Hey everyone, my name is Zak. A couple weeks ago I picked up this 2004 330i ZHP in Imola Red from a member on here(Go Horns!). I recently moved to Texas last May for work from Miami after graduating from Georgia Southern. I have been dailying my 1987 325i e30 which I swapped an M52 into before moving here (no a/c). I love my e30 but I just needed something a bit more daily friendly and something to fall back on while I turbo the e30. My dad is a BMW mechanic down in Miami so I have been around them for most of my life. He actually bought a zhp from one of his customers who did not want to pay to have repairs done and at the time we both did not even know what a zhp was and that he had gotten it. He was going to sell that to me but it had almost 200k miles on it and he had only owned it for maybe 15k of those miles so I didn't want to take the risk. I drive his when I go back home and enjoy it as it makes good power and is comfortable for a daily car.
I was not originally in the market for a zhp but had seen one just like my dads on craigslist with 96k miles for $6800 but it was an automatic(https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/6032803305.html). I was unsure if I wanted automatic but thought I could tough it out as it was still pretty quick and could be relaxing in traffic. I needed a filler car to get while I still save money to possible purchase an ecoboost F150 in the future(weird I know). I was on this forum looking to see what else there was and try to convince myself to get a zhp and randomly came across this topic http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...7-Keep-or-Sell. I noticed he was in Fort Worth as well and found him on e46fanatics to message him to find out some more info on his zhp and around what he would price it at to see if I should hold out and get a manual or just jump on the automatic one which I thought would have been sold that same week. I would have been willing to pay around $1k more for a manual transmission.
He had perfect maintenance records for the car and the car was in great condition besides a few cosmetic things that I don't mind too much. I offered him a lower price than what he was asking to save him some time on fixing the minor issues on the car which he accepted. It had just under 109k miles and I got it for $8,000. It has some tasteful mods, Arc-8 wheels, carbon fiber strut bar, performance air intake box, and a nice sub woofer in the trunk.
Overall I am pleased with the purchase and hope that it will keep running strong. My butt dyno tells me that my M52 swapped e30(M50 intake, S52 cams) is faster than the zhp. But the zhp is smoother which could make it not feel as fast. I have not had a chance to race them side by side but may have my friend drive the zhp and I race him in the e30 just for the record.
Here is a pic of my e30
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