E46 BMW 330 ZHP Buyers Corner -- Is it a good deal?

[tigerm7]

Hello friends,

Looking to get some advice. I've been on and off for a ZHP search for four years now, decided to finally pull the trigger. Found one in Chicagoland where I'm from:
https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/c...442198962.html

We agreed to a rather good price. Seller is an older gentlemen, a BMW CCA member, and overall an enthusiast. Car has had all fluids replaced within last 10k miles, transmission serviced and water pump replaced. Interior needs some reconditioning but exterior is good condition with exception of a couple dings. Test drove it, and everything checked out really well. Couldn't spot anything mechanical.

Downside is its got four owners, current owner has only had it for a year and half ~ and CarFax shows one accident. Accident I'm told didn't require anything to be replaced, bumper was repaired; happened when he was turning into a lane (seller has repair order as well).

I'm not worried about resale value as my intent is to keep this until it runs to the ground and have another bimmer as my daily driver (though I'll DD this for a year on winter tires and I take a lot of road trips). Just want to hear some general thoughts, would you buy this at 8k? For something that you want to keep long term but not necessarily are in a rush? Ideally I'd want one with 1-2 owners and maintained like this with cold weather package but these are hard to find as is.

[John in VA]

If you had found the car 1.5 years ago it would have had 3 owners = closer to your ideal. At least the current owner performed some possibly deferred maintenance. Mileage is still considered as low, and price seems within reason, to me.
Re: CarFax - they don't show all of the history, unfortunately. If the repair was done professionally & you're happy with the appearance, don't worry.
If it doesn't have all the options you require & you're not needing to buy now you can wait, but Imola coupes are special, to some!
Good luck with your decision!

[fredo]

I say this is a keeper. Good miles, good price, honest seller. Mechanically sound. Most important: you had chance to drive the car. Plenty of other cars look nice on pics and paper ... but it's a different story when you see and drive them.

[GMM1]

You're on the east coast, so prices tend to be a bit higher. However, for those miles, I think you can do better on price.

Those are not the stock wheels. If I was the buyer, I'd have to find some style M135 wheels to put on the car. If the wheels aren't important to you, though, then no worries.

With those miles, though, there are some key maintenance issues that should have been addressed by this point (at 100,000 miles). Without a service history, there is no way to tell -- for sure -- how this car has been maintained over the years.

What's your budget, Nomar?

Hi, I’m new here. Bought a ZHP with 186k miles. What maintenance issues should have been addressed?
Gavin

[joeybananaz18]

Hi, I’m new here. Bought a ZHP with 186k miles. What maintenance issues should have been addressed?
Gavin

Welcome. I suppose a lot of things could vary from car to car, but there are e46-specific things like the cooling system that need to be checked. Did the car come with any maintenance history? Did you have a pre-purchase inspection done? If so what did that reveal?

[tigerm7]

Thank you @John in VA and @fredo. I'm going to proceed with a PPI, if everything checks out I think I'll proceed despite the shaky history.

[John in VA]

@GMM1 - check out the "Read Me" & Stickies at the top of these links for common issues & solutions:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=98

[kurupt17]

Wondering if this looks like a good deal. https://www.militarycarlot.com/car/r...mw-330ci/23454. Only thing I don't like is the color, prefer black or silver.

[fredo]

It's a good deal IMHO. Looks sharp.

[ELCID86]

Wondering if this looks like a good deal. https://www.militarycarlot.com/car/r...mw-330ci/23454. Only thing I don't like is the color, prefer black or silver.

Worth a look-see.