Is The Smg Worth Getting On An 05 545i

[amhbmw]

Looking to purchase 05 with SMG - anyone have experience with this system?

[545ismg]

i have a 04 bmw 545i 6speed with smg and i love it it is the best when i comes to the twisties and is very fun to drive i love driving my 5er

[cassidym]

Originally posted by amhbmw@Sep 21 2004, 04:53 PM
Looking to purchase 05 with SMG - anyone have experience with this system?

[snapback]196283[/snapback]

I've driven a 530 with SMG and here are my thoughts. First: it's better than an automatic; more responsive, more of a manual feel, more fun to drive. But it's not as much fun as a six-speed conventional manual (IMHO).

It seems as though the BMW engineers have done a decent job of imitating a conventional manual with SMG. For example: when you put it in gear and let off the brake, the car does not creep forward as an automatic would. You have to press the accelerator pedal to move forward This because, in an MT, you wouldn't let out the clutch untill you were stepping on the gas.

Also, you get a little MT style bump between first and second and second and third but not in the higher gears similar to what you'd feel with a conventional MT.

All in all, it's more fun than an automatic and feels a lot more like a MT than steptronic does. If you can't get a conventional MT, for what ever reason, SMG is a pretty decent compromise.

But nothing is as good as a MT. I'm picking up a 2005 545 in Munich in a week and a half. It's got MT (naturally) plus Sports Package, Nav, HUD, Winter Package, sat radio and split folding rear seats. Can't wait!

[amhbmw]

Originally posted by cassidym+Sep 22 2004, 07:40 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cassidym @ Sep 22 2004, 07:40 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-amhbmw@Sep 21 2004, 04:53 PM
Looking to purchase 05 with SMG - anyone have experience with this system?

[snapback]196283[/snapback]

I've driven a 530 with SMG and here are my thoughts. First: it's better than an automatic; more responsive, more of a manual feel, more fun to drive. But it's not as much fun as a six-speed conventional manual (IMHO).

It seems as though the BMW engineers have done a decent job of imitating a conventional manual with SMG. For example: when you put it in gear and let off the brake, the car does not creep forward as an automatic would. You have to press the accelerator pedal to move forward This because, in an MT, you wouldn't let out the clutch untill you were stepping on the gas.

Also, you get a little MT style bump between first and second and second and third but not in the higher gears similar to what you'd feel with a conventional MT.

All in all, it's more fun than an automatic and feels a lot more like a MT than steptronic does. If you can't get a conventional MT, for what ever reason, SMG is a pretty decent compromise.

But nothing is as good as a MT. I'm picking up a 2005 545 in Munich in a week and a half. It's got MT (naturally) plus Sports Package, Nav, HUD, Winter Package, sat radio and split folding rear seats. Can't wait!

[snapback]196624[/snapback]

[/b][/quote]

[amhbmw]

Thanks for the info -- I currently drive a 2000 540i 6spd MT with sport package. I love the MT and was told by the dealer the SMG gives a much quicker "hands on" feel to the shifting & reaction to the car with the paddle shifters. They have an 04 M3 with SMG on the lot that I will test drive to get a feel for it.

[Hoppy's535i]

well all should know how i feel on this subject. manual transmission is awsome. the feel of the clutch, the H pattern shift. everything about it is great and i dont think i would be so inspired by what to me is basicly a video game, besides chicks dig manual transmisions.

[d3ity]

That said, for the new m5.

SMG is the way to go.

[Torque]

Originally posted by Hoppy's535i@Sep 22 2004, 10:10 AM
well all should know how i feel on this subject. manual transmission is awsome. the feel of the clutch, the H pattern shift. everything about it is great and i dont think i would be so inspired by what to me is basicly a video game, besides chicks dig manual transmisions.

[snapback]196698[/snapback]

chicks would dig the smg too...it would just be a unusual manual to them lol

or if you wanna trick them install a fake pedal. they'll never kno.

[Hoppy's535i]

Originally posted by Torque@Sep 22 2004, 05:24 PM


chicks would dig the smg too...it would just be a unusual manual to them lol

or if you wanna trick them install a fake pedal. they'll never kno.

[snapback]197011[/snapback]

a kid i know has a chevy malibu when he drives as the auto goes to shift he lets of the gas then gives it some like hes shifting... gotta love fake wanna be manuals

[Torque]

Originally posted by Hoppy's535i@Sep 22 2004, 07:47 PM
a kid i know has a chevy malibu when he drives as the auto goes to shift he lets of the gas then gives it some like hes shifting... gotta love fake wanna be manuals

[snapback]197095[/snapback]

hahah even worse:

i have a friend who puts his 93 camry in 'sport' mode.... like that really makes a damn difference on a 4 banger camry.

[cassidym]

Here's another reason I didn't order SMG on my 05 545 (which I pick up next week in Munich). There is an automatic mode with SMG and I'm afraid that the first time I got in one of the many traffic jams we have in the DC area, I'd switch it into automatic. Then, pretty soon, I'd routinely pop it into auto every time I got in the car to drive to or from work since rush hour around here is just a series of endless back-ups. Next thing, I discover that I was leaving it in auto more and more till eventually I was never using the manaul mode.

So, I decided, why buy something that imitates a manual when I could own the real thing?

[ksz]

Exactly!! In 2001 I ordered a 530i with Steptronic, thinking that I would use auto mode for rush hour traffic and step mode for all other driving. Well, that never happened. The transmission was kept on auto for 99.99% of the time.

The same is true with a watch that shows both analog and digital time. After a short while you look at the digital section only.

[Hoppy's535i]

SMG= riding ina car
manual = driving the car, being one with the car
and any other thing i cant really think of at the moment... ya...

[Silver4evr]

You should check out e60.forums.net for more opinions.

[325isBaby]

I personally prefer the Manual Gerbox over the SMGII gearbox...SMGII felt kind of sluggish in the shifting, and the only thing cool I found about it was the paddal shifters on the steering wheel. (recently driven 04 530i SMGII) From what I have heard from the most reliable sources is that the SMG transmission in the new M5 have come along way from the SMG we have now.