I'm not sure about the M5 & M6 but the new M3 will supposedly have both options available and I was just wondering which might be quicker...

MT has always been the best bet but recently SMG transmissions have been very quick and now that they have an extra gear advantage on the MT which would be quicker?

Just curious to hear a few opinions.

 

After drive the new M5, i will stick with MT. The SMGIII may be fast at the S6 setting. But you can't drive it smooth even at S2. And i don't like it when I want to drive it daily.

 

6MT the SMG is ok but it is far from smooth like Ray states

 

SMG takes a little getting used to, but I think I'm every bit as smooth as a standard after about 2200 kms.

You really should drive both and decide which you like best. There are endless discussions about this issue on the dedicated BMW boards.

 

Thanks guys... i'll go read up a bit on the bmw forums.

 

i wonder how the gearing will be different. part of the e60 m5's top end acceleration i'm sure can be accredited to the agressive gearing given that it is 7-speed.

 

i wish they used a higher 7th gear for decent fuel economy

 

ssshhhhhhh.... we don't speak of that here. Fuel economy is for hondas and toyotas... there will be nothing efficient about the way I drive my M5 :P

 

The SMG will shift quicker than you and I could ever could do in an MT and will therefore be the faster car.

 

We had an SMG-I M3 Cabriolet, the SMG is nice for bumper to bumper traffic, and possibly on the track, however 90% of the time just durring normal driving I would purchase the 6-speed Manual. The SMG transmission is simply sub-par in the marketplace. It does not rev match well, you can confuse it easily (it then starts surging, like driving stick and engaging a gear without giving it enough gas)

I drove a new A3 3.2 DSG and the DSG transmission represents what the SMG should have been but isnt, it rev matches all shifts, which execute faster than the SMG. If you are considering an SMG< I would drive an stick car, an SMG car, and an A3 3.2 (the 2.0 is a sled) DSG because that way you will see what a given M3 drives like with the manual, then the SMG for comparison and then the DSG to show you what the SMG lacks that you probably would not notice for a while otherwise.

Also, I drove (and was considering buying) a 550i SMG, the SMG in the non-M cars is garbage, it does not allow for selection of shift firmness, speed, etc like the m-cars do. I would buy an AUTOMATIC, yea I said it, over the SMG in a NON-M car.

Hope that helps,
Jeremy