Hi,
I have found a 2006 M5 fully loaded, with 34,500km or so, but i heard a lot of bad about the smg transmission, is the 2006 one bad or good for everyday driving?
also, what would you pay, it is from a dealership and supposedly fully loaded, with smg and 34500km?
i will go and test drive it, but i remember reading about how horrid bmw's smg was, just want to know if this one falls into that category and your feelings on it.
what are the differences between 06 and 09 m5s?
thks

 

I have a 2004 645Ci with SMG, I commute 100 miles per day in Chicago. For reference I am a NASA HPDE Instructor and Time Trialer and have driven mainly manual transmission cars for the last 25 years.

My impressions of SMG are generally favorable after 65,000 miles of year round use. It gives most of the control over the car that you have with a manual transmission including the ability to throttle steer albeit with some compromises:

You cannot drive the car like it is an automatic transmission, you must lift off the gas pedal when you upshift or the shifts will be jerky. That means that you can't forget about the gear changes like you might with an auto, you are still an active participant in the process just without the left leg workout. The effect of this though is that the automatic mode is virtually useless because you still have to lift off the gas during shifts, it is just somewhat unprodictable as to when they might happen.

The other problem with SMG is that in a regular manual transmission car it is sometimes useful to "feather" the clutch. This is not an option with SMG, the clutch is either engaged or not.

I think that these two things are why this transmission gets a bad rap in the media. None of the journalists spend enough time with it. Admittedly, a transmission shouldn't have a learning curve but SMG does reward the time it takes to learn it by being brilliant at full tilt boogie operations and just as good puttering along in the center lane.

My car only has two operating modes (Normal and Sport), the M cars have 6 operating modes which are programmable through the much maligned Idrive (I like that too FWIW), they also have launch control which is pretty good fun. I instructed in an M6 with SMG at Road America last year and the transmission made my very novice student look pretty good.

I can't help with current values but you might want to check out www.m5board.com.

 

ok
thanks...so it will feel different from lets say a dct?
is it bad in stop and go traffic?
thanks again.

 

I have never driven a DCT equipped car so I can't comment on that. In stop and go traffic it's like a manual, you just don't have to pump the clutch pedal.

 

It takes getting used to, I'm on week 2 and still making some mistakes. Ask yourself how long it took to be smooth with a stick, most new owners don't expect a learning curve because the technology is supposed to be "easier". Perhaps it is, but that doesn't mean it's not different with it's own subtelties.

 

I think that these two things are why this transmission gets a bad rap in the media. None of the journalists spend enough time with it. Admittedly, a transmission shouldn't have a learning curve but SMG does reward the time it takes to learn it by being brilliant at full tilt boogie operations and just as good puttering along in the center lane.

I agree 100%. If you spend a little time driving the SMG it will become second nature.

Reminds me of the idrive that everyone but me seems to hate.
I've always thought if you can operate a mouse the idrive is easy.

 

so its kinda like the middle between an auto and a stick
so you steel feel it, it wont be like dct.
is it worth learning?
thks

 

DCT is much better IMO. An M5 with DCT would be heaven. What I find "off" about the smg is the power loss during shifting. At the higher gears, it's not noticeable because the car has momentum, but in the lower gears it is significant. I feather the gas in the same way as if I had a stick, but it's like the transmission is either in gear or not in gear. All the play in a manual before you are totally off the clutch is gone. To me, that is a major flaw in the shifts, but I'm still hopefull that as I get better it will be less noticeable.

 

smg is dead