When I was researching cars for this year's PC Magazine Digital Drive awards (coming in the May 26 issue), I looked at some of the 2006 Digital Drive winners and discovered an interesting quirk: High-tech cars don't all have great resale values. Combine that with a change in leasing norms, and you're looking at great values on high-tech cars that may sell for just over half-price three years into their lives.

Car cockpit technology changes quickly, so you don't get much satisfaction buying what was the hottest technology offering in 2002. But a 2006 car? That's a different matter altogether. And the leasing game plays into your hands. Here's how you can benefit.

Automakers tell me there's been an interesting shift in leasing patterns: They're getting shorter. A lot of people who lease high-end cars, including the cars loaded with technology offerings, get roving eyes after two years and want to move on to something even newer. It's not quite like the 1960s, when you kept up with the Joneses by buying a new car each year and then every 2 to 3 years, as you got promoted, working up in order from Chevrolet to Pontiac to Oldsmobile to Buick to Cadillac. Then you worried about having a fancier car than the boss. These days, if you've got a Mercedes and the boss has a Nissan—well, that's life.

So: More high-end leases are being written for 24, 30, or 36 months, tops. Automakers found that drivers caught in four- and occasionally five-year leases came to dislike the cars they were driving, so much so they'd jump to another brand when the lease expired. Long leases were hurting business. All this means more good cars are coming off-lease while the technologies still are first-tier and with 30,000 miles on the odometer, not 50,000.

Two other quirks work to your advantage: First, technology options tend to depreciate more than the cars they're installed in. A typical car might be worth half its original price after three years and 35 percent after five. But the value of options will decrease even more rapidly, and you may be able to drive a better bargain. It's like houses with swimming pools: They don't do much for resale value, Florida excepted—but if you want one, you'll get a good deal.

You can also negotiate a better deal if you're willing to take whatever color you're offered. Silver, black, and white cars always do well. But eggplant, purple, or lime green might be worth $1,000 in your favor.

Beware: The very best used car deals, meaning the lowest prices, are the dogs of the industry—cars not many people wanted even when they were new. Currently that includes the Chevrolet Uplander, Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Caravan, Ford Crown Victoria, Ford Freestar, Isuzu Ascender, Kia Sedona, Lincoln Town Car, and Mercury Monterey. Most are also low on the technology options scale—not an active cruise control or head-up display among them—but observant readers may note the Uplander is a near-identical cousin to one of the 2006 Digital Drive winners, the Buick Terraza.

I can explain. Though the Terraza was a truly ordinary vehicle, it had the sensational (for its time) multi-channel PhatNoise audio/video system driven by a hard disk cartridge you loaded from your PC. For that, the car was and still is, ahead of its time. If you can find a Terraza, Uplander, Pontiac Montana, or Saturn Relay with PhatNoise, your kids will love you when you take long trips. Do keep the garage door closed when the Terraza's home, though, so you don't depress neighborhood property values.

Not every 30-month-old tech car is going to be a bargain. There are no cheap BMWs coming off lease, such as the 3 Series that was a Digital Drive winner last year. Ditto for a Lexus, Mercedes, or maybe Toyota Prius, even if the bloom is off the hybrid rose for now.

On the other hand, I believe you'd find pretty fair deals on a used Acura RL, Audi A6, or Infiniti M35/M45. They were all Digital Drive winners last year. The Acura RL is especially appealing, because virtually every technology feature was included in the base price on the 2005 and 2006 models (2005 was the first year for the current design, which is vastly better than the 2004), so you won't find stripper models. Shop carefully, and you'll find a $50,000-plus RL selling in the low thirties. That's one of the all-time tech bargains. Not cheap—but definitely a bargain.