The Basics
Year:2006
Model: 330Ci
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Exterior Color: Silbergrau Metallic (A08)
Interior: Grey Montana Leather (N6TT)
Trim: Black Cube
Packages: 767 Performance Package
Purchased: 02/05/2016
Mileage at purchase: 76,279 miles
VIN: WBABD53426PD99972
The Background
Hi, my name is Frank, and I’m a caraholic. Seriously, my co-workers in the past had started a pool to see how long I would keep a car… I was that bad about turning them over constantly. Don’t know what it is, no one else in my family had this car gene, but somehow I do. Grew up an Army brat in Germany with a German mother, I’ve always loved cars, especially German. Always loved E9 and E24 BMWs and anything 911, but it took me 47 years to finally buy a BMW and have been smitten badly ever since. Sure I’ve had some interesting cars (40+ including Merkur XR4TI, GSX, Talon AWD TSi, several GTIs & GLIs, amongst a plethora of family sedans, SUVs, and even a few pickups), but once I had my first Bimmer I was hooked. Just hate that it took so long to buy one as it would have saved me a lot of time and money as the car turnover wouldn’t have been as high….
The first BMW was a 99 M Roadster in Estoril over Estoril, which is still the best looking and driving car I have ever owned. Loved driving it, loved working on it, it was a joy. It wasn’t a daily driver, just for a sunny day fun car. I got so smitten that I wanted my daily driver to be that fun, so I decided to sell the M and my present daily driver Honda Accord to buy a BMW that served both purposes. So I sold the M (something I regret deeply until this day) and the Accord and bought my 2nd BMW, a 2011 E90 328i M-Sport 6MT. It was a great compromise, and served it’s daily driver use well…..until Snowmageddon and an aging left knee caught up to me. Sitting 10 hours in snow trapped 2 mph traffic accelerated some left knee issues that was diagnosed later as Arthritis. Faced reality and traded the 328i for a Mazda3 in the short term, a car that we bought for me to break in before we hand it off to my son for college while I figured out what I really wanted to do. After Snowmageddon and having had AWD cars before I knew that is what I wanted, also love a wagon/hatch body style for practicality and looks, so I found an 11 month old CPO X1 xDrive35i M-Sport to fulfill the daily duties. A great car (after a few suspension mods) that I’ve had almost 20 months now which is almost a record for me! It will be with me for a long time….
Great car as the X1 is, there really isn’t anything it needs to be worked on for fun…that, and I missed a manual transmission for driving enjoyment. With time, some exercise, and meds the knee is almost back to 100%, so after much groveling and begging SWMBO gave in, and let me begin search for another fun car for sunny day duty. I’m one of those guys that even when I don’t need a car I’m still researching and browsing thru the classifieds for fun, so I was fairly well versed in what I wanted and had it narrowed to three BMWs: an E24 Shark, a Z3 Coupe (M or 3.0) or a ZHP Coupe. I wanted a manual tranny coupe, under 100K miles, high driver+ condition but not a trailer queen, any color but black, white, or red, under $15K, and at the bottom of the depreciation curve if the car is garaged and taken care of.
Sharks: E24 and E9 are the best looking BMWs ever, and grew up in Germany lusting after them. There are some nice ones out there, and there are many basket cases rusting to death. For one in the condition I wanted they were starting to go out of range, M6s especially. Parts availability is also getting to be an issue, and I didn’t want to have to deal with that like I did back when I messed with air-cooled VWs.
Z3 Coupes: Love, love, love these cars, especially after having had the M Roadster. Probably my top choice if money weren’t an object, unfortunately Z3 Coupe are starting their climb up in prices. With patience and a LOT of luck I could have stumbled across one, but not likely as the word of their price climb was now out. Still kept an eye out in case I got lucky, but knew that most likely it would be:
ZHP Coupe: IMO E46 coupes and sedans are the best looking 3 series ever. Would have loved an M3, but with my criteria finding one in my price range would have been extremely tough, especially one without the high miles and not having been rode hard and put up wet. That and the M tax BMW charges on M specific parts I didn’t go in that direction. ZHPs were the next logical progression, checked all the criteria boxes, and the search was on…..
The Purchase
Since the fall when I really started looking I knew that I would end up having to buy long-distance since I had specific needs that would be unavailable locally, just as I had to do with my previous BMW purchases. Good cars that did match my criteria were often sold with 8-12 hours after first being posted, so even with a constant vigil and trying to do my day job I missed out on quite a few. Additionally depending on the sale type I had additional criteria:
Private Seller or small dealer: had to be near an airport and drive back in a weekend after a PPI, no shipping, so under a 600 mile radius from AL. No way would I pay for one without seeing it first myself.
Upper tier new car dealer: An upper tier dealer (BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus) would only carry used cars that would appeal to their high expectation clientele. This means excellent condition cars that had most likely been inspected and gotten some reconditioning, thus opening up the possible of jumping on a quick purchase, buying anywhere nationwide with shipping an option
By February I had started to loosen some of my criteria, considering cars with higher miles or even in (gasp) black. I was in serious contact with a seller here on ZHPmafia that had a 2005 black coupe, but for the price he was asking I just couldn’t bring myself to settle for black. So that afternoon on February 4th I declined purchasing from the seller. Two hours later I started the search again, and a new 2006 ZHP had shown up on Autotrader in San Diego at the Audi dealer. Silver-gray Metallic (check), Grey Interior (black would have been better, but check), 76K miles, showing a Manual transmission , clean CarFax and Autocheck showing 1 owner, but no pictures. Plugged the VIN into the bimmer.work decoder….YES! ZHP (option 767) with a manual transmission. Very lightly optioned otherwise.
Got in touch with the internet sales guy, who said it was still available and would send me pics immediately. Pics looked great, show a couple of minor cosmetic items like the front bumper needing a refinish, but the inside looked fantastic. They had done an internal PPI and offered a 2 year powertrain warranty for California, but couldn’t honor that in Alabama. That was okay, but it gave me another good indicator about the car. They had someone coming in the next morning to look at it and had a lot of calls already, so they held firm on price, minus a $200 discount for an internet purchase. Thought about it for 10 seconds and jumped on it. After paperwork, Fedex-ing stuff back and forth, and finally shipping the car was delivered 16 days later.
The Car
The car arrived a little dirty from the cross-country trip but undamaged.
The good:
Very good overall condition, especially the body. Only 2 major door dings.
Dealer actually repainted the front bumper from the original pics I saw (bonus)
New rotors and brakes all around (bonus x 2)
Tires are Conti DWS, all more than 7/32” showing
Interior leather is good, minor normal driver seat bolster wear and center armrest
Runs great, shifts well, suspension firm yet compliant, no troubling noises
All the buttons seem to work
Just a good clean 10 year old BMW that smells like a 10 year old BMW.....
The bad:
Unknown maintenance history, no paperwork
Cracked foglight
No grills around the foglights
Broken front bumper reflector
Rear bumper took a minor hit sometime in the past (livable for now)
Rubber is disintegrating around the rear quarter windows
Front hood insulation torn
Needs new floor mats (no biggie)
Black cube trim on both doors are scratched
Shift knob is well worn
Driver’s side mirror is delaminating
All wheels have some curbing (know a great local guy to fix that)
A & C Pillar Fabric is loose (no biggie)
Bunch of rock chips (Dr. Color Chip in the house!!)
Immediate needs:
Cooling system, hoses, belts, and pulleys are original (date on expansion tank was 06/2005)
Service indicator showing 1200 miles to go, so oil change and fluid check
A good once over by my local independent mechanic
Long-terms plans:
Refresh the cooling system
Address any immediate mechanical needs
Address cosmetic shortcomings
Full detail and color correction
Keep her as close to stock looking to slight OEM+ condition
The Maintenance
02/05/16 76,279 Vehicle Purchase Audi of San Diego
76,279 Parts Purchase ZHP Weighted Shift Knob 25117896886 02/20/16 76,279 Vehicle Delivery Hanover Transport
02/21/16 76,332 Parts Purchase Underhood Insulator 51488193941 02/24/16 76,377 Parts Purchase (Fischer BMW) Thermostat w/ housing/gasket 11537509227
Waterpump 11517527910
Upper radiator hose 17127510952
Lower radiator hose 11531436408
Expansion Tank 17117573781
Radiator Cap 17111742231
Engine drain plug crush ring 07119963200
Lower hose temp sensor 13621433077
1 gallon BMW antifreeze 82141467704
Parts Purchase (ECS Tuning) ContiTech Accessory Belt & Pulley Kit ES#2680999
ECS Black Gloss Grille ES#2747963
Parts Purchase (Cocomats.com) Black & Grey Cocomats (4 Piece Ser 02/27/16 76,435 BMW of Birmingham Passenger Airbag Replaced (Recall)
Passenger Front Reflector 63148383012 02/29/16 76,469 DIY Repainted Driver & Passenger Door Armrest
Installed ECS Front Black Gloss Grilles 03/02/16 76,495 DIY Installed Homelink Transmitter (eBay) 03/04/16 76,517 Dent Wizard Removed 4 Door Dings
Alloy Wheel Repair Repaired and refinished all 4 wheels 03/05/16 76,540 DIY Repaired C Pillar Covering
Refinished rear speaker grilles 03/08/16 76,611 DIY Installed Cocomats
Installed 2 missing tools into Toolkit (eBay) 03/11/16 76,621 Technique Automotive Cooling System Refresh
Belts, Tensioners, and Pulley R&R
Oil & Filter Change 03/18/16 76,727 Parts Purchase BMW Performance Black Grille 03/30/16 76,784 DIY Replaced Driver's Side Mirror Glass
Replaced Passenger Side Front Side Finisher Rear Gasket
Replaced Passenger Side Rear Vent Railing
Reply With Quote
