A couple of friends of mine have BMW Z3's, one a 2000 and the other a 1997. The 2000 is worth about 13K according to Blue Book, the 1997 is still worth around 10K. Assuming we see similar depreciation level off with TT's, I don't think a 9 year old car that costs 10K and will require significant maintenance expense still will appeal to the 'ricer' crowd who can get a 95 Civic or something for 3 grand and then rice it up for another K or two - even if you were to want to make a rice rocket TT it would not be a cheap undertaking, you would end up close to the price of a newish neon SRT4 then be faced with the maintenance costs on top.

Also, lower vehicle cost is no indication of how it will be treated, I have seen many 80K cars (Merc S600 and the like) sporting 20" chrome wheels, slammed suspension and gold plated everything etc....

There will always be noobs and always be idiots no matter what the cost, age or type of car. Hopefully given the enthusiast and technical nature of the discussions on this forum, the majority of those you are concerned about will head to the Vortex.