BMW M3 (E46) w/SMG (Sequential M Gearbox( - only in Germany)

[jaramill]

Read it and weep! Sounds like this car would be fun to drive over there (with paddles), since they don't have hangups about speed limits like we do here in the US.

http://www.bmwclub.org.hk/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000049.html

Gio

[eurospeed]

Just to note, the E36 M3 had an SMG option as well. We always get the shaft here in the states.

[Scott Yu]

Yah... but I've heard (Haven't experienced it myself, unfortunately) that the E36 SMG was pretty darn bad. Apparently it shifted slow for a manual, and was a poor auto tranny as well. Worst of both worlds

I'm _really_ curious to see some reviews about SMG II

Originally posted by eurospeed
Just to note, the E36 M3 had an SMG option as well. We always get the shaft here in the states.

[jww///95]

According to some of the posts from the e46m3 board back over on roadfly, the smg II will be available for the US market either in the late 2001 model year, or the 2002.

[V Shah]

SMG II is supposed to be here but with a pricetag of over 4 grand! However, it is supposed to be totally revised and correct upon the faults of the previous gen SMG, ie slow shifts, poor automatic mode, etc.

[C.Yang]

I think it would be so awesome having SMG, but I kinda think it makes sport driving more for the masses. You don't really have to learn even how to drive stick anymore, which I feel is half the fun. Having a skill that many don't is always a neat thing. What next, auto apexing? Does look badass though.

[pete]

shifting a skill??? wtf? i leaned to drive a stick when i was 14. guess your right though, but i think its pretty damn basic. how about double clutching, or heel-toe downshifts, those are skills, although not really neccessary for the masses. we are seeing this exact same thing happening in the world of karting as welll. last year, they invented the digital ignition box for our shifter karts. well, this year we have traction control, wtf is this? the top guys have there karts set up so that they can break, then go back to full throttle, and the computer sets up the optimum throttle level for them, they just steer. thats a pile of crap. also, its 2 grand, so you end up spending 4-6k on a motor, 3 on a chassis, up to 1 on the ignition, and if you get it, anouther 2 for the traction control. that makes it like a 12+ thousand dollar go cart. the price of things (racing) is spiralling rapidly out of control, even for us go-karters. while its cheaper then car racing, its going up astronomically. its getting to the point where, as usual in most motorsports, you need a sponsor to compete, and then where do you start? if karting is like this, then what? run the track for time? there just isn't any cheaper motorsport, and even it is getting expensive very fast. (sorry, long rant, about something nobody can do much about...) whew...

[jaramill]

Yeah heel and toe, (though I never heard of double-clutching) are the unusual skills. Though most people with M3s think that driving stick is as easy as riding a bike, you've never been out here in California. All these lazy people out here want automatics! Even the used BMW dealers are annoyed when the get ask "Do you have M3 in automatic?" They don't want to constantly shift from neutral to 1st in traffic! Boo-hoo, let me get a tissue for you!!

Yeah I love driving stick....it's half the fun, especially in my M3 when I'm in 4th gear doing about 4000rpm then pop it back down to 3rd gear......................BOOM!! It's like the Millenium Falcon going into hyperspace as it jumps up to 6000rpm in a second!

So yeah I agree this SMG looks cool, but expensive and it's just an easy way out of not driving true stick shift (like those other german owners of ..................Porsche and their tiptronic crap).

Gio

[pete]

double clutching is a race technique used for driving cars without syncrhos... you have to manually align the gears, so they are matched in speed, and they won't grind.. The syncros do this for you in your normal street car, but because they add rotatonal mass, most race gearboxes don't have them.

1. Push in clutch
2. gear selector in neatral
3. <b>release clutch</b>
4. blip throttle--> this, with the clutch out, in neutral spins up the gears in the tranny, to match driveline speed.
5. Push in clutch
6. place in gear.

you can practice this in your street car, if you get really good, it should make very, very smooth shifts. if you don't get it right in a race car, you get to listen to the gears grind.