put your transmisson of choice in order
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Steptronic auto, for me.
I am not a Z4 poseur - I drive a high-powered sportscar because it can get me places quickly. I choose my posting sig because it sums up what I believe cars are about!
Opinion piece follows: (well, if the poster can get away with the Mexican joke, I think I should be allowed this ... )
After twenty years of driving in three MGs, three Porsches, one Lotus, four BMWs (M535i on the list) and sundry other cars (including a Mini Pickup - fun on wheels), I bought a Porsche 964 Tiptronic, and have never seen the point of a clutch pedal since. One has to adapt one's driving skills, but when this adaptation is complete, the full benefits of the automatic become apparent.
The really important feature is that the automatic box allows a driver to give more attention to the road and less to the details of the operation of the car. In the same way that automatic regulation of battery charging, automatic advance and retard of the ignition spark, and automatic control of the fuel-air mixture, which are all now taken for granted, have improved vehicles in the past, now is the time for drive ratio selection to become something that is done by the car rather than the driver.
There are few people who would claim (and none that could) given a mixture control and ignation advance control that they could manage an engine more effecively than the electronic systems in their modern car. The strange thing is that there are many who claim that they can control the drive ratios better than the electonic alternatives. However, with the manual override provided by the Steptronic system, this does not seem to be an argument in favour of a manual gearbox.
Most important, in a car like a Z4, with a responsive automatic grearbox, you are not sacrificing speed. A manual car can out-perform an auto under test conditions, but in real life, for most people, the auto is actually faster. The classic situation is being stuck behind a caravan doing 70kph for miles. In a manual, you either buzz along in third, wasting petrol and loosing comfort, or you change up, with the likelihood you are in the wong gear when the overtaking slot appears. With the auto, it changes up while you are stuck, and drops two or three gears in a fraction of a second (to the right gear) when you kick down to use that overtaking slot. Then, when the red-line approaches, the auto just changes up with no break in drive - no dead zone that happens when you come off the throttle to change up in a manual.
In a modern car, a manual gearbox is an anachronism, sustained only by hubris.
End of opinion pice.
A
I am not a Z4 poseur - I drive a high-powered sportscar because it can get me places quickly. I choose my posting sig because it sums up what I believe cars are about!
Opinion piece follows: (well, if the poster can get away with the Mexican joke, I think I should be allowed this ... )
After twenty years of driving in three MGs, three Porsches, one Lotus, four BMWs (M535i on the list) and sundry other cars (including a Mini Pickup - fun on wheels), I bought a Porsche 964 Tiptronic, and have never seen the point of a clutch pedal since. One has to adapt one's driving skills, but when this adaptation is complete, the full benefits of the automatic become apparent.
The really important feature is that the automatic box allows a driver to give more attention to the road and less to the details of the operation of the car. In the same way that automatic regulation of battery charging, automatic advance and retard of the ignition spark, and automatic control of the fuel-air mixture, which are all now taken for granted, have improved vehicles in the past, now is the time for drive ratio selection to become something that is done by the car rather than the driver.
There are few people who would claim (and none that could) given a mixture control and ignation advance control that they could manage an engine more effecively than the electronic systems in their modern car. The strange thing is that there are many who claim that they can control the drive ratios better than the electonic alternatives. However, with the manual override provided by the Steptronic system, this does not seem to be an argument in favour of a manual gearbox.
Most important, in a car like a Z4, with a responsive automatic grearbox, you are not sacrificing speed. A manual car can out-perform an auto under test conditions, but in real life, for most people, the auto is actually faster. The classic situation is being stuck behind a caravan doing 70kph for miles. In a manual, you either buzz along in third, wasting petrol and loosing comfort, or you change up, with the likelihood you are in the wong gear when the overtaking slot appears. With the auto, it changes up while you are stuck, and drops two or three gears in a fraction of a second (to the right gear) when you kick down to use that overtaking slot. Then, when the red-line approaches, the auto just changes up with no break in drive - no dead zone that happens when you come off the throttle to change up in a manual.
In a modern car, a manual gearbox is an anachronism, sustained only by hubris.
End of opinion pice.
A
eurgain said:
Or you can leave the manual in high gear, and do a quick rev-match-down-shift when you see opportunity to over-take. I've had a Z4 with the steptronic transmision before. It shifts slowly. It shifts slowly and takes a full second for the car to react and change gear after you step on the kick-down mode. I'm no Schumacher but it doesn't take a pro race-car driver to rev-match-down-shift in less than 1 second.
Funny how I find it exactly the opposite. I'm much more alert and aware of my surroundings and the road situations when I'm driving a stick because of the needs to in the correct gears and to anticipate any traffic change.
When did BMW ever make an M535i?
i did pay more attention when i was driving my other cars (man. trans), and whenever i would drive in auto transmission cars i would find my absent-minded self easily distracted. and, yes.. the tiptronic and steptronic systems on our z4s DO take a long freakin' to shift to our desired gear when we need it the most.
smg [i'm biased & i have one that works with no troubles), manual (all my other cars have been manual), and automatic.
ultimately, it depends on the driver and how "good" they are with their driving skills, and the demands they need their ultimate driving machines to fulfill.
smg [i'm biased & i have one that works with no troubles), manual (all my other cars have been manual), and automatic.
ultimately, it depends on the driver and how "good" they are with their driving skills, and the demands they need their ultimate driving machines to fulfill.
GP20 said:
Mine was made in 1987. They were not common! Roughly, it had some of the chassis from an M5, the dogleg 5-speed box and enormously heavy clutch, but the standard 3,5l engine from the 535i and no LSD. It also had various M-things, like seats and steering wheel, etc.
Some little bugger levered my M badge off the boot one day. At the time, this was all to common. The BMW dealer said replacements were not for sale, but I could have one for free if I could prove that my car was a genuine M model. My car's VIN was checked against the computer, and a free M badge (fitted) was mine!
Check http://www.m535i.org
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Mmm have to agree with that, although there are quite a few problems with SMG III on the M5/6.mikedav said:
DCT (OK not on the list!) / auto / manual / SMG
SMG first, then a difficult choice between manual and auto. But probably manual.
I've got SMG on mine, and it's a lot better than many people seem to think (although I'm not sure how many opinions on the matter are experienced rather than hearsay). If you want to experience a dodgy semi-auto, drive a Smart Roadster (I known, I owned one). The Z4's system is on another level. Drive it like you would a manual (i.e. not flooring the gas throughout the gear change), especially in Sport mode, and the only difference you'll notice is the lack of pressing the clutch. Besides which it's got Launch Control (aka "Acceleration Assistance"), which is worth the price of admission alone!
The Z4 doesn't have the semi-auto from the E36 or E46 (formerly known as "SSG"), but rather a bespoke system called "H-SMG" which is based on the Z4's manual box (H-pattern, hence H-SMG) with the addition of an electro-hydraulic shifting system. So incidentally it's technically not a "sequential" gearbox.mikedav said:
Or you can just press the downshift SMG paddle twice.GP20 said:
I've got SMG on mine, and it's a lot better than many people seem to think (although I'm not sure how many opinions on the matter are experienced rather than hearsay). If you want to experience a dodgy semi-auto, drive a Smart Roadster (I known, I owned one). The Z4's system is on another level. Drive it like you would a manual (i.e. not flooring the gas throughout the gear change), especially in Sport mode, and the only difference you'll notice is the lack of pressing the clutch. Besides which it's got Launch Control (aka "Acceleration Assistance"), which is worth the price of admission alone!
Loooove my steptronic automatic. Just love it. On a sunny day, you can just drop the top and cruise around in or out of traffic without worrying about changing gears.
I agree that when you press the gas all the way down, there's a one second delay before you drop gears and the revs shoot up, but when I wanna pass, I just switch over to steptronic mode, and it changes gears very quickly.
Maybe a manual would be worth it for a weekend or summer-only car, but this is my daily driver.
I agree that when you press the gas all the way down, there's a one second delay before you drop gears and the revs shoot up, but when I wanna pass, I just switch over to steptronic mode, and it changes gears very quickly.
Maybe a manual would be worth it for a weekend or summer-only car, but this is my daily driver.
Vroomer said:
Yes, it was an E28. A lovely deep metallic blue; utterly mean looking - all black trim; no chrome except the grille's "kidneys", low and lots of lights. It had huge "rear-view mirror presence" that shifted the slow cars from the outside lane of the motorway. The traction was terrible. It could spin its wheels in third gear at 55 mph in the wet, and at almost any speed at any time in second. It would not move at all if a fall of snow was even forecast
I carried four 50kg bags of coal in the boot over the winter months to keep the back end down (I really did - no joke - and it did help a bit)! It had a lot of negative camber on the rear wheels (like the M5) but it did not have a limited-slip diff (unlike the M5).It had a rediculously small fuel tank (about 55 litres) which could mean as little as 200m between refuelings.
I dove it a lot in Germany, where it was not a fast top-speed car, because it was too low-geared. Over about 200kph, it got noisy and thirsty, but it was entirely stable up to 225kph, which was the fastest I drove it. However, its acceleration from, say, 160kmh to 200kph was incredible.
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Manual, SMG, Auto
I had to think about this as Iam a 2.5 SMG II owner which i'm actually a big fan of - for one little annoying point!! Sometimes when approaching some traffic and just as you're about to stop the traffice moves off again, in a manual I would stay in 2nd and dip the clutch a bit to slip it a fraction to prevent shudder while pulling off, however you can't do this with an SMG and what it does is change itself down to 1st although your foot is already being pressed down so when it selcts 1st you have a bunch of revs and the car suddenly lurches. Isuppose I should adapt and maybeif i notice it changing down to 1st to pull the paddle up to reselct 2nd before its actually engaged 1st as I've only driven my car for about 6 months now and this has probably happened 3 or 4 times but, it is annoying. Apart from that I love it!!! During normal driving and also when belting it, it drives and changes incredibly smoothly and quickly. I particulary like changing down through the gears with a few revs on when approaching a set of lights as it blips the throttle and with my sports exhaust sounds beautiful. I think i've only ever had it in full auto twice in the 6months and both times was when I was fumbling to connect my ipod.
I had to think about this as Iam a 2.5 SMG II owner which i'm actually a big fan of - for one little annoying point!! Sometimes when approaching some traffic and just as you're about to stop the traffice moves off again, in a manual I would stay in 2nd and dip the clutch a bit to slip it a fraction to prevent shudder while pulling off, however you can't do this with an SMG and what it does is change itself down to 1st although your foot is already being pressed down so when it selcts 1st you have a bunch of revs and the car suddenly lurches. Isuppose I should adapt and maybeif i notice it changing down to 1st to pull the paddle up to reselct 2nd before its actually engaged 1st as I've only driven my car for about 6 months now and this has probably happened 3 or 4 times but, it is annoying. Apart from that I love it!!! During normal driving and also when belting it, it drives and changes incredibly smoothly and quickly. I particulary like changing down through the gears with a few revs on when approaching a set of lights as it blips the throttle and with my sports exhaust sounds beautiful. I think i've only ever had it in full auto twice in the 6months and both times was when I was fumbling to connect my ipod.
DCT (if it was available), Manual, Auto
I have the auto myself,this was a compromise for my wife. My auto is very slow on downshifts, better in sport mode though. I also think I get worse gas milage in town (around 20.5 to 21 mpg) than I would if I had the manual.
I have the auto myself,this was a compromise for my wife. My auto is very slow on downshifts, better in sport mode though. I also think I get worse gas milage in town (around 20.5 to 21 mpg) than I would if I had the manual.
Davespeed3
Member
SMG for me, both in the Clubsport and the Z4 I drive, really like it a lot, once you learn to adapt your driving style there's no turning back!! ...but then I don't have a lot of choice having lost my left arm. Driven a lot of auto's and don't really like them on the tight, twisty roads near me, the SMG allows me better control and a more enjoyable drive. There's a fair bit of difference between the SMG on the Clubsport an the Z4, the E46 is a five speed box (02 car) and is so smooth but changes up on its own when you bounce off the rev-limiter :x The Z4's box is six speed, although harsher than the E46 its more fun and suits the 'roadster feel' of the Z4, plus it stays in the gear you select
On the daily grind into work I just select cruise in either car and just chill out, while everyone else is getting frustrated in the stop/go traffic.
On the daily grind into work I just select cruise in either car and just chill out, while everyone else is getting frustrated in the stop/go traffic.
There is nothing like coming to the end of a nice straight with a long sweeping left hander, quick mirror check, moving to the offside, looking for the limit point to stop moving away which identifies the correct speed, doubling down into a smooth third or second, maintaining power through the bend whilst looking for that beautiful limit point to start drifting away, you then squeeze the accelerator slowly as you prepare to power out the bend. There it is....the limit point moving away and your chance to bury the throttle. Back end twitches slightly but just enough to let you know about the power under the bonnet...a stern response to you burying the throttle as you try to push the boundaries of the mutual respect between you and your Zed.....
Cannot be done in an automatic.....not smooth at all in a SMG.......so manual all the way
Cannot be done in an automatic.....not smooth at all in a SMG.......so manual all the way