closer to purchase of BMW 330 ZHP .....maybe

[Nomar06]

A buddy of mine happened to be at a local BMW indy shop (Eurowise) and noticed that the AW ZHP I've been eyeballing was there. He called me and I headed over there. Man.....this car is one sezzy BMW. Makes me want it more now that I have looked it over and got in it. Shame I couldn't drive it but def will be contacting the dealer about it.

It was there for "basic service" and I think a small idle issue, according to the shop owner. All of the techs and the owner like the car and think its a deal.

Any insight on what could be making the car have an idle issue? Can't remember the actual term that was used.

Few issues that I saw were the wear on the bolsters(drivers side), scratches on the cup holder with a crack in it, small bit of paint missing on one of the rear wheels, rear tires are worn, front lower mesh grill is faded to a gray color and the windshield cowl is faded and the rubber part of it has cracks.

Pic for ref...
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ecl-photos/Fz/0z/5v/AC/j2/cY/Gk/8H/Ro/gH/9Q_640.jpg

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Let me only address the cupholder. Mine was warped. I replaced it with a new one. Took about five second to install. Look to pay about $20 for new cupholder.

[kayger12]

Idle issue was probably the idle control valve.

Car sounds nice if the price is right.

Use the minor cosmetic issues to your advantage in negotiation if the test drive is satisfactory.

Keep us updated!

[bimmer848]

saw this in my search a while back. great looking car. surprised its still available

[mimalmo]

Wow, thought this one was sold a long time ago. Great looking car. All the "issues" you mentioned are fairly easy fixes with the windshield cowl being the only thing that would take some more time and effort.

[pyreguy]

I like this car for you!

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Nomar, will you be putting stock style 135s on the car?

[Nomar06]

Not sure about the wheels....I like the stance it has but not too crazy about the rears since they are streched a good bit, IMO. I don't mind the 135s but maybe another wheel. LM's are yummy esp in a shade of Mag Blue, lol. I have an obsession with Volks Mag Blue color.

Not too many things to gripe about the car so I will def bring up the small issues and mainly the rear tires. Quick online search resulted in roughly $230 a peice for rear tires, 265-30-19s then add mount and shipping.

Oh, forgot to mention the alcantara steering wheel is pretty bad. Might be too far gone for a cleanning. Most of the wheel is covered in "gunk" and there are just a couple of inches of the wheel towards the bottom where you can feel the true alcantara.

They are still asking $13.9 for it and close to 110k. Trying to stick to my car budget so the Si trade in will def come in play.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

$13.9 for 110K miles? That's too high. Work that price down.

[Nomar06]

Im getting a couple mixed feelings on the price....some say its a deal aothers say its too much. WHat would you guys pay for it and what could I work down to if the only issues with it are what I mentioned about it?

[danewilson77]

A buddy of mine happened to be at a local BMW indy shop(Eurowise) and noticed that the AW ZHP I've been eyeballin was there. He called me and I headed over there. Man.....this car is one sezzy BMW. Makes me want it more now that I have looked it over and got in it. Shame I couldn't drive it but def will be contacting the dealer about it.

It was there for "basic service" and I think a small idle issue, according to the shop owner. All of the techs and the owner like the car and think its a deal.

Any insight on what could be making the car have an idle issue? Can't remember the actual term that was used.

Few issues that I saw were the wear on the bolsters(drivers side), scratches on the cupholder with a crack in it, small bit of paint missing on one of the rear wheels, rear tires are worn, front lower mesh grill is faded to a grey color and the windsheild cowl is fadded and the rubber part of it has cracks.

Pic for ref...
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ecl-photos/Fz/0z/5v/AC/j2/cY/Gk/8H/Ro/gH/9Q_640.jpg

All of the above are simple issues.

New cowl is about 60 bux...

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Im getting a couple mixed feelings on the price....some say its a deal aothers say its too much. WHat would you guys pay for it and what could I work down to if the only issues with it are what I mentioned about it?

With those miles it is simply too much in my book, Nomar. I know you're on the east coast, where prices tend to be higher, but for 110K miles it should not be $13,900.

[danewilson77]

Paid 17.2k for 98k miles.....just for ref.

[mimalmo]

I may be alone on this but, I don't think the price is that far off. Take a look at what comparable (miles and condition) non-ZHP 330i's are doing in price and see what the price difference is. I think there's a premium for the ZHP there but its not a huge amount.

Also, if you're planning on selling those wheels, they hold some value so you can mentally deduct that from your purchase price (of course you'll need to buy some other wheels though).

[az3579]

That price seems fine to me. When I was looking, the only ZHP's I found below $15k had "high" miles (around 110k) and were in fair shape with lots of scratches and other small problems. That asking price seems very fair to me.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Time for a flight out to the midwest, guys. Or the west coast. There will be a cost associated with it, but it won't add up to $13,900 (new car plus acquisition costs).

[Nomar06]

lol.....damn you Beast Coast high prices!!!

Im ok with the asking price since I am picky about the color, looks good and nothing else out there jumps out at me that is semi-close(this one is 2 miles away) but still negetiations will come about, main one will be the trade in for my Si. I'm trying not to spend too much out of pocket since I do have a relatively fun and reliable car but has lost its magic in my eyes.

When I purchased the Si I was also eyeballin a AW 330ci but I passed on it and it always was in the back of my mind, especially now. In someways I settled for the Si which turned out to be a great car but the reliavility and Honda build quality has slipped and is going down hill in the Honda world.

[Nomar06]

the search continues.....the dealer left be a message today and I think he said he received or is supposed to receive a deposit on it but would call me back if the deal falls apart. Oh well....:dunno

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Nomar, no worries. Trust me. There are more ZHPs out there. Deals keep coming along.

[Nomar06]

I did notice that there was a good mileage change on it since they received it.....made me worry some. May not mean much but still. Initial pics showed a 105k, listed at 107k and when I saw it it had 109964.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

They are driving the piss out of it. When I sell cars, I stop driving them.

[danewilson77]

I did notice that there was a good mileage change on it since they received it.....made me worry some. May not mean much but still. Initial pics showed a 105k, listed at 107k and when I saw it it had 109964.

5k diff does seem a bit odd. Where was the car again?

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[Nomar06]

Car is in Charlotte, NC. The dealer only works by appointment only and had no cars at the location. I drove there since its 2 miles from my place. The cars are either in a smallish warehouse at the address listed or this guy is kind of a middle man that deals with the sales of privately owned cars?

[danewilson77]

Ok...sounds good. The place I bought mine from would loan their cars out to prospective buyers. I will never go this route again....

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[Nomar06]

Not that it matter but I found the prev. owner for the AW ZHP and he replaced the VANOS at around 70k miles. He wasn't terribly active on E46fanatics so thats all the info I could find.

Found an 04 Mystic Blue ZHP 6sp, black leather, navi, that has 102k miles and asking $13.7 from a dealer in Tampa, FL. 2 owner Florida car that looks to have been serviced at different BMW dealerships. Waiting to get pics since the car has not arrived at the dealer yet. Looks like they may have gotten the ZHP at an auction.

[danewilson77]

$13.7k is a pretty aggressive price.....

[Nomar06]

ugh.....why don't people respond back when you contact them? Frustrates me to no end. I'm not asking for much, just simple questions/requests that any buyer would ask. Guess no one really want to let go of their ZHP, lol.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Nomar, ZHPs -- clean ones -- are difficult to find. There are a lot of flaky sellers out there, too. I ran into plenty of them during my search. I know I posted a rant thread some place on one of the other forums. Let me see if I can find it. BRB.

Here it is (was over at e46fanatics):

Would love to buy a car from an enthusiast

I'm in the market for an E46 (330 or higher). Cash in hand. I'd love to buy a car from an enthusiast. That's why I have bookmarked this forum. Alas, I come here each day and often leave disappointed (with a few exceptions).

So many threads leave a lot to be desired.

How many miles are on the car? Price? What's the VIN? Where are the pictures? And if there are pictures, why are they so blurry? Any paint work? What mods have you done (if any)? How many owners?

So many sellers make it difficult on themselves. I figure that if you can't even post basic information, maybe you're hiding something. Indeed, if someone puts a bare-bones ad up, and says that I should contact them for more information, I ignore the thread and move on.

I suspect there are some nice cars being sold here on this forum. Unfortunately, a lot of sellers just don't seem willing to put in the necessary work to get the car sold.

The easier the seller makes it on me (you'd think that sellers would be striving for this), the better chance there is of selling me a car.

Good luck to all.
----

I posted that after a sale fell through. We agreed to a price and then the guy said that he could not sell it -- because he had to buy another car still. Really? Then what in the hell are you doing putting your car up for sale? If you can't actually carry out the sale, why waste everyone's time? That irritated me.

[Nomar06]

Also, is it too hard to update a thread if you sold the car? I have seen plenty of threads on E46Fanatics were the OP never updates and people are left wondering. I even saw one thread where Dane has asked for more info but never got a respond back from the OP.

[nk_zhp]

Also, is it too hard to update a thread if you sold the car? I have seen plenty of threads on E46Fanatics were the OP never updates and people are left wondering. I even saw one thread where Dane has asked for more info but never got a respond back from the OP.

To some extent it's hard to blame people for that. A lot of times people post cars for sale in many places so when it's finally sold they just ignore any requests/emails until the listing just drops down the threads. Forum style classifieds are a good exposure but that's why more classical style for sale sites with listing expiration are a good way to go.