget. and in all honesty, i don't need that much muscle as a daily driver, and the M3 isn't exactly subtle in its ways.

next i considered the E92 328i. i knew i couldn't afford the 335s. so i found an 07 ZSP 6mt with 50k miles that was pretty nice, but my heart just wasn't in it. the E92s are bigger, heavier, softer, quieter, and IMO not nearly as nice to look at as the E46s. not to mention my total hatred for RFTs...

one day on autotrader i decided to look up some E46 330s just for the heck of it. i found a nice looking black ZHP (didn't know what ZHP was at the time) at a local dealer. i was struck by the wheels and body kit, and i emailed the dealer for some info on the car. sure enough he had just sold it. blast! i thought. but i wanted to know more about whatever package that car had, which led me to some searches on E46 fanatics and the performance package, and it didn't take long before i decided this was what i wanted.

a couple weeks later i found an imola red/alcantara ZHP coupe with roughly 70k miles listed for $16k at a local bmw dealership here in houston. went for a test drive, and immediately fell in love. this car had some serious interior wear (ripped side bolster, scratches all over the place) but the exterior looked immaculate. i was sold. except i knew i needed a PPI for it. so i asked the sales guy to send it to another dealer for inspection. later that afternoon i got a call from the sales guy letting me know that the other dealership reported so many problems that they would not even sell the car AT ALL! i tried to ask what exactly the problems were just out of curiousty, but all the guy would tell me is there were too many to name. then he tried to sell me a plain 330Ci (not even ZSP) and i promptly said no thanks.

shortly thereafter i found a link to this forum and decided to poke around and joined. looked in the classifieds section and found neil's sparkling graphite coupe listed. exactly what i was looking for, except it's in maryland. i was all set to do the deal though, and we agreed on a price. then i found out my financing credit union would not title a car from out of state unless it had passed TX inspection. so that pretty much put the end to my idea of buying a car out of state and shipping.

at this point i was starting to feel a little frustrated. i knew it was a good thing that i didn't buy a lemon, and probably that i didn't incur all the shipping costs from buying out of state, but damnit, i wanted a ZHP!

and then it happened. that same night i had to tell neil i couldn't buy his car, i just happened to find a CL ad for a silver grey metallic ZHP coupe 6mt with ~50k on the clock. it was the PO's 2nd car that sat garaged for most of its tenure with him. not a scratch on it (minus some minor curb rash on the wheels - as to be expected for the 135s). went to test drive it that night, agreed on a price pending PPI with the seller. next day he took it to a bmw dealership and it passed with flying colors. got the financing in order and closed the loan on the next business day. suddenly i went from down and out to the proud owner of a ZHP!

now i'm looking at getting some routine maintenance done before starting to tackle some minor cosmetic & performance mods. loving every second of the new car! (well minus the CDV issue which will be addressed next week...)

so that's my ZHP story.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Wes, great story. Thanks for sharing.