“Hey what happened to that guy who wouldn’t shut up about buying a ZHP and then he finally did and you never hear from him anymore?”

"Dru" (therealkennyd)
04/27/2018 at 11:51 • Filed to: ZHP

Well I’m glad you asked! I think it’s high time I clued you in to what it’s like to own and daily a 13 year old German car. Now that the honeymoon period is over I’ll give my takes on the exterior, interior, performance, and practicality.

Exterior

My opinion remains that this is the best looking generation of 3 series. The ZHP bits up the aggressive factor without being overkill and detracting from the understated styling.

This one unfortunately has some chips in the Imola Red paint, which aren’t visible from a short distance but up close are somewhat damning. I’m hoping to have those remedied at some point with a Doctor Colorchip treatment. The wheels as well have some curb rash that I have already had quoted for refinishing.

The car still presents well and doesn’t look it’s age among other cars, with one glaring exception: it’s small. It’s size is closer to a modern 2 series than a 3 and it has a downright svelte curb weight of 3200 lbs.

Interior

I opted for a car with the Anthracite Black cloth seats as opposed to leather, because it’s hot as hell in South Carolina during the summer. The seats are generally comfortable with great support, if a bit fatiguing and firm after a lot of seat time.

Everything you touch feels nice and solid and mostly intuitive. The doors shut with that satisfying “thunk” that gives the impression of quality. The only thing that lets it down is some of the plastics near the cup holder which scratch easily. Cup holders seem to have been an afterthought here in general.

This cars formerly alcantara steering wheel is rather tired and could use replacing or repair, but it doesn’t detract from the overall appearance too much.

One downfall that needs addressing is the headliner. The original headliner material seems cheap, to me at least, and this ones begun to com apart at the C pillar. I’d love to replace it with black suede, but we’ll see.

Performance

Here’s where this car shines as a daily. You probably shouldn’t take than on ramp at 80, but you can, comfortably. The chassis is tight and stable and the suspension keeps the car flat through nearly anything. It currently rides on Michelin Pilot Super Sports, 255 Out back and 225 up front. I have yet to make them squeal in a curve, but not because I haven’t tried.

Acceleration is, well, pretty good. 0-60 was estimated at around 6 seconds, with some publications coming in at 5.5. It’s quick enough, but it’s probably not going to scare you. Part of me wishes I had cross shopped an e46 M3, but I really preferred the sedan since this was going to be my daily, and the M running costs were a factor. Still, I can’t help but wonder what 100 extra horses would do....

The steering on this car is sublime. It’s what steering should feel like. Heavy, but not cumbersome. Communicative with the front end. Shifting is also a joy with a weighted shift knob and precise gates, I’ve yet to miss a shift.

Practicality

You can either have two cup holders or an armrest, but not both. This is my biggest gripe in regards to the layout of things and is probably an indicator of a European car in an American market. The ash trays are more thought out than the cup holder.

My yeti rambler fits nicely in the cup holder, albeit a shade too high making shifting awkward. And for EurOppos curious why I take it everywhere, it’s usually full of water or black coffee, both of which are essential to life.

I’m a short guy with short legs, so the backseat has plenty of room for another adult once I have my seat in position. However, it would not accommodate a car full of tall people in much comfort.

The trunk space is quite satisfying, I’ve done a couple of Sams Club runs without sacrificing back seat space.

The ride quality is decent, not harsh but neither is it plush. But it feels solid for such a small car.

Fuel mileage is okay around town and pretty good on the highway, I average 20mpg in 95% city driving, which sounds egregious in such a small car, but my previous daily got about 12mpg city, so it’s an improvement. Highway mpg is around 30. The tank is of decent size as well, around 16 gallons, so I have driven nonstop for 6 hours or so before.

All in all it is the right car for me at this point in my life I can’t help but wonder about more power, even though I don’t need it. This car is plenty fun at speeds that will only get you a ticket

Should you be in the market for one, I would suggest finding a higher mileage one with good history, as it will have a lower cost of entry. Values on these are closely associated with mileage, but they are known to hold up well, so a well kept high mileage car could be quite the performane bargain.

DISCUSSION (18)

Dasupersprint - base trim is enough > Dru
05/01/2018 at 08:40

Cool car, I agree it’s the best looking 3 series. And seeing the new ones it might stay that way for a long time

functionoverfashion > Dru
05/01/2018 at 09:11

Man, I agree with pretty much everything there. I have been driving a 325 wagon (two different ones) since 2009. I can’t really see what more I would want from a daily. I mean, more power would be fun. But I still love getting behind the wheel after 9 years.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Dru
05/01/2018 at 09:37

Very nice and welcome to the club. FYI, when the time comes to refresh the rear suspension(and it will) the lower rear outer control arm bushings are solid while the uppers are rubber, but they both share the same inner and outer diameter, so you can use the solid lowers in both the upper and lower positions. You won’t notice any difference in NVH, but you will notice the back end is more stable under load. Also, when that day comes, get poly rear subframe bushings. Again, you won’t notice a change in NVH, but the back end will feel better. Make sure you get ZHP front control arms when that day comes, they are different from the stock ones as they have solid bushings instead of the rubber one installed on the rest of the non-M e46's.

diplodicus > Dru
05/01/2018 at 09:42

E30 is best looking 3 series.

Party-vi > Dru
05/01/2018 at 09:42

“The steering on this car is sublime. It’s what steering should feel like. Heavy, but not cumbersome. Communicative with the front end.”

I miss my E46

WilliamsSW > Party-vi
05/01/2018 at 10:14

God damn was about to copy/paste the same damn quote. So, so true.

I miss new cars with hydraulic steering, RIP.

WilliamsSW > Dru
05/01/2018 at 10:16

Yup - do you have a shift kit on it? Throws are a lot longer than new cars are these days, but I kinda like my stock E46 personally.

And yeah, this car is from a time when Europeans thought cupholders in cars were a stupid idea, so they only went along with it grudgingly.

Dru > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
05/01/2018 at 11:19

Thanks for the insight. This car actually has accident history, yet maintains a clear title, wherein the rear end was rebuilt several years back. I have receipts from the BMW dealer who did it. I’m hoping I can dodge some of those issues. But if I can’t, it always presents an opportunity to upgrade parts.

I currently neee control arm bushings on the front end, and I’m not sure what I should get.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Dru
05/01/2018 at 12:30

I put in Whiteline Poly bushings and have been super happy with them. A tiny uptick in NVH, but a big uptick in how planted the front end feels. Also having them bushings pre-pressed into the lollipops makes life much easier. You can literally press them on by hand in about 15 minutes(provided you have access to power tools for the various bolts you need to remove). Just make sure you have/properly reinstall the front chassis brace. It should be a fairly large aluminum shield with 8+ bolts that ties the front subframe to the car’s frame. Sometimes they get removed by PO’s that were too lazy to put them back on. Not having one make the front of the car a bit wobbly.

If you are getting up there in miles(around 100k) and the front control arms are still original, the bushings are likely worn out or at least getting close to the end. You can’t replace just the bushings on the e46, you have to do the whole arm. They aren’t going to be cheap, but it’s part number 31122282121 and 31122282122. Those are the ZHP specific arms, look for OEM ones made by Lemforder.

As far as I know there are 3 options for them, OE BMW, Lemforder, and Febi. You want the Lemforder ones. They are the exact same as the OE BMW parts, as they are the OE manufacturer. The only difference is the OE BMW ones have a light blue sticker and the Lemforder ones don’t and the Lemforder ones are $80 cheaper per side. I don’t believe Febi ever supplied the arms to BMW(although they do supply many other parts), but Lemforder is generally regarded as the top tier supplier for any suspension bits.

Some people put in the Meyle HD arms because they are cheaper and come with replaceable bushings, but the bushings are only replaceable if you have access to a bushing press. If not, you need to pay someone to do it, at which point you’re halfway to the price of the ZHP arms. Also, the ZHP arms last much longer than the stock arms by virtue of the better wear characteristics of the solid bushings so I don’t know if you are saving money in the long run.

As you might guess, I have done a bit(probably too much) research into the suspension bits of ZHPs...

Dru > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
05/01/2018 at 12:37

Thanks for all the info. Looks like the lemforder ones are about $360 for the pair. I was quoted $300 to replace the bushings. Sounds like I might be better off replacing the arms? Picture of worn part below:

Kinja'd!!!

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Dru
05/01/2018 at 12:37

Your post is pretty good timing. I’m considering trading my high mileage E30 for a high mileage ZHP that someone is looking to sell/trade locally. Currently waiting details on how much the owner knows about the car, maintenance history, etc.

I’ve heard about the cooling system, VANOS issues etc…anything else specific to the ZHP or surprising that you found as far as big ticket maintenance items go?

Love yours in imola red. Agreed that it’s a great looking car – wonderful mix of understated styling. I’m a sucker for a M3 sedan as well, and this is the closest you’ll ever get from the factory on the E46 I guess.

Dru > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/01/2018 at 12:48

Aside from vanos and cooling system I’ve only heard that the rear subframe can crack, but later cars seem less prone to this. Generally on that point, if it looks solid, it probably is. I’m currently in need of control arms bushings, which is probably more a function of time than mileage. My car only has 61,000 miles.

Probably the main reason I picked this over say a similarly priced e39 M5 is the cost of ownership. If you do your own work, they’re fairly cheap to keep running.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Dru
05/01/2018 at 12:58

The arms don’t come with that bushing. they have the front 2 that bolt to the front subframe and the knuckle(you can see it in this picture, it’s the other end of the control arm on the back of the wheel hub). The one in your picture is the front control arm bushing(also called FCAB on virtually every BMW forum), it locates the rear hexagonal shaped end of the arm. $300 isn’t bad for it, but to be honest it is only marginally more difficult to replace the FCAB than it is to change your oil(provided you have normal upper body strength to actually push it on). If you are at all mechanically apt and have a torque wrench I’d do it yourself. The only reason I wouldn’t do it myself is if that $300 price includes a front end alignment, because you will need one after the bushing is replaced.

The good news is that you do have the front brace, it’s the big flat metal piece below the FCAB in that picture.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/01/2018 at 13:35

There really aren’t any ZHP-specific issues. If anything the changes made to the ZHP actually make it slightly more reliable than other e46's. The front control arms use solid bushings rather than the rubber bushings used in the non-ZHP’s, they last about 2x as long as the normal arms. The oil pump nut on a ZHP has loctite on it from the factory, the standard ones don’t; as a result oil pump failures on ZHPs are almost unheard of, but they are somewhat common on tracked non-ZHPs. Although it’s not ZHP-specific, the facelifted e46's have a much lower rear subframe failure rate than the pre-facelift cars, and all ZHPs are facelifted cars.

They are extremely solid cars and you can get serious mileage out of them by just keeping up on your maintenance and doing the work yourself, I’m at 250k on mine. Full disclosure: I did blow the engine on the track at 236k miles. A rod bearing gave out and the #3 cylinder ate itself. The engine was replaced and the car is back on the road. Based on the judgment of the mechanic that tore the old engine apart, it was just bad luck. It didn’t oil starve, there was no abnormal wear(aside from the failed bearing), there must have just been a minor flaw in that bearing from the factory that took 236k miles(and many HPDEs) to manifest.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Dru
05/01/2018 at 13:51

On a completely unrelated to my other reply, if you’ve ever thought about it, the ZHP is an excellent car to get into HPDE’s with. It is fast enough to pick off e30 and e36 M3s(and the occasional e46 and rarely e90 M3s if the driver isn’t up to snuff) while being slow and stable enough to be forgiving when you make a mistake, relatively inexpensive to run(especially compared to various M3's), and robust enough to not suffer brake fade or overheating(even after spending 8hrs on track across 2 days mostly in 1 hr increments. I was sharing it with my wife and our 30 minute sessions were back-to-back). The traction control is so well calibrated, I don’t bother turning it off. I’ve never actually felt it pulling the power back, even when I was throttle steering.

The only changes I make for track work is swapping my street pads and rotors for Hawk HP+ pads and another set of blank rotors(so I don’t have to re-bed the brakes), higher temp brake fluid, and changing the front camber to -1.5 to keep the front tires from eating themselves.

Front tires(Michelin Super Sports) last 4-5 events, rears last 6-7 on stock alignments. The HP+ lasts 4-5 events and I replace the rotors when I change the pads(stock, and street aftermarket pads last 2 max). I had a single set of Koni STR.t shocks last 120k miles and at least 20 events(I killed the OE shocks during my first HPDE at 106k miles).

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
05/01/2018 at 14:02

Great, thanks for the info. The particular ZHP I’m looking at looks a little beat and the owner is being a bit slow with providing maintenance details. But definitely an option I’m looking into in replacing the E30 with something a bit safer and family friendly while still being a hoot.

Dru > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
05/10/2018 at 20:02

Hey so if I may bug you again...I’m in need of FCAB’s and I was thinking of going with these Turner polys. Thoughts?

Kinja'd!!!

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Dru
05/11/2018 at 21:46

I am a big fan of Turner parts. Most of what they offer for the cars has trickled down from their race team. There is going to be an uptick in NVH, but it’s not going to be big. On the flip side, you should have a very noticeable increase in handling. Also, poly bushings will outlast the stock ones by a good margin.