At $15,500, Will This 2001 BMW Z3 3.0 Sell as Quick as a Bunny?
It seems that while we weren’t paying attention, asking prices on little BMW roadsters like today’s Nice Price or No Dice Z3 3.0 have been quickly creeping up. Let’s see if this one has crept too much.
If you’ve ever taken a personality typology test, say as part of a career growth effort or as a condition of your parole hearing, then you might be familiar with the Myers & Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); a matrix of personality types and their descriptors.
If we were to classify last Friday’s 1989 Chevy Corvette on the MBTI, I think it would fall squarely as a Consul (ESFJ) which represents a personality that is Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging. The Consul (ESFJ) is typically a consensus builder and at $8,995, last Friday’s ’Vette seemed to build a solid consensus, with most of the comments being a variation of, “I don’t hate it.” In the end, that resulted in a 75 percent Nice Price win, a very nice finish to our week.
Here’s a fun thing to consider; today’s 2001 BMW Z3 has a 3.0-liter inline six that at 228 horsepower is only 17 shy of the total made by last Friday’s ’89 Corvette’s small block V8. And, while it does give up one cog to the ’Vette, having only a five-speed, it holds a 300 or so pound weight advantage over the Chevy, making it a good bit quicker.
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Three lengths available
No more worrying about kinks in your hose, because this one is flexible to stretch around sharp corners and bulky lawn furniture. Get your jobs done in less time without having to fiddle with your hose.
To be fair, there are other ways that the American car beats out the German. The Corvette has a removable hard roof that can be stored on the car and it has pop-up headlamps which are the best headlamps ever invented. In the BMW’s favor, there’s a full convertible top in addition to its leave-behind hard top, the aforementioned better performance, and… well, a rabbit costume.
Now, before you snot into your cereal in confusion and horror over the rabbit costume, be comforted to know that it is not a mandatory inclusion in the Bimmer’s sale. That being said, if you can have it, why would you not take it? There must be some children in your neighborhood that deserve to be scarred for life.
While the Rabbit costume may be seen by some as some sort of distraction, the car underneath actually looks to be in pretty decent shape and without the need for such a diversion. According to the ad, this Z3 has 163,000 miles on the clock and a clean title. The seller claims the car to have been garage-kept all its life and to have originally been a California car, so rust shouldn’t be an issue.
The true issues seem to be few and fairly obvious. While the white paint looks to be in decent shape, there are a couple of dings in the bodywork. There’s also something going on with the back bumper that’s causing too big of a gap between it and the rear fender on the passenger side. On the plus side, the factory wheels seem to be free of curb rash and the headlamp lenses are reasonably clear and un-yellowed.
There’s more to like in the cabin too. The beige leather upholstery looks its age. Also notable is the glovebox, which doesn’t seem to suffer the standard under-dash sag that is endemic to these models. The convertible top appears intact, with a clear rear window, and the car comes with its factory windscreen between the roll-bars to keep the breeze off your collar.
Nothing much is offered in the ad as to the car’s mechanical condition, other than the promotion of the M45 under the hood as one of the stoutest engines BMW has ever produced. That advocacy aside, this is a 21-year-old German car and there’s a certain “jumping into the deep end” involved with the ownership of any such beast. Oh yeah, there’s also that freaky rabbit costume to consider. What’s that all about?
Since the question of the costume is one for the ages, let’s just focus on the car and its $15,500 asking price. The Z3 roadster is coming of age and the market for the model is getting a bit more aggressive these days. This particular Z3 is at the top of the model’s valuation, although it is also well spec’d and comes with two tops. Is that enough?
What do you say? Is this Z3 worth that $15,500 asking as it’s presented in its ad? Or, does that price make you not want to “hop to it?”
You decide!
Manhattan, Kansas, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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