New Member from Wichita

[ICTZHP]

Greetings everyone. I am a new member and wanted to introduce myself.

I live in Wichita, KS and have been a BMW owner since 2001 when I got an X5. In 2004, my wife got her 2004 ZHP, which has been her daily driver. In 2009, the '01 X5 was replaced by a new X5d. This past fall, my wife got a new 335 M-Sport. Instead of it replacing the ZHP, we just added to our stable. Neither one of us could bring ourselves to part with the ZHP. It's just too much fun to drive!

Since the ZHP has 110K miles on it, I have been refreshing things lately. Three weeks ago, it got BMW performance rotors and new pads all around. Two weeks ago, the original shocks and struts were replaced with Koni FSD's. And this weekend, I had the pleasure of replacing the window regulators in both front doors. Next will be dealing with the ZKW headlights, I've been reading threads on this and will be posting questions soon.

I have been perusing this forum for some time for information on the various projects. Hopefully I will be able relay some of my experiences working on the car to help others.

John

8045

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Welcome, John.


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[BavarianZHP]

A warm welcome to you.

Glad to hear you're keepin' the old gal around and treating her right! I had to do work on the ZHP doors as well, so we're bonding over experiences already. I wish you luck with the headlight upgrades.

That's one gorgeous EBII F30 you have there, in all honesty how do the two compare? Would love to read about the differences.

[Avetiso]

Welcome! Beautiful cars. You came to the right place for ZKW info.

[echo46]

Very nice cars. Welcome

[elric]

Welcome to the family!! Beautiful cars.

[kayger12]

Great cars.

Welcome to the family.

Sent from my kick-A Galaxy S3

[BCS_ZHP]

Welcome

[danewilson77]

John, welcome.

HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA

[GMATT]

John Welcome! And nice line up of cars:)

Gary

[JupiterBMW]

Hey John, welcome to the forum! Great looking stable of cars you've got there. I've driven a luxury line F30 328i, but I'd love to hear how the M-sport 335i compares... Enjoy your time here and definitely post any questions you may have, lots of great info here and helpful members!

[wertyu78]

Welcome to the family.

[Ryans323i]

Welcome!

[Torxuvin]

Mmmm Estoril :drool

Welcome

[jgt_zhp]

Welcome, from another heartland ZHP owner. Nice looking fleet you've got there.

[UdubBadger]

Welcome john


- Goin' H.A.M. Mobile

[M3TA5IN]

Welcome John, love the rides!

I grew up a couple hours north of you. My sisters are both getting ready to move to Wichita.


Sent from my fancy city machine.

[ICTZHP]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome!

As for comparison of the two cars, the first thing you notice is the size. Since the ZHP has been my wife's daily driver and now the F30 is her daily driver, she was the first to comment about how much bigger the F30 is. To me, the car doesn't drive that big, but I am 6'9", so the added interior space is welcome. However, the ZHP just feels right. Maybe that's just familiarity from owning it for so long, not sure.

On the driving side, they are both a blast.

Power: I never felt that the ZHP lacked for power, but it is hard to ignore the added power of the 335i. You really need to pay attention or you just might start collecting tickets.

Transmission: I have to admit that both of the cars are automatics. My wife is a realtor and having a manual transmission car would not be practical for her showing houses. The ZHP transmission has always worked well, no complaints what so ever. We got the Sport Auto with paddle shifters in the F30. Great transmission! It shifts very fast, holds gears when you want it to and the throttle response is excellent. The shift behavior and throttle response are tied in with the driving modes. In sport mode, the car feels like it is always ready to attack. Pretty cool!

Steering: The steering is much lighter on the F30. At parking lot speeds, it feels overly boosted to me, but I am used to the heavy feel of my X5. Depending on the driving mode you select (I always use sport mode), the driving feel at speed is still lighter than the ZHP, but communicates well. We got the adaptive handling package, so it does have the variable sport steering, I do not have enough seat time in an F30 without it to say how much that changes the equation.

Handling: I have not autocrossed the F30 yet, but for general driving the handling feels comparable. The different driving modes on the F30 do change the handling (if you have the dynamic handling package). I prefer the feel of the sport setting, to me, it feels very much like the ZHP, even more now that I replaced the struts and shocks on our ZHP. I hadn't really noticed that the ZHP felt bad with the tired struts and shocks, but when I replaced them, it was like getting reintroduced to the car that we originally bought. Wow!

Braking: To me that was the biggest difference that I noticed. I love the immediate grab of the E46 brakes (and my X5 for that matter). I did not get that feel from any of the F30's that we test drove. So, we opted to get the M performance brakes port installed. They do make a difference, but still do not replicate the initial bite of the stock ZHP brakes. Saying that, the F30 has no problem stopping. If you stand on the brakes in the F30, it stops just as confidently and I'm sure just as short/quickly as the ZHP. It's just a different feel. I read a thread somewhere that I think describes this best: With the F30, you need to modulate the brakes with how far you push, whereas the ZHP brakes are modulated with how hard you push. Shades of gray, but I think it describes it pretty well.

The other thing that I really wish was available on the F30 is a spare tire. I am not a run flat hater, but the price difference is pretty steep and it would be nice to have the option to go non-run flat without rolling the dice on a flat tire.

Finally, colors. My wife has a thing for M colors and everyone takes notice. There is just something about Imola Red though!

I am far from a "reviewer", but that's a quick comparison. Let me know you have particular questions.

John

[ICTZHP]

Welcome John, love the rides!

I grew up a couple hours north of you. My sisters are both getting ready to move to Wichita.


Sent from my fancy city machine.

Small world, I grew up in NE PA! Go figure.

[JupiterBMW]

Wow John, great writeup... I have an X3 M-sport (I know, not the SAME thing) but I can definitely agree with you on the different driving modes. I'm not sure if you have the new eco mode with auto start/stop... We don't have that on our X3. We have normal/sport/sport+ modes... Do you have that as well? I have sport mode set to adapt the suspension only... Then in sport+ it adjusts the engine/transmission characters as well, and you're right, it is definitely ready to pounce at any moment. Either way, great vehicle. The M-sport version of the new F30 is a great looking car! Good choice!

[Dave_B]

Welcome to the Family.

Nice stable you have there.

[johnrando]

Welcome, great add!

[ICTZHP]

Wow John, great writeup... I have an X3 M-sport (I know, not the SAME thing) but I can definitely agree with you on the different driving modes. I'm not sure if you have the new eco mode with auto start/stop... We don't have that on our X3. We have normal/sport/sport+ modes... Do you have that as well? I have sport mode set to adapt the suspension only... Then in sport+ it adjusts the engine/transmission characters as well, and you're right, it is definitely ready to pounce at any moment. Either way, great vehicle. The M-sport version of the new F30 is a great looking car! Good choice!

Yes, we have the eco pro mode. I can say that I have not used it, so I cannot comment on that. The F30 came with the start/stop "feature". My wife and I hated it, it just felt weird for the engine to stop when you stopped. Maybe we are too old school, to us the engine only stops on its own when something is wrong. We had the dealer code the car to remember the last setting for start/stop. I wish that would apply to the driving mode, but it does not.

We also have the sport mode set for chassis/steering only. That way we can get the suspension feel and steering response we want and not hit fuel economy. As you said, sport+ is there or you can bump the gear selector over and be in engine sport mode. Many options to keep people happy. We are.

Oh, the one thing that I forgot to mention in my write-up was the sound. The F30 is positively muted compared to the ZHP. You don't even hear the F30 pull into the garage, but the ZHP has a deep rumble (100% stock exhaust) that just speaks to you. No mistaking when the ZHP starts!

[fredo]

Welcome, John ! Glad to hear the ZHP is in good hands.

[RITmusic2k]

Greetings!

[Mike V]

Welcome! I'm loving the Estoril M Sport. I just discovered a few days ago that Estoril has made a return.

I drove to Wichita last year to check out a 2002 M3. It turned out to be a bust, but I was surprised on how nice Wichita is.

[Ryans323i]

Thanks for writing the comparison. It was a great read!

[BavarianZHP]

What surprises me most is that you're 6'9" and fit comfortably inside the ZHP! All of my friends' heads touch the ceiling and they're not even close to your stature.

[ICTZHP]

What surprises me most is that you're 6'9" and fit comfortably inside the ZHP! All of my friends' heads touch the ceiling and they're not even close to your stature.

Being 6'9" has its challenges. My hair definitely rubs the headliner, but until my '09 X5, I didn't know what it felt like to really fit in a vehicle. So, I grew accustomed to making accommodations for cars. To me, the ZHP is certainly worthwhile to accommodate. Now you should see it when I have to wear a helmet for auto crossing.;)

[Crickett]

Another Kansan! :hi I was born & raised in Salina & lived in Wichita for a year in '06 – '07!

Absolutely wonderful stable you have, & I love that you autoX! :applause2

Welcome to the Family!!

[Reckless]

Nice Stable and Welcome

[Don Adolfo]

Benvenuto a la famiglia John. Nice cars, love 'em all.

[johnnyrad]

Welcome John, from a fellow PA'er!

[Stigissimo]

wow.... the F30 is gorgeous. Still love the Imola though obv :thumbup

[Lost_One]

That's a good looking family portrait. hehe Welcome aboard