Well nearly a year after posting this thread and I am not much closer to actually getting one of these cars - wedding, saving for a house, the usual story.

Still keeping an eye on the market regularly and it's always interesting reading. All things going to plan I hope to be in a position to get a car around this time next year. I wonder what F80/82 prices are going to look like then -an M4 might well be a more attractive ownership proposition at that point than either of the two previous generations.