I've been at this for months and I'm having no luck. The market in the SE region doesn't want to cough up what I'm looking for at a decent price. Yet I keep hearing about deals out there, so I'm hoping someone here might know of one.
I want Individual Audio and heated seats on a slicktop ZCP with DCT. I either find the options I want but on a car with a heinous color combo, or I find the colors I like but the car will have the audio without the seats, or vice versa. Sometimes I find the perfect car with low miles, and the price is out of sight.
Meanwhile, BOOF found two cars he liked enough to buy and he's basically down the street from me ... oh, the injustice of it all..
I guess the movement now is towards no-sunroof cars which sucks for me because I didn't want a sunroof and I'm just one more person adding to the long list of demand on the short list of supply. Lately I've found a growing number of cars that tick all the boxes but have sunroofs. And those cars sit for months before someone buys them. Right now I've got two cars on my list that are both Jet Black on black (I do not like Jerez much), with the options I want, and $10k less than anything for 800 miles around. Both have sunroofs. I think I'd kick myself later on for buying them. I could do a replacement factory CF roof, but then a qualified appraisal could show "body damage".
I've also noticed that availability on these cars seems to follow odd patterns. Last summer there were more than a few available locally and in the southwest. A month ago there was a flock that showed up in Ohio. Now it seems to be TN and Penn. Slicktops dominated listings last year, now the sunroof ratio is climbing. Last year was SGM and Mineral White, this year Alpine seems to be getting offered up. The list of black/palladium silver interiors is growing, as those cars just do not sell. I can't believe BMW ever offered that option in the E92.
So, to cut this story short before you all wander off after something shiny, here's what I'm looking for:
E92 ZCP DCT
Individual Audio
Heated Seats
No sunroof
black interior or Rust Brown, bamboo considered, absolutely no two-tone or palladium.
I'd like to stay 2012-2013, I'd consider a 2011 if the miles were loooow.
30k miles or less.
Exterior colors in order of preference:
Space Grey Metallic (I wish Graphite Metallic was offered after 2008. Sad.)
Jet Black
LeMans Blue
Ruby Black
Mineral White
Jerez Black
Alpine White
(I'm really not interested in the last three, but I still list them in order of my preference. Jerez seems the updated version of Carbon Black, and I'm not a fan of having to dust off the car twice a day)
No red, no frozen colors, no wood trim.
Numerous people here have said that a car meeting my requirements should't be any more than $38k, but the only way I can find that is to accept a sunroof. Also, I know I can swap wood trim out for carbon leather, and I can replace a sunroof with a CF panel from the factory. Twenty years ago I'd just go to the salvage yard and find the parts to build my own car. At this point in my life I'd like to just buy the car I want and drive it, do necessary maintenance, etc. I'm not looking for a project.
I hope someone here can point me to the right car. TIA.