Such an iconic vehicle, the Z3 Coupe, with love-it-or-hate-it styling and an enthusiastic following among BMW enthusiasts! Rare, too, with only 2,071 produced, according to the Z3 Coupe Buyer's Guide. That's even more rare than the M Coupe (2,858 produced)
If you're reading this, I'm guessing that like me, you're in the "love it" camp for these little cars. This one is my second Z3 Coupe (the first was a mighty M Coupe), and I bought it over five years ago as a project car. It had some needs, but it had several huge benefits: it had never been wrecked, it had no rust, and even with some work needed it ran and drove great. I maintained a modest blog about the work done - you can see all the posts at this link. I'm a BMW Car Club of America member and all-round Bimmer enthusiast, and I've enjoyed my time with the Z3 Coupe!
That picture is in front of my workplace, Lancaster Church of the Brethren, where I'm Director of Music. My goal in this extensive ad is to tell you exactly what I'm offering for sale, both the good and the bad of it. We'll start here - check out these two numbers:
202,000 miles - asking $7900
If either of those numbers, or both of them in conjunction, give you heartburn, then you can decide whether to keep reading! Over the last five years, including purchase price, I've spent around $13,000 on the car, and have done a lot of work to make it a reliable and settled driver. Indeed, the highest and best use for this car is to use it as a daily driver, or perhaps to use it as a very good start for a dedicated track day car. If you've followed Z3 Coupe prices at z3coupebuyersguide.com, you already know my pricing is very attractive!
There's one more disclosure I need to make right away, because it might be a deal-breaker for you: the airbag light is on and has been ever since I bought the car. That's not a problem in Pennsylvania, where I live. You can pass state inspections without airbags, and I elected to leave them alone, since I don't want a 1999 airbag exploding in my face, anyway. If you live elsewhere, you'll need to check the rules in your state.
Speaking of State Inspection, it just passed with flying colors. Since you can do that early in PA, it is inspected through December of 2017:
If you want a closer look at any of the pictures below, just click to see it full sized. Now let's take a detailed look, beginning with....
WORK PERFORMED
Engine tune-up
Cooling System rebuilt
Valve Cover gasket replacement
All fluids (oil, transmission oil, rear oil, brake fluid, BMW antifreeze)
New Bilstein Sport shocks
New BavAuto springs
New ball joints, and bushings
New Kumho high performance all-season tires
Powder coated wheels
New headlight bulbs (all of them)
Transmission shift detent fix
Shifter rebuild
BMW ZHP shift knob
Replaced driver's seat with newer, low-mileage one
Repaired ABS brake system
Replace all brake lines with braided, Teflon-lined
New JCV stereo with Bluetooth and iPod control
New Interstate battery
THE BODY is very straight, and the paint is original. As you'd expect, over 200k miles has made a lot of stone chips and fades, but it looks good on the road. The front spoiler was clearly bumped on curbs a few times (not by me!), and the paint is pretty scuffed and cracked down there. There's a small blemish on the hood (like a darker spot, about a half inch by two inches) that is not visible in the photos below. I couldn't make it stand out in the pictures. The windshield is apparently the original, and has a good bit of "sandblasting." Still passes inspection, but replacing it was going to be my next project.
THE INTERIOR is in pretty good shape. The headliner is good. The carpet is intact, with wear mostly on the removable mats. The interior plastic is good, but not great. The steering wheel is worn but not torn. As noted above, the airbag light is on. The JVC stereo is quite good, driving the stock BMW amp, subwoofer and speakers. It has Bluetooth, with a microphone mounted in front of the driver, a CD player, and iPod control. The iPod cable terminates in the center console, and you can also hook up a USB drive for music. Heat and air conditioning work fine. The lock actuator for the passenger door is dead, but you can unlock manually from inside, or from outside with the key. Outside mirror adjustments work on both mirrors. Auto-down and up works on both windows. Two keys with remotes included.
I mentioned under "Work Performed" that I had replaced the driver's seat. The original was torn, and the gearbox to raise and lower the seat was stripped. All better now - the original is to the left, and the replacement to the right.
THE DRIVETRAIN has benefited from a lot of work. When I bought the car, the check engine light was on. That turned out to be cracked boots for the fuel injection. Replacing both with BMW parts permanently fixed it. I also replaced all fluids, plugs, air filter, radiator, thermostat housing and thermostat, large radiator hoses, fan, serpentine belt, valve cover gasket and other stuff. The prior owner had recently replaced the water pump, and I reused that. Here's part of the stuff I removed:
The engine starts instantly and runs great! Oil consumption is minimal, with no smoke when cold or hot. Water temperature is perfect under all conditions. Just recently, I replaced the battery with an Interstate vented battery.
The biggest project I undertook was to correct a common BMW fault - the detents for the shifter had frozen, which makes shifting vague. Fixing it is a transmission-out process, and requires some special tools I had to buy. While in there, I rebuilt the shifter too, and added a very cool BMW ZHP shift knob. Shorter than stock, it gives the perfect feel. While working on that project, I also replaced the giubo (the center bushing in the driveshaft), and the clutch throwout bearing and bearing shaft. The BMW clutch had lots of meat left, so I reused it. Now the trans shifts very nicely, with only a slight click from the synchronizers.
THE SUSPENSION AND BRAKES got attention too. The stock shocks (original equipment?) were so dead that I could easily compress them with one hand. I spent some serious bucks to buy new Bilstein sport shocks and Bavarian Autosport springs. It was quite a job - look at all the stuff I had to remove to get the rear shocks out!
Here's one of the front Bilstein struts about to go back in. That's not me - a friend was giving me a hand:
The brakes were in good shape, but I elected to replace the rubber hoses with braided, Teflon-lined hoses from Bavarian Autosport. There are six - one at each wheel, a fifth at the differential, and the sixth is for the clutch.
The tires are Kumho Ecsta 4X all-season, high-performance radials in the stock size on stock 17" wheels. The wheels have been powder coated a slightly darker than stock color, and they look great. The tires have around 5000 miles on them. The fronts have plenty of life left. Like many BMWs, this one is hard on the rear tires! The inside tread of the rear tires measured 4/32" in the recent state inspection. I'd say another 4-5000 miles and the rears will be done.
I have plenty of receipts to substantiate the work done:
So, there you have it! This car is sorted, quick and fast, and handles beautifully! You may wonder why I'm selling the car after all that work! Well... my head was turned by another - this one is NOT for sale! It was even featured in the letters column of Roundel, the official BMW Car Club of America magazine!
Once I got the car pictured above last April, the Z3 Coupe hasn't seen much action (although I was sure to drive it every few weeks to keep it exercised). I realized, when I got the car inspected this week, that I had only driven the Z3 Coupe 600 miles in the past year. Time to let it go, and take my lumps on all that money I "invested." My loss is your gain! Call me today!