For Sale (SOLD): 2006 BMW 330 ZHP Alpine White Coupe (6MT) -- 13K miles -- $21,587

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Thanks for the heads up, Bruce.

2006 330ci ZHP For Sale (http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=291510556&dealer_id=606417&car_year=2006&sownerid=608450&lastBeginningStartYear=1981&end_year=2006&model=330CI&showZipError=n&pager.offset=100&search_lang=en&start_year=2006&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&search_type=used&body_code=0&first_record=101&distance=0&address=92026&rdm=1293331291259&marketZipError=false&sort_type=priceDESC&awsp=false&make=BMW&seller_type=b&num_records=25&cardist=2342&standard=false).

[BCS_ZHP]

Again, I drove this one the day after Thanksgiving. Its what you'd expect for a low mileage example. Expansion tank is good, belts good, FCABS good, no VANOS noises, brakes good, tire wear even but probably needs tires (summer Michelins are well worn in rear, fronts showing dry rot down inside the tread), all electronic features inside functioned as they should. The bad was just cosmetic -- rear bumper has multiple scrapes and needs to be repainted, small dent on the filler piece between rear bumper and license plate, "C" pillar material inside is coming loose and needs reglue or replacement, inside a little dirty and outside paint badly needs a detailing. I did not find any evidence of any paintwork, believe it will clean up nicely, the rubber on the shadowline trim in the tight corner is still pliable. I did a check with BMW N.A., it had only been in for maintenance once, an oil change around 8K miles. The original owner was a local marina owner, residue from his sticker is on the trunk, believe this was his wife's car as there is evidence of a car seat being in the rear and the seat memory position was for a short person.

I initially offered $17.5K for the car, we did the dance and they countered with $20K. My next offer was $18K, they countered with $19.5K. The salesman said we were close but I sat at $18K since I calculated it needed about $2.5K put into it for bumper, tires, and other clean-up, plus it should have a Service II since its been in the humidity of the beach for 4 years. I left a $100 refundable deposit to hold it over the weekend while I thought about it, Monday I called them and said no thanks please refund my deposit. Then it disappeared from their website a couple of days later.

About 2 weeks later, I called the sales manager I was dealing with that day to get my deposit refunded. Found out it was his last day, he told me he had found a better situation closer to his home. We talked about the car selling the week after I saw it. Then the week before Xmas my son noticed it online again but it had moved from their Ford dealership website to their Toyota website. Don't know if someone had trouble getting financing or what. The 2 dealerships are collocated and the day I went to see it, they were playing games and hiding the car from each other.

AW appears to be a rare color, if it only had the alcantara. This should be a good one for someone who is willing to go into it realizing that they need to add a little bit of money and clean-up right up front to have a very nice car.

Bruce

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Bruce, thanks for the detailed write up. Were it not for the fact that I already have a ZHP (and don't need yet another one), I'd be negotiating on this one right now.

Just for comparison's sake, in August I paid $18,950 for my imola red ZHP, which had 56,700 miles on the ODO. Additionally, for a little more regional texture, those east coast ZHPs fetch higher sale prices.

If anyone else is interested in what ZHP Mafia members have been paying, see this thread here: BMW ZHP 330 Prices -- What ZHP Mafia Members Paid (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?376-ZHP-Prices-What-Did-You-Pay).

[nk_zhp]

AW is pretty! I had an AW 330i Sport and it looked great, though IR is equally good IMO.

[az3579]

In hindsight, I would have taken an Alpine over the Imola mainly because you can't really see all the rocks chips that will (or already has) get/gotten there.
And then I would have immediately regretted it because Imola is just sooo sharp when clean. The white is as well, but doesn't catch the eye as much.

The regret would be minimal though, because Alpine looks sooo sexy when clean as well, and is a rare color on the ZHP to boot.

[nk_zhp]

The only problem with AW driven in snow/salt condition is over time the area just behind the fron wheels starts to yellow out. This is not a permanent paint issue but does require some thorough paint cleansing.

My summer only driven M3 is AW also, and man I gotta tell you it looks like a million bucks when it's all clean, tearing up off-ramps at high (yet legal) speeds.

[az3579]

tearing up off-ramps at high (yet legal) speeds.

High speed and legal don't ever go in the same sentence, unless you're on the Autobahn. :p

[nk_zhp]

Ok fine "Professional driver on closed course..." :)

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Likes ^

[BCS_ZHP]

This AW one finally SOLD - So on Xmas eve, this one was bugging me, it was such low mileage with great potential. Knew I wasn't getting much other than some clothes for gifts, so I tried to give myself a present and I called back to up my offer to 18.5K. They thanked me but told me they were going to see what the holidays might bring and would call me back if we got into Jan and it hadn't sold. Got the call yesterday, a local person bought it for $20K.