Was wondering same thing. I found a certified M3 sedan, '97, 5 speed, 25k miles, asking $30,000 (no haggle). Loaded too, luxury, H&K. Price seems awfully low (course it is purple).

Now that my wife has her 2001 BMW 330i, it's now my turn for a new car. I considered a 330Ci which can be nicely equipped with the Sports Package for about $36k here in NC.

After 2 weeks driving my wife's 330i, I find that the imprecise and overboosted steering to be a very real problem in my opinion. However, that's another issue.

I've basically decided to buy a 98-99 M3 coupe with less than 15k miles. Over the past 2 months I've noticed a shift in asking prices for these cars. Not long ago, M3's were easily going for high $30k-low $40k's. A brief search today on autotrader.com and Yahoo show two very interesting examples:

Dakar yellow 99 M3 with 10,500 miles-----asking $35,500
Red 98 M3 with 15k miles.......$33,900 (North Carolina)

My dilemma: (1) wait 2-3 months to buy, or (2) wait till the winter months when prices are depressed, (3) strike when the iron is hot...i.e. buy the M3 I want at "fair" prevailing prices.

Comments and flames are welcome.