Jonathan,
I haven't driven a TME, but studied the spec sheet and it didn't sell itself to me as being worth 2K extra. That said, if you must have a new dark metallic blue evo, then it may be worth it to you, because I don't think that there are any more unregistered icecelle blue GSRs left.
As to the deal you are being offered, it sounds like a good one to me. I only got £1K off list, but I did get £700 more trade-in for my nissan 200SX than I was offered elsewhere (seems asthough the market for 200SX's is even worse, virtually every dealer wasn't interested at all in my 96P 30,000 mile 200SX touring, got £7K trade-in, best Ralliart offer was £6300!!!).
I have driven the RSX, and although the brakes are awesome in the wet, there'd still be a nagging doubt about the lack of ABS. That plus the nicer interior/equipment of the GSR and the fact that I think white cars look a bit pants persuaded me to get the GSR. I'm not a 100% balls-out on the limit driver, so these comments may or may not apply to you.
As for the Evo VII, well who can say until we drive it?
I am a little bit surprised about your new depreciation conscious attitude though - from your posts on scoobynet, you always came across as a have the latest and greatest toy, screw the cost ! If it is a big concern, and you're getting an M3 next year (?), then why not buy second-hand? I certainly would have done if I wasn't planning on an extended period of ownership.
I'm not sure that there are a surplus of evos due to a black outlook in the economy as RA28 says (there's certainly no black outlook in IT anyway). I see lots of new BMWs, porsches etc on my way to work. I just think that priced at around £30K, they're up against a lot of more fashionable competition and that most people with that money to spend don't want a mitsubishi badge on their car, no matter how good it is. Maybe demand has been over-estimated, just like for the P1?
Regards,
Gary.