The question that's on the mind of EVERY BMW speculator

Even though I was on vacation for the last couple weeks at the gorgeous Woodmark Hotel outside of Seattle and The Inn Above Tide in Sausalito, my mind was never far away from the questions and concerns that haunt us car nuts 24/7.

****special note: 001 will be reporting from the road for the next 9 days(Monterey, Vancouver BC and Las Vegas)covering various cars...Look for these special reports starting next week with the best Concorso Italiano and Concours D'Elegance photo gallery****

Now back to this week's top story...

While on vacation, I received this email and it got me thinking...

Will buyers of the new M5 have the heyday buyers of the last M5 had because of the rarity and mystique that surrounds this awesome car?

If you bought the last one for MSRP or less and you were one of the first owners, you made out like a bandit.

One of our readers poses this question that is on EVERY speculators mind (see email below)…

And trust us, there are more speculators of this car than true buyers...everyone wants to try to cash in on these phenomenon’s.

The temptation is just TOO great to turn and burn these babies!

Rather than giving my opinion on this subject this week, I’ll let our bloggers sound off and I will give my opinion in our next issue.

Here is the email…

Dear 001,

I just got the call from my BMW dealer 'cause they have the allocation for my '06 M5. I've been on 'the list' for a few years and fortunately have an early spot in line. In early 2000, I bought my first M5 (also early on the list) and was able to trade up a year later for a 2001 M5 ( I was on the list twice) by simply giving back my 2000 M5. There was such a long waiting list that my dealer was able to give me every penny back for my 2000 M5 and resell it for more. In fact, at the time, I could have probably MADE money on it.

I currently have a 545i. I'm really happy with the 545 and I am not so sure I want to spend $94K for a faster version. I was thinking about picking it up for several months and then trying to flip it to break even or make a couple bucks. Based on your knowledge & experience, do you think the valuations will hold up as in the past?

The differences this time around are:

1. When the '00 M5 came out, a 400HP sedan was unheard of. There was nothiing even close that could touch it. Today, we have E55, RS6, 300 SRT-8 and a couple others that are in a similar power ballpark. More choices means less overall demand in my book.

2. The '00 M5 was a meaner, tougher version of an already beautiful car, with perfect balance. The '06 starts with controversial styling and adds more goofy flares, etc. To me, that means there will be less demand.

3. Given the economy compared to early 2000, I suspect the nationwide demand for 100K cars is a little lower now than then.

So what do you think? Do you think there's enough demand to pick it up and flip it? Maybe there's a greater demand on the west coast than the east coast. Gas guzzler tax alone is 3K, so I don't want to go under water with it too early.

After 4 years, AutoSpies continues to be the best resource on highline information. Keep up the good work!

An educated Auto Spies consumer

So what do our blogging experts think?

You make the call...