i am amazed that this thread has gone nearly 8100 posts before any significant LI, Westchester, or NJ high school student car chat.
You're right but too narrow. Do you want a rundown of my area? It starts at lexus 4 tut tut and moves up from there. It stops before porche but lots of student body in between. Folks around the political center DC area are sensitive to perceptions. LA and NY are much freer in this regard and I am sure more fun to post about.
North Shore High School is in the cusp on nice, but not the level of its next door neighbor...old brookville and old westbury. I saw the rapide pull into Jericho high school, where it is quite easy to tell the difference between the teachers lot and the kids lot. I also witness a few times a week, a well known "trader" drive his tuned out Continental GT down his driveway to drop his kids off for the bus.
that is a pretty nice car, but don't think it's worth it at that price point, assuming he goes down to $22-23K... which is doubtful anyway.
i haven't tracked the market for e46 m3s, but shouldn't one like that fetch around $20K? Maybe the LSB paint demands a higher premium? that is a damn fine color that the e46 pulls off very, very well .