Cars We Drive! - Page 579

This has to be faked.

How much of this thread is recycled Top Gear rhetoric?

Sounds like a decent bit, but not enough repetition to makes it truly unbearable.

I resemble this remark.

how dare you mock my love of diesel automobiles!

Thx bud

That new Cherokee was reminding me of something...then it just hit me, the Isuzu Vehicross. A vehicle ahead of its time perhaps?



It's not a dead ringer, but I see some design cues that are similar.

^ i thought of that thing, too. I only ever saw it a handful of times. The double headlights, as with the Juke, gave me that kneejerk reaction, "Do not want" because it's just not conventional. dont hate it as much but still dont like it.

 

it does fit along side its older sibling for 2014, however (GF, how you like this facelift?)

 

zhps seem to be a dime a dozen in the DC area.  And I have seen plenty selling in used car lots and even private sellers that had no idea that the car was anything but 3 series with a different package  (lol @ jet).  Then you have these that attempt to price them on par with similar aged M3s.  Don't get me wrong, I like BMWs. 3ers in particular have a special place in my heart:

 

• I thought that anyone that would buy a 3 without sport package or with an automatic tranny was a poseur;
• I really and truly believed that Chris Bangle was the anti-Christ and repented for my sins because the end of the world was nigh (note: the world is still here but I haven't quite mad up my mind about that Bangle character yet);
• When BMW reversed their naming convention on the coupes during the E46 run I pulled my hair out;
• When they reintroduced  AWD I ground my teeth.  The E30 325ix was a special, limited produced car however the 325xi opened the marque to every crybaby who normally whined about RWD cars;
• A BMW SUV was (and still is) heresy;
• I used to be a member of BMW car club and read the Roundel faithfully.  HelI I even had these on my car

 

 

I think it is safe to say I was the ultimate BMW fanboy.  That being said, the zhp is not as special as some people think it is.  It doesn't handle any better than a sport package 330 nor does it have a huge hp advantage either of which a good portion of that advantage is lost due to those heavy ass 18" wheels (they do look nice though).   It was a 3900 package that gave you different gear ratios, an aero/interior package and a couple bits & pieces most enthusiasts add to their cars anyway.    For those shopping for a used vehicle nearly everyone would just get a M3 coupe for the same money.  IMHO of course

Edited by Rumpelstiltskin - 3/1/13 at 9:24am

I'm not sure where you're seeing the outrageous pricing that overlaps with M3s, but IME, zhps in good condition in the 04-05 range with less than 75K miles tend to go for around 16k.

Comparable m3s I've seen are always high teens or low 20s. I will admit though that there are a lot of people who post their zhps and m3s at higher prices than market value. You're absolutely right that some people idolize it to the extreme. I just happen to think it's simply a good car that isn't a dime a dozen amongst the e46s out there. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a zhp since ownership two years ago and I'm in Dallas, Boston, and NYC quite often, not just one major city. They definitely are rarer than m3s (just stating the fact; not implying that it's a "better" car because of its rarity).

Also, I paid 16 for my 04 with 59k miles at none other than the stealership. The best part is if I wanted to sell my car now at 69k miles, I could probably get back very close to what I paid for.

You ever go to any of the events? I kind of want to do an HPDE but not if the finest BMW douches populate their ranks

I joined for the M school discount and will stay for the rebate on my next bimmer. Roundel magazine is a nice bonus

Isn't the HPDE pretty expensive to attend? Something like 2.5 grand? I'd think that that would weed out a lot of the douches (including myself ).

I do want to take my car to the track though and see how far I can push the car. I believe track days are a lot more affordable but you're typically driving in a large empty lot with cones, which I find less appealing quite frankly.

Wait.. I'm confused. Is the top pic the 2014 model? I thought the uglier one on the bottom was the 2014 model. Either way, the top one looks a lot better but I think the headlights could be bigger to match the proportions of the car.

I quite like it, especially with the LED DRLs. The SRT8 version is quite good looking. A bit flashy, but it's an SRT8.. So that's that!

I thought about going to events plenty of times.  In the end I just made excuses on bimmer.org aka roadfly about why I never attended.  lol

Cherokee and Grand Cherokee, as in days of old.