new m5's.....

[Captain-Obvious™]

are they really manual? because all the ebay ones listed say manual but don't have clutches....looks tiptronic to me. anyone have an answer?

[DinanM3atl]

First years are SMG only.

Now you can get a 6 speed :)

[Captain-Obvious™]

SMG?? sub machine gun??? lol j/k

[DinanM3atl]

Sequential Manual Transmission

[CosmoLTW]

Yes it is a real manual... just automated sort of. It still is constructed like a manual, still has a clutch. But, all you do is let off the throttle (if you want your clutch to last) pull the lever to the right to upshift, and put your foot back down. From the driver's seat, yes, it does seem like just a tiptronic when you are looking at it. But, it's not. In a nutshell, a tiptronic is an automatic transmission shifted manually and an SMG is a manual transmission shifted semi-automatically or fully automatically if you put it in auto mode. But don't because it does a far worse job than you can. If you drive an SMG car, you can feel it let out the clutch off the line and it actually will roll if your foots not on the brake, at least in the early E46 SMG M3s. Those are the only ones I have driven yet.

[speedminded]

The SMG-II is the exact same transmission as the manual but instead of the having a slave cylinder on it that's operated by a master cylinder and manual clutch it has a computer controlled box attached to it that hydraulically engages and disengages the slave cylinder/clutch. The concept is really simple but the technology is advanced.

I still refuse to call it a manual :tongue:

Not sure about the SMG-III on the e60+ :dunno:

[kte324]

I'd personally take a manual

[jfman]

SMG will cost a shit ton to cash to fix when it fails.

My M5 is still rocking the factory trans and almost a quarter million miles.

[Meatball546]

I've been driving a normal manual transmission for a couple years. It's all good, but I *really* want to try driving a car with a good sequential gearbox setup. I can't really heel-toe in my car because my feet are too big, so I'd really enjoy pulling downshifts under braking. I'm not sure how long I'd like it, but I wanna try it sometime.

[TOPbmw]

not much into the new m5's i like the E39 body styles a lot better.

[Meatball546]

not much into the new m5's i like the E39 body styles a lot better.
I agree with that. I think the E39 was the best looking M5 body style.