Auto or manual?

lightning · Post by **lightning** » Tue 03 Feb, 2009 19:58

Right then, I'm in the market for a Z4 3.0 and it seems there are a few auto's around. What are they like? I'd not considered an automatic gearbox but they seem to be quite popular on the Z4. Is the performance the same?

dario · Post by **dario** » Tue 03 Feb, 2009 21:48

Mine is a manual, but the BMW auto is a superb box.

good shifter and smooth.

only down side of an auto is that you cant use it well enough to balance the car on the throttle before entering a corner. unlike a manual box where you can change down and use a lower gear and the torque of the engine to punch out of the corner. now't wrong with an auto box, but it depends if you want that expirence or not.

///M_aniac · Post by **///M_aniac** » Tue 03 Feb, 2009 22:42

In my opinion a sportscar should have a manual. Always.

ajones13 · Post by **ajones13** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 09:05

On the Z4 you can have SMG which isn't an automatic, it's a manual Gearbox with a Hydro-electric clutch, you can take manual control of it too. Its great fun changing gear with your foot fully mashed to the floor. Automatics are ok but don't really give a true sports car feel. SMG is very similar to what is fitted to Ferraris etc.

dario · Post by **dario** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 10:55

ajones13 wrote:On the Z4 you can have SMG which isn't an automatic, it's a manual Gearbox with a Hydro-electric clutch, you can take manual control of it too. Its great fun changing gear with your foot fully mashed to the floor. Automatics are ok but don't really give a true sports car feel. SMG is very similar to what is fitted to Ferraris etc.

these are quite rare and WILL always require the attention of teh dealer if anything goes wrong!

if you go this rout make sure that the ECU has had teh blue dot upgrade. another forum member had one go wrong and it destroyed teh box and the engine. all under warranty and £20K

Dario

greg_ch · Post by **greg_ch** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 12:35

Being the forum member Dario mentioned I would never advise an SMG car without a full warranty, preferably from BMW.

z head · Post by **z head** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 12:48

For my money it's got to be manual, for the reasons Dario quite rightly points out.

Manual...it's what your left hand's for !! (in the UK)

ajones13 · Post by **ajones13** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 12:57

I have a friend who works for BMW and although SMG gets a bad press it's not nearly as bad as people make out. Yes there are some horror stories but then look at all the horrors with VANOS too.

Sometimes things can get a bit out of perspective as on the forums we are only looking at a small percentage of people who own these car afterall.

Yes SMG has it's faults, but not to extent that people would have us believe. I have also found a good independent who can work on SMG should I ever need anything done. I Have never heard of one destroy the engine though or the gear box for that matter. Sometimes the main dealer will just replace parts as they can't be bothered or don't have the expertise to work out what the problem is. For example lots of dealers will replace the whole SMG pump at a cost of £1200 if there are any problems, when alot of the time the problem with the pump is the perishing of a 20 pence rubber oring!!

There's also the Bravado about driving a manual when lets face it the majority of us aren't good enough drivers (no matter what we may like to think

) to get the most from a manual! Think this was proven with the M3 when SMG first came out. They took an 'average' driver and in the SMG they were 5 seconds quicker due to the SMG actually changing gears properly, and you can also still use your left hand to shift if you like

Disclaimer before I get jumped on: I AM NOT SAYING THAT ANYONE IS AN AVERAGE OR BAD DRIVER.

PhoenixCoupe · Post by **PhoenixCoupe** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 13:36

Are you saying that I'm a bad driver???

Greg's car had a total catastrophic SMG failure, they do happen, but, it is an exception rather than normal. If you're buying the car as a cruiser, it's an option, and probably knocks a bit off the price of the car. If you want it as a driver's car, I'd go manual. But, it's worth trying both to see what you think, it's certainly not a bad gearbox.

ajones13 · Post by **ajones13** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 13:39

PhoenixCoupe wrote:Are you saying that I'm a bad driver???

LOL i've done it now can of worms opened

MarkN · Post by **MarkN** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 14:21

I've got a 3.0Si Sport Auto and have to say it's superb and great fun to drive.

In full Auto mode you can still change a gear by using the paddles - handy when going steep hills etc. After a while it will revert back to fully auto.

In manual mode you can either use the gear stick in "tiptronic" mode or use the paddles on the steering wheel.

I test drove a manual box and really couldn't get on with it, I was forever changing gear to suit the road etc.

HTH

Mark

greg_ch · Post by **greg_ch** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 18:07

ajones13 wrote:I have a friend who works for BMW and although SMG gets a bad press it's not nearly as bad as people make out. Yes there are some horror stories but then look at all the horrors with VANOS too.

We only have figures for the US, BMW are not to publish them in the EU. Across the 3 SMG variants: SMG I (3 Series, Z4), II (E46 M3) and III (E6xM5, M6), there is a 30% failure rate. That compares to 2% for a standard manual transmission. This is one of the reasons BMW have decided to focus on dual clutch systems instead.

I do agree that SMG's gets a 'bad press'. Most of it from ill informed journalists who don't have enough time with the car and system to understand just how to exploit it properly. Many make the mistake of assuming it's like driving a games console. It's not. You don't have a clutch pedal, most race cars with sequential systems do. This leaves you with one less option for balancing the car during high speed cornering etc.

I'm not negative about SMG, simply realistic. Due to increased risk of failure I firmly believe that the manual or automatic options are a better second hand prospect. Z4 values are so low right now that a serious failure would make it uneconomic to repair.

lightning · Post by **lightning** » Wed 04 Feb, 2009 23:23

Thanks for the replies. It seems clear that I need to try both and see what I think. However if the auto is cheaper that might swing it...plus it will be easier for my wife to drive to work in (usually heavy traffic)

PhilR · Post by **PhilR** » Thu 12 Aug, 2010 15:08

This is an old post, but future viewers should look at:-

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread. ... hlight=SMG

and:

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic ... 73#p268741

Hope this helps.