Hi folks,

As of last week, I'm the proud new owner of a ZHP sedan. I did a lot of fact finding on this forum before purchasing it and am thrilled to join as a member.

Short bio on me: I'm 42, married, with 2 kids, and live in Gainesville, FL. This is my 6th BMW (in order: e36 M3, e30 M3, e36 M3, e46 325iT, e39 M5 - all purchased used) and I love it so far. When not driving the ZHP, I have a gutted '91 Miata (Hard Dog roll bar, harnesses, etc) that I turbo'd for light track/auto-x duty. I'm in sales for a real estate software company.

As for the ZHP, I started shopping, having sold my M5 after only owning it for 8 months. It was gorgeous, but not terribly practical to use as a DD in my opinion. And reading many of the terrifying repair stories online didn't help. Once I sold it, I started shopping for a replacement in earnest (while driving a rental car for ~2 weeks, much to my wife's chagrin). I looked outside the BMW brand briefly but mainly focused on ZHPs and the 335i. I've always liked the former while the latter was appealing because of the forced induction. In the end, I decided on the ZHP, based on lower cost of buy in and how much I loved my e46 wagon.

I found my car on bimmerforums and bought it based on pictures and a PPI. I was focused on Imola cars (both of my e36 M3s were red - one was Mugello and the other Imola) and fell for this one once I realized it had the Natural color leather interior. 78k miles on the clock. It was in northern Virginia, so I ended a business trip there and drove it home. The drive was uneventful, for the most part, and gave me a chance to get acquainted with the car. It's been fun to drive and looks great.

Since I picked it up, I've noticed a few issues. The first was during the long ride home. In 5th or 6th gear, when applying WOT, the car clearly stumbles around 70 mph. From what I've read, this is not the first ZHP to suffer from this and it seems to be a DME issue. I'd love additional feedback on it before engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the local dealer to get it fixed. It seems like some folks have gotten reprogramming done for free, while others have paid mightily for it.

Another issue is the sketchy taillight recall. The car suffers from that, but luckily the PO included the recall paperwork for me, so that shouldn't be a fight.

The exterior was described as "slight road rash", though I would term what this car has as "serious" road rash. Maybe it's because I've never lived in a place with snow, salt, sand, rocks, etc but this car's front end has seen better days. I may end up having the front air bumper repainted as a result.

The interior is pretty good. Leather is in good shape but pretty hard (suggestions?). Carpets are clean. The only issues are within the center console. The hazard/central locking switch is cracked and depressed within it's position, so I need a new switch. The cup holders are marred up and the console itself (housing those items) is pretty torn up. Luckily none of them are terribly expensive, so I'm going to replace all three.

There is also a stereo issue. The PO replaced some components, as he stated in his FS thread:

"Upgraded stereo from Myer Emco, Boston Acoustics Z series components with JL 4 channel amp, factory head, steering wheel controls intact"

What I'm experiencing is really 2 issues. First, with the car on or at least the key to acc on, but the stereo off, there is discernible white noise. I guess I would call it static. Not loud, but certainly annoying. The second issue is, with the radio on, there is a high pitch whine that goes higher or lower coincident with vehicle speed. I know zero about stereo set up, so please offer any suggestions you can think of on this front. My guess is some wiring is picking up interference but it really is just a guess.

Like most BMW enthusiasts, I plan a few upgrades, though nothing terribly serious. It came with black kidneys, which I like and will keep and factory calipers painted red, which I don't and won't. My first upgrade has already been accomplished, which was a new shift knob (thanks to UdubBadger!). The old one was really worn. Next will be clear corners, as I'm not a fan of the amber on red look. The front headlight lenses will be replaced, as they've suffered the same road rash the car has. I will replace the front moulding with the license plate delete strip, given that FL doesn't require front plates. After that will most likely be different wheels. I had BBS RCs on my wagon and loved the look. Not sure what to go with on this car.

That's certainly long winded enough, so I'll stop there. I look forward to learning a great deal about this neat model and hope to contribute meaningful content when possible. The picture below is from the PO's FS thread, so we'll consider it the "before" picture.