Any opinions of the SMG transmission?

Well i suppose im no expert.. but when i went to spartanburg SC.. and attended the BMW M school... i got to drive all the M cars in two days... i even asked my instructor which he perfers? and which is faster... he said that the SMG doesnt loose anytime.. but he perfers the 6 speed manual.. but if a unskilled stick driver is behind the wheel.. you will loose... or if the get to much wheel spin on the tires... but u can beat the SMG with the 6 speed manual... but if you are willing to sort of damage the car..by means of POWERSHITFING... never let go of the gas... there is a slight advantage.. any who cares if the gets ruined.. its all under warranty...

DINANISR3 said:

Well i suppose im no expert.. but when i went to spartanburg SC.. and attended the BMW M school... i got to drive all the M cars in two days... i even asked my instructor which he perfers? and which is faster... he said that the SMG doesnt loose anytime.. but he perfers the 6 speed manual.. but if a unskilled stick driver is behind the wheel.. you will loose... or if the get to much wheel spin on the tires... but u can beat the SMG with the 6 speed manual... but if you are willing to sort of damage the car..by means of POWERSHITFING... never let go of the gas... there is a slight advantage.. any who cares if the gets ruined.. its all under warranty...

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Hmm...First you say that you're familiar with SMGII from a friend's car, now it's from when you went to M School? And you couldn't click the paddle three times just as fast as clutching with your left foot and shifting down with your right hand and, of course, blipping the throttle hard to perfectly match revs? That's exactly what the SMGII is designed for. Perhaps a little more seat time with SMGII and it would seem less daunting. BTW, it's lose, not loose.

Re: SMG vs. Manual

DINANISR3 said:

In my opinion i think that SMG is for female drivers who want an M3. i have driven my friends SMG and it is smooth and a remarkable transmission. but it takes out the whole fun in driving. i was in sixth gear cruising on the freeway. when a c32 amg pulls up next to me. in my car i would just drop the clutch and pop it into 3rd.. in my friends car i had to click on the paddle shiter 3 times to get me there.. with the SMG you cannot drop it into neutral by dropping the clutch.. in my opinon why spend thousands more on a SMG when you can buy or upgrade your car with aftermarket parts for that price. for example dinan software, intake, and transmission software.. it will easily pull on a stock smg with the mods....

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Hummmm, SMG is for female drivers....I thought it was also for drivers of new ferrari's, and for F1 drivers:dunno: :dunno: Yeah right, you must be right and all F1 engineers are wrong:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

DINANISR3 said:

Well i suppose im no expert.. but when i went to spartanburg SC.. and attended the BMW M school... i got to drive all the M cars in two days... i even asked my instructor which he perfers? and which is faster... he said that the SMG doesnt loose anytime.. but he perfers the 6 speed manual.. but if a unskilled stick driver is behind the wheel.. you will loose... or if the get to much wheel spin on the tires... but u can beat the SMG with the 6 speed manual... but if you are willing to sort of damage the car..by means of POWERSHITFING... never let go of the gas... there is a slight advantage.. any who cares if the gets ruined.. its all under warranty...

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That is really funny! Thanks for the laugh. SMG is the way to go, you will not be disappointed.

Here is a list I came up with on another forum in no particular order:

1. It can hold your car in place for 3 seconds while uphill so you wont roll back.
2. Launch Control at 1800RPMs
3. Stupid friends won't know how to start your car and take off with it.
4. You can plant your left leg on the dead pedal for better leverage when flying around tight turns.
5. Actual automatic mode in case you are really lazy or have your hands full. (A mode is too choppy on the shifts.)
6. Perfect split second shifts EVERYTIME. I drove a stick for 10 yrs, and if I had to choose again, I would take SMG again.
7. PDC, Park Distance Control comes standard with the SMG
8. Paddle shifters on the steering wheel so you can keep both hands on the wheel. (Just went on a weekend drive up in the mountains, and it was great. Was always in gear, downshifts were just a click away)
9. The SMG knob looks damn nice IMHO, even though it's cheap chrome plastic.
10. When braking to a stop, the car will downshift itself.
11. When in gear at a light or stop, no need to ride the brake. It's in gear, but it wont roll.
12. Doing 80, and someone is creeping up and wants to play? By instinct, you will just tap the left paddle 3 times, and WOOHOOO..instant action. Dont worry about over revving, the SMG will only allow safe shifts for the engine.

Anthony said:

That is really funny! Thanks for the laugh. SMG is the way to go, you will not be disappointed.

Here is a list I came up with on another forum in no particular order:

1. It can hold your car in place for 3 seconds while uphill so you wont roll back.
2. Launch Control at 1800RPMs
3. Stupid friends won't know how to start your car and take off with it.
4. You can plant your left leg on the dead pedal for better leverage when flying around tight turns.
5. Actual automatic mode in case you are really lazy or have your hands full. (A mode is too choppy on the shifts.)
6. Perfect split second shifts EVERYTIME. I drove a stick for 10 yrs, and if I had to choose again, I would take SMG again.
7. PDC, Park Distance Control comes standard with the SMG
8. Paddle shifters on the steering wheel so you can keep both hands on the wheel. (Just went on a weekend drive up in the mountains, and it was great. Was always in gear, downshifts were just a click away)
9. The SMG knob looks damn nice IMHO, even though it's cheap chrome plastic.
10. When braking to a stop, the car will downshift itself.
11. When in gear at a light or stop, no need to ride the brake. It's in gear, but it wont roll.
12. Doing 80, and someone is creeping up and wants to play? By instinct, you will just tap the left paddle 3 times, and WOOHOOO..instant action. Dont worry about over revving, the SMG will only allow safe shifts for the engine.

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I'm with you on all of the above except #11. I could be wrong here, so help me you guys with SMGII. First, since when is it "riding" the brake? It doesn't hurt or wear on anything to have the brakes applied while standing still. Second, why would the car not roll, unless you are on a completely level surface? Or is that what you were referring to? If you are at a stop light, you should always have your wheels pointing straight ahead and your brakes applied, in case some moron smacks you from behind. JMO, :yikes:

YoYoPedro said:

I'm with you on all of the above except #11. I could be wrong here, so help me you guys with SMGII. First, since when is it "riding" the brake? It doesn't hurt or wear on anything to have the brakes applied while standing still. Second, why would the car not roll, unless you are on a completely level surface? Or is that what you were referring to? If you are at a stop light, you should always have your wheels pointing straight ahead and your brakes applied, in case some moron smacks you from behind. JMO, :yikes:

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That is what I meant. Flat surface, dead stop. No need to keep your foot on the brake. Just as if you are in a manual tranny car. When the light turns green, the car is already in gear ready to go. Same for reverse, the car does not roll on a flat surface without hitting the gas pedal.

I just finished a track weekend with SMG.

IT ROCKS. :thumbup:

You have much more time to work on threshold braking and proper turn in and your line without having to think about downshifting. I find in no way does it decrease my enjoyment of driving aat the limit, in fact it makes it better.

It was AWESOME, and VERY fast.

And for the poster who didn't like SMG since he had to click the paddle three times rather than clutch, rev mathc, 3rd, obviously hasn't tapped the paddle for a downshift in S5 or S6 at WOT. INSTANT downshifts and much faster than any human can do (or are you doing 80 ms shifts now?). :flipoff:

Formula one race car drivers use sequential shifters because its better, faster and more consistant..

Sure you can manually shift a car to be as quick as a smg II type..but not consistantly..and thats the key..

No matter how great a driver is..just as with ABS braking..the technology available today is just assisting more consistant control of the drivers choices..

BMW's SMG II is presently the world s best production system out in the market place.

Supposedly a dual clutch unit.. with a seperate clutch for 1,3,5 and then 2, 4, 6 is being produced by a transmission supplier..I forgot who..its either Borg Warner or ZF..

Its development and production will both speed up the manual shifting speed beyond BMW's present excellent system..and make the automatic mode much more transparent in use.

Please remember the focus for this transmission types..believe it or not is not only excellent performance but emissions and fuel economy..

The direct drive of a manual transmission..mated with the ease of use in the automatic mode for cars ..CVT tranny's at this time are limited to about 250hp..but offer excellent performance..

The Sequential shift technology in this new dual clutch system should revolutionize the industry to a degree that only BMW sees at this moment..

I'm not in anyway saying the SMGII isn't fantastic..because its truly the worlds best. I just thought you gentlemen, might enjoy some of the research being done with the sequential shift development as a whole. ..

Till then..and I'm sure even as time goes on... BMW's technological develop of SMG will always prevail!

Have a good day

Supposedly a dual clutch unit.. with a seperate clutch for 1,3,5 and then 2, 4, 6 is being produced by a transmission supplier..I forgot who..its either Borg Warner or ZF.. [/B]

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Not that I know of. Still a single clutch, same gearbox as the manual (actually same clutch also). Just computer control and hydraulic acutators.

You might have gotten confused with the mention of the dual mass flywheel.

Re: where do u smg owners mostly control it

JoN6758 said:

i heard u can control it from the steering wheel and where the stick would normally be...but do they both do the same thing....and wut exaxtly does it do because it sounds alot like an automatic

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It feels and drives much more like a stick than an automatic...you will be disappointed if you're expecting an 'automatic' experience driving this transmission. If you want to know exactly what it does, take a look at this article (posted elsewhere on this forum):
http://homepage.mac.com/bmw_m3/.Public/Technical/SMG_II_Part_1.pdf

Re: where do u smg owners mostly control it

JoN6758 said:

i heard u can control it from the steering wheel and where the stick would normally be...but do they both do the same thing....and wut exaxtly does it do because it sounds alot like an automatic

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I drive with my left hand at 9, and my right hand on the stick. I upshift with the stick, and downshift with the left paddle. Sounds kinda funny, but it seems to work the best. Having both hands on the wheel looks funny and doesnt feel right.

Re: Re: where do u smg owners mostly control it

Anthony said:

I drive with my left hand at 9, and my right hand on the stick. I upshift with the stick, and downshift with the left paddle. Sounds kinda funny, but it seems to work the best. Having both hands on the wheel looks funny and doesnt feel right.

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Go to any performance driving school and they will tell you that your hands belong at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock AT ALL TIMES (during normal driving) except if you have to shift. It will start to feel right if your seat is properly adjusted and you make it a habit. Your ability to react re: steering is greatly enhanced by having BOTH hands on the wheel. You can occasionally let your guard down if you're the only car on the road, out in the country, but it'll keep you out of accidents if you always have both hands on the wheel. That is one of the great advantages of SMGII, IMO.

M6 SMG Trans Dont sweat it

First know I drove manual stick 25 years from vette to porsche

Just sold a 911 4s to get the 6m SMG

When you first drive it you wont like it! I didn't. Why it weird and differnt and needs time to break into your driving style. About 500 miles

NOW I WOULD NOT GO BACK TO MANUAL IF THEY PAID TO DRIVE ONE. CARS BLOWS AWAY MY 911 BY MILES,MORE COMFORTABLE AND FLYS WITH LUXURY WHICH IS REALLY WEIRD

THE SHIFTS ONCE YOU BREAK IN AND GET USE TO FLY LIKE A ROCKET. I USE THE STICK MOSTLY BUT LOVE THE PADDLES ALSO. I THOUGH I WOULD HATE IT BECAUSE I DROVE A VETTE AND A 911 WITH PADDLES AND WENT FOR THE MANUAL.

THIS BIMMER SMG HAS MADE ME A CONVERT, FORMULA ONE ALL THE WAY. READ WHAT MOST SAID REALLY ITS NOT AN AUTOMATIC AT ALL, IF YOU BUYING IT THINKING THAT YOU WILL THINK IT BROKE. SMG IS THE QUICKEST ACCERERATION I HAVE EVER HAD ON ANY CAR. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. REMEMBER 500 MILES AND SOME PATIENCE AND YOU WONT LET GO

ardm6 said:

First know I drove manual stick 25 years from vette to porsche

Just sold a 911 4s to get the 6m SMG

When you first drive it you wont like it! I didn't. Why it weird and differnt and needs time to break into your driving style. About 500 miles

NOW I WOULD NOT GO BACK TO MANUAL IF THEY PAID TO DRIVE ONE. CARS BLOWS AWAY MY 911 BY MILES,MORE COMFORTABLE AND FLYS WITH LUXURY WHICH IS REALLY WEIRD

THE SHIFTS ONCE YOU BREAK IN AND GET USE TO FLY LIKE A ROCKET. I USE THE STICK MOSTLY BUT LOVE THE PADDLES ALSO. I THOUGH I WOULD HATE IT BECAUSE I DROVE A VETTE AND A 911 WITH PADDLES AND WENT FOR THE MANUAL.

THIS BIMMER SMG HAS MADE ME A CONVERT, FORMULA ONE ALL THE WAY. READ WHAT MOST SAID REALLY ITS NOT AN AUTOMATIC AT ALL, IF YOU BUYING IT THINKING THAT YOU WILL THINK IT BROKE. SMG IS THE QUICKEST ACCERERATION I HAVE EVER HAD ON ANY CAR. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. REMEMBER 500 MILES AND SOME PATIENCE AND YOU WONT LET GO

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talk about raising this thread from the dead. but in all honesty, I dont think smg is the cause for your rocket like acceleration. I think that would be the 500+hp V10 ///M engine under your bonet. i personally like feeling connected to the car with a third pedal, feels more rewarding when you shift and clutch yourself, especially when driving a car like yours. to each is his own... :thumbup:

My opinion of SMG started its decline 4,000 miles after I bought my M3 when the transmission failed. The car was never the same after and stranded me numerous times with SMG electrical issues.

SMG is a nice idea, but not that good in practice. It's also a thousand times more unpleasant in city traffic than a proper manual.