Laser,
Was bid 15K on my June 05 21K miles in January, when I bought an 04 M3 at BM main dealer, without any haggling and the M was cheaper than most on the BM network ( its got all the toys and right colour and low miles etc) so it was not a dog they were desperate to sell.
I have a high spec except crapnav, DSG, Leather, Monzas, Xenons,Cruise, Perimeter, full multifunction, Steel Grey, OEM detach towbar, 6CD etc etc.
The 15K was a straight telephone bid from a VW dealer in South London to the BM dealer whilst I was there.
In the end kept the GTI for the missus and chopped in 5 series we had.
But it's straight supply and demand, the roads are full of GTI's so are VW dealers, just do a national search, and although they will be much better than say the Ford or Vauxhall, there is so much buyer choice, the great resales I think are past us now, so if you recover say 50% on a 3 year old then its been fair motoring in my book, but it is always skewed by what you are buying, dealer incentives, time of the month, moon phase etc.
Agree in part with Phils comments, though maybe he has not tried a BM recently, some Beamers do make the GTI seem a little lardy
