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<E36> M3 body flex, locks, funky noises

Greetings!

  My M3 is a month old, and I'm really beginning to get over my new-car
tentativeness and enjoy it.

  I've noticed a few things, though, which I wonder about.  Perhaps
somebody can shed some light.

  1) When hitting large bumps, or when turning into sloped driveways,
(things which would cause body flex), I hear a "click" noise from the trim
piece on my B pillar.  If I wiggle the trim myself, I hear the same click.
I'm not surprised that wiggling a piece of plastic would cause creaking or
clicking.  I am surprised that the body flexes this much in the first
place, especially when new.  Comments?

  2) When I first start the car and it's cold, I get a really strange
whining or humming that sounds like vibration from a small electric motor.
It lasts about two minutes, and is pretty consistent.  In fact, it often
goes away at almost the same spot on my drive.  I read something in the
manual that said not to worry if the climate control aux fan made noise for
a few mintues AFTER driving, but it didn't say anything about during.  It's
loud enough that passengers have asked "What's that noise??"

  3) Also when going over large bumps, driveways, etc, I occasionally get a
loud CLUNK from the rear end.  I used to get this more often when I first
got the car, and I originally wrote it off to my getting used to the stick
after years with an auto (I thought it was something like Jim Conforti
mentioned with his differential).  But, I'm pretty smooth now, and I still
get it when something jars the car.  It doesn't seem like a drivetrain
sound, but more like a suspension sound.  Ideas?

  4) My door locks are of the variety where you hold the key turned all the
way  to close the windows and sunroof.  Well, when you lock the car, if you
turn the key to lock, then release, then pull the key out, the lock is left
a little bit to the lock position -- enough to close the windows, etc.  I
have to consciously nudge the key back to neutral when locking the car.
This seems strange.  Anybody else notice this?

  5) The windows, as I read the manual, are supposed to detect a collision
with an obstacle when they're in their one-touch-up operation.  If they
sense force against their travel, they're supposed to stop and back up.
Well, mine don't appear to do that.  I've tried just putting a hand in
their way and giving a shove.  The amount of pressure that works on an 850
or a 325 doesn't do it, nor does substantially more.  Ideas?

  6) Finally (whew!) after driving, my catalytic makes that really loud
"plink, plink, plink, plink" noise that hot metal sometimes makes as it
cools.  My old car never did this to the degree that this car does, but
I've never had a brand-new car before.  Will this go away?  I'm not worried
about it, just curious.

  That's it!  Thanks for any insight.  Speaking of noises, by the way,
there's nothing quite like 5-6k rpm with the windows down.  Yahoo!

- --Mike
'96 M3 Estoril blue/silver grey