BMW Z 330CI - $8,000 (Richmond city)

Hi there, Updated 11/11/23.
I'm Jamie the owner for over 10 years, this has been my wife and my fun car, mountain drives to see leaves, top down, I've kept in great condition, but it has wear and tear on the interior.
Below is a description I did voice to text, I hope it has plenty of details.
Thanks for dropping by our listing.
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This is a 2005 2006 BMW Z series, 147K miles, clear title owner.
I'm the second owner and have owned the car for about 10 years.
I've had several repairs done to it while we've owned it, see below.
My wife and I mainly drive it in the spring and the autumn with the top down on Skyline Drive or to Charlottesville area, then the rest of the year it sits under covers at our house.
So it's not heavily driven.
It's more of a pleasure car.
It comfortably sits a couple, but the back row is really not usable except to put some gear and luggage, so consider it a two seater primarily.
The repairs I've done on it below.
Most all records are saved with Import Autohaus here in Richmond, Va at the Broad Street location across from the Home Depot and close to Altria Headquarters.
Import Autohuas can make those available, if I cannot find all the receipts.
- Replaced the transmission 2022, required removing the whole driveshaft and inspection.
Transmission was 2nd hand and had 30-40K miles already I think.
- In 2019 replace the passenger headlight modules.
- 2023 Had the convertible top serviced and re lubricated - New Radiator 2019 and hoses - Rims painted and sanded in 2016.
-Regular oil changes and inspections.
Current inspection 4/24.
Overall, the car runs great it does have two covers with it plus an industrial vinyl cover that I put over the top we had made for our sailboat originally that you can see in the pictures, is quite heavy and durable.
The reason I put the top the vinyl top is obviously for rain and keep it nice and dry inside during the year.
I have two coverKing covers.
The outer cover is an older one.
It's about two years old.
But a neighborhood cat got on top of it and left some scratches in it.
So I got a new cover just this year, which is underneath so I put two covers on the car plus the vinyl so it stays all the time.
The issues I would point out are : -Small paint “nicks” on the hood and driver-side door, these are just normal flakes from road debris I guess that nicked the paint.
I had an estimate to repaint , but it would need to be a real collector car to justify the cost.
- the rear passenger tire will deflate after about 1 month, so you have to freshen up the air.
If you leave it longer than two months it will go flat.
So you have to keep it inflated.
I've taken it to the tire shop here in Richmond where I live on Northside and they have looked at it but they couldn't find the reason there's just a very slow leak and I've just lived with it.
Like I said it takes about two months for it to get low.
I keep it at about 45 psi on the back tires And then 34 I think on the front so I have a pump at home and I just keep it pumped up and make sure it's pumped.
The tires are summer tires.
That's all I keep on it because we're only driving it really in the summer we don't drive it in questionable conditions unless it rains.
These are summer tires from Firestone.
They have maybe 10,000 miles on them, but they are from 2017 or 2018 from Serendi tires in Richmond that last set I put on them - the other thing I would mention is the interior is original interior obviously, but some of the plastic has starting to have started to break down so they're like the hutch in the middle.
One of the plastic practic brackets have has broken some of the glue on like the emergency light button.
Just over time has come on done so it can pop out you just have to pop it back in.
Besides that just normal wear and tear.
-the issue that I might would address if if I were to keep it is to have the upholstery redone on the driver side leather seat.
It does show much wear and tear.
But I got a price for that and the price was I think it was over $1K just for the driver's seat.
So I didn't think it was worth it.
And I just keep a cover on it.
In the summertime, speaking about the seats, the seats are black leather.
So they get very hot in the summertime if you leave it under the sun they get pretty hot, they don't feel very good in shorts.
So I usually put towels down to sit on my wife especially her shorts ride up a little higher.
And so we don't drive it much in the summertime because of the heat.
We drive it mainly, like I said in spring and autumn times.
We did take a trip to Charlottesville back in July.
And we were at a winery and we did leave it outside under the sun with the top down.
It was a beautiful day and the seats were pretty hot.
Besides that, it drives well.
It sticks to the road We don't drive erratically or aggressively.
There's no strong oil smell from typical BMWs from the oil gasket from the head gaskets usually will start to smell or start to leak.
I'll post pictures of inside the cabin and there inside under the hood but I don't think there's any there's no oil problems at all.
There's no leakage underneath the car, either.
It's parked in the same spot where I kept it for the last eight, nine years, and is clean.
I guess I would mention is the trunk.
The trunk electronic button in the cabin of the car no longer opens the trunk so you have to use either the key fob or you have to actually put the key into the trunk and turn the key to open it to pop the trunk.
The battery is a recent battery within the last five years, I have to check the date on the battery.
I usually top it up and charge it before we go any place since we don't drive it frequently.
This is a wonderful , relatively inexpensive car to enjoy as a roadster, but I would hesitate if you want to put many miles on as a daily driver.
We we love it my wife loves it the top down we put dress warmly, we put the seat warmers on and we go to Skyline Drive As a roadster, it is a low to the ground car and you will scrape bottom on driveways or streets that suddenly angle up, so those situations you have to tackle the grade at a 45 degree angle so you don’t scrape the front low spoiler.
It has you know the Z series that BMW put out it has the the chassis and the suspension of the M series sports, and the low angle front windshield makes it more aero.
But at the time BMW didn't put the drive train in it from to make it a real M series.
So they call it Z series at least that's what I understand.
So the handling is great.
It's really tight on corners.
It really grips in the summertime with the summer tires you'd you find that on a really tight on ramp or off ramp if you tested it but it has just a straight six the last E 46 naturally aspirated e 46.
I will mention the rumble! that my wife likes the rumble she can feel it in the seat if you know what I mean between her thighs, it’s no EV but old school rumble and grit from factory.
It has that from the straight sixe cylinders, today that you can't get a naturally aspirated 6 anymore they stopped doing these.
This is the last E 46 model naturally aspirated.
The other thing to mention, you can find parts for these cars pretty easily.
You can see these Z series driving around frequently, meaning there’s a source of spare affordable parts to keep it running, not like some old Saab or something pesky like that.
There's one more thing as I'm thinking about it, is that in the pictures you'll see on the passenger side, under the headlight, there's a tab that's missing.
If you look on the driver's side, you'll see it's there.
But it's a little tab.
It's about an inch, about an inch, maybe inch and a quarter.
And I think this had to do with some kind of headlight washing system or something that that's not installed in the car but it looked like it was an option that tab is missing, though.
But I have the replace tab with me, it's in my it's in my workshop.
So it's a $25 tab, just glue it in and paint it - red fingernail polish like motorcycle designers do.
it's it's not a big deal, but you will see it in the pictures.
Oh one more thing.
I had a backhoe I was running a backhoe and I accidentally bumped into the passenger side back fender some years ago, now you can't see it I had I had it redone.
But I actually touched it with the bucket on the backhoe and it kind of indented so the back right panel has been totally repainted and the back pump bumper, but I would bet you my left leg no one would even tell on the paint job is perfect.
But I mentioned it here just to be complete.
Regular oil changes.
Usually at Import Autohaus is where I take my BMWs.
I don't do oil changes myself anymore because you can't get under the car it's really low.
And I'm past the days where I want to put a car up on a jack or drive it up.
So just have them do it and inspect it.
So it's currently in drive-away condition.
So there you go.
I hope that's complete.
If I think of anything else, we'll add it to the description! Thanks for reading.
Appreciate it.