A big question I'm asking myself is how I'll actually be using my M3 in the future since that will affect which options I should prioritize over others.
In many ways, I see my M3 being a stepping stone into the future and the real question is how big of a first step do I want to (or can afford to) take before I take my second step (the car I buy after my M3).
In the future, nearly all cars will be EV rather than ICE. And when I think about it, there is a reasonable chance that my current ICE cars may be my last.
EV technology, along with assisted and full self driving technology, is developing pretty rapidly and will probably continue to do so in the next 10 - 20+ years. This is in contrast to ICE cars which have fundamentally changed very little since I've been driving (30+ years) and the decades before that.
With the ICE cars I've had in the past, I would drive them for 200,000+ miles over 10+ years each and never really felt I was "behind the curve" compared to newer cars. Features such as airbags, computerized engines, fancier radios with crappy GPS (compared to my phone) and luxury bells and whistles in newer cars never really made me very envious, especially since they resulted in cars that were much more expensive.
However, I have this nagging feeling that in 5 years EV (and EAP/FSD) technology will be making big strides forward and many of the current new cars will soon be very outdated as far as new features are concerned.
I think Tesla has done a great job by including EAP/FSD hardware in all of their new cars regardless of whether you pay to enable it or not, and this goes a long way towards future-proofing their cars. Same for their use of the touchscreen over physical buttons. But I still can't avoid the nagging feeling that in 10 years, the difference between my M3 and the new cars available at that time will be a bit like the difference between a iPhone 7 and a 10-year old flip phone. I'm probably being a bit overly concerned about how quickly things will change, but then again, maybe not. I do think we are entering a tipping point with the release of the M3 and once things start changing, they may change more quickly than anyone (except maybe Elon) expects.
If I was confident that I'd be keeping my M3 for 10+ years (possibly handing it over to one my kids when they are ready to drive), then I'd be more inclined to pay for the larger battery and other upgrades now since I'd get more value out of them over a longer period of time.
$60K (for all options) averaged over 10 years is $6K/year (assuming zero trade-in value in 10 years)
$40K (for Premium upgrade or maybe EAP) averaged over 10 years is $4K/year (assuming zero trade-in value in 10 years)
But if it seems more likely that in 10 years I'll be looking at the M3 as a dangerous old clunker compared to the cars available in 10 years, then it seems more prudent to save money by skipping most of the extras now (larger battery and possibly the Premium interior upgrade) and then trading it in on something newer in 5 years. Then again, the rapid evolution of newer models might also cause the current M3's to lose their value more quickly if better models are available for the same or less money.
$60K (for all options) averaged over 5 years is $12K/year, but if the trade-in value is 20% after 5 years, then it's closer to $9.6K/year.
$40K (for Premium upgrade or maybe EAP) averaged over 5 years is $8K/year (or $6.4K/year with 20% trade-in value).
So one of the questions I have to answer for myself is whether I think the M3 could be a "10-year car" or a "5-year car" for me.
As I think about it now, I'm not really expecting any major hardware changes in the next 5 years other than some evolutionary enhancements (such as larger batteries for the same price). However, in 10 years, and especially once FSD is fully realized, then I think we may be in store for some MAJOR changes in what is available to meet our transportation needs (I'm thinking FSD RV's that can drive retired people around the country safely and vans that let you work and play while commuting to work or going on family vacations).