So I picked up my new-to-me ZHP coupe on Saturday, and figured I should finally join the forum I've been browsing for so long. The car is an '05 Silbergrau Metallic coupe in really great condition - cold weather and premium packages, 139K Km's (86K miles). Will take some photos, but it's completely stock, so the pictures won't be anything people here haven't seen before.
I'll share a bit of my purchase story though in light of pictures for now....
I started looking for a ZHP more seriously about 6 months ago, which wasn't an ideal time seeing as winter was approaching - I'm in the Greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada. Back in November I found an Estoril coupe that I'm sure most here are familiar with, but ultimately it didn't work out. I proceeded to go see other ZHP's whenever they popped up, but it seemed there were always one or two things that turned me off, or at least made me hesitant. I wasn't in any rush and figured more would get listed when the snow melted. Fast forward to early April.....
One afternoon a few weeks ago, I was doing my almost daily browsing of the usual listing spots, including Autotrader. Usually I specified 'ZHP' as a search term since I knew I was pretty set on a ZHP at that point, and didn't want to have to wade through the mass of 3 series cars that turn up. On this particular afternoon, for whatever reason, I decided to do a more broad search of all 2004/2005 3 series, and I came across a 05 Silbergrau coupe at a Mazda dealership a little under 2 hours away. It was just listed that day. It had all of the cosmetic ZHP goodies in the pics....could it be? I say this knowing that there are many cars out there with the cosmetic package but without the M Performance package. In addition, the title of the Autotrader ad simply read "2005 BMW 3 Series Ci", with the description below being boilerplate dealership verbiage, and only had the bare bones info about the car - year, colour, transmission, mileage - nothing regarding options, etc. I called the dealership up right away and asked about the car, including a request for the last 7 digits of the VIN. The price was in "way too good to be true" territory, so was trying not to get my hopes up. I ran it in a BMW VIN checker online and sure enough, there it was....Performance Package! It was a ZHP! Called back and booked an appointment to see it the next day. I started to grow a little nervous of someone else finding it, so after about an hour, I called back again and put a $500 refundable deposit down so that I effectively had it reserved and first right of refusal.
I headed down the next day to see the car....I was a little nervous that things wouldn't check out. So often pictures make a car look great, yet it can be underwhelming in person. I was also a little paranoid that they would figure out the price was too low, or that someone else would swoop in and steal it/offer them more. Thankfully that wasn't the case....and the car was in fantastic shape. The exterior was pretty darn mint save for some very minor stone chips on the front end that were expected. The interior was in equally great shape aside from the steering wheel/shift knob showing some wear, and there being a bit of a scratch on the driver's seat. The one thing that disappointed me was that the dealership threw out ALL of the maintenance records....they said they did this due to privacy because the records showed the PO's personal and CC info. It was at least good to know that there were records there though. The silver lining to the records was that the local BMW dealership was right across the street - the sales person called over and found out as much as she could about the car. She came back and said the car (and PO) were actually well known by the dealership, and I was advised that the PO took good care and pride in the car. I then decided to walk over and have a little chat with the Service Mgr at BMW myself about the car, and walked away confident (he actually told me flat out that he had asked the PO to let him know if/when he ever decided to sell as he was interested in it himself). I went back over to Mazda and worked out a deal to buy it, conditional on a PPI by BMW. I would have jumped at the chance to pay the list price for the car, but they didn't know that, so was able to get an additional $500 off the price. In addition, the perks of buying through a dealership vs private were apparent too....and this dealership I have to say, seemed very diligent and customer-friendly. They replaced the battery in the car, ordered a new rear rim from BMW since apparently one was bent, and had a leather company come in to address the front seat. I had to wait for the rim to come in so couldn't take delivery that day, plus I needed to have BMW do a PPI (and the airbag recalls).
There was some definite suspense while waiting for the PPI results, but they confirmed all was in really great condition save for a couple minor things. The headlight washers were disconnected, but I had read that some people do that intentionally anyways. There was also apparently a small tear in the intake tube which they said while not a big deal, could cause a CEL in the future. I brought this up to Mazda, because why not, and they took an extra $250+tax off the price. No idea why so much, because I was honest in communicating that BMW told me it was a $75 part & $75 labour.
So with my due diligence done, and the new parts on the car, I went to pick it up this past Saturday. I think I had a perma-grin on my face the whole way home, and have to say I'm completely loving the car so far. I'm coming from an E30, so it's nice that this car retains that fun-to-drive factor, but with much more refinement. I still can't believe I got this car for such a great price - seems like it was definitely a case of where neither the dealership, nor the previous owner, realized what it was. Until I had the keys in my hand, I had this lingering "someone is gonna figure this out" feeling.
I have some ideas in my head as far things I'd like to do to the car, but I think I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it as-is for a bit before I do anything.
Looking forward to being an active member of this great community!
Reply With Quote
Congratulations on your new car and it sounds like a great find!!!
congrats on the ZHP. 
