Nice, was expecting to hear from you and that is the sort of input I wanted to hear.
Its still unconfirmed as to whether or not there will be a 4 door M3 in the future at all so that is part of my reasoning... I do prefer a 4 door (young kid) and there is little else out there in the same ballpark aside from the IS-F and C63. Hard to think of any major downsides aside from the extra cash every month. I'm sticking with manual and likely skipping the Competition Pkg mind you, I'll go aftermarket for wheels/suspension.