RE: Driven: BMW M5 Manual

[kambites]

Zod said:

kambites said:

Zod said:

I think you are wrong, certainly for London cars, V8s in particular.

Hmm, I know of four (V8) owners well enough to know and none of them use them daily.

Even most 911 owners I know don't use them daily, and I'd have thought that was much more of a "daily driver" type of car than a Vantage.

You don't live in London. The 911 is the Ford Focus of the City commute.

I suppose that's true.

I wonder what proportion of UK M5s live in London?

[NIIKME]

Cold and clinical is a good description fitting of the M3 DCT aswell if you ask me. In fact ask me, I moved from a DCT to manual and never looked back! M5 will lose sales as a result - big mistake.

[cerb4.5lee]

NIIKME said:

Cold and clinical is a good description fitting of the M3 DCT aswell if you ask me. In fact ask me, I moved from a DCT to manual and never looked back! M5 will lose sales as a result - big mistake.

I am in your boat too, my bro in law has a DCT in his M3 & he complains of the lag when pulling away, I have drove it & yes it's efficient but if I had one it would be the manual everytime.

Have a S-Tronic in the TT-S & it's put me off twin clutches big time, zero involvement or interaction with the car, I maybe old fashioned but I love a manual box & blipping the throttle on down changes myself...long live the manual.

[aeropilot]

cerb4.5lee said:

NIIKME said:

Cold and clinical is a good description fitting of the M3 DCT aswell if you ask me. In fact ask me, I moved from a DCT to manual and never looked back! M5 will lose sales as a result - big mistake.

I am in your boat too, my bro in law has a DCT in his M3 & he complains of the lag when pulling away, I have drove it & yes it's efficient but if I had one it would be the manual everytime.

Have a S-Tronic in the TT-S & it's put me off twin clutches big time, zero involvement or interaction with the car, I maybe old fashioned but I love a manual box & blipping the throttle on down changes myself...long live the manual.

The lag with the DCT in the M3 is the engine not the DCT, as I noticed this a little when I had a test drive of the M3 DCT before I bought my DCT 135i, which has no such lag (I'm guessing because of the turbo torque lower in the rev range.
I've had 30 years driving manuals, and I love the DCT in the 135i, as I thought it suited the N55 engine much better (especially having the extra cog) than the 6MT manual box in the 135 does IMHO.
I really don't get all this 'lack of involvement/interaction' bks that people go on about.....
It's the best option for the daily driving chores/commute while being the best 'box for the track..........best of both worlds, what could you want?

[cerb4.5lee]

aeropilot said:

cerb4.5lee said:

NIIKME said:

Cold and clinical is a good description fitting of the M3 DCT aswell if you ask me. In fact ask me, I moved from a DCT to manual and never looked back! M5 will lose sales as a result - big mistake.

I am in your boat too, my bro in law has a DCT in his M3 & he complains of the lag when pulling away, I have drove it & yes it's efficient but if I had one it would be the manual everytime.

Have a S-Tronic in the TT-S & it's put me off twin clutches big time, zero involvement or interaction with the car, I maybe old fashioned but I love a manual box & blipping the throttle on down changes myself...long live the manual.

The lag with the DCT in the M3 is the engine not the DCT, as I noticed this a little when I had a test drive of the M3 DCT before I bought my DCT 135i, which has no such lag (I'm guessing because of the turbo torque lower in the rev range.
I've had 30 years driving manuals, and I love the DCT in the 135i, as I thought it suited the N55 engine much better (especially having the extra cog) than the 6MT manual box in the 135 does IMHO.
I really don't get all this 'lack of involvement/interaction' bks that people go on about.....
It's the best option for the daily driving chores/commute while being the best 'box for the track..........best of both worlds, what could you want?

It's purely a personal thing I think I just don't enjoy sticking my foot down & just holding on I have no doubt that on a track a twin clutch is the answer & if you have a heavy commute they make lots of sense, I just find when I drive the TT with its twin clutch I feel disconnected from the experience & it bores me to tears & I know in time I would feel the same with a DCT in a M3.

I had an auto in my old 4.8 X5 & I felt the same with that gearbox just uninvolving, I find manual boxes are my cup of tea, I suppose it wouldn't be right if we all liked the same thing, I am not saying twin clutches are poor they just don't float my boat & I am no driving god just willing to put the effort into a manual to get the rewards.

[Zammy]

simonigrale said:

The F1 on the Scud is mega to be fair. I don't like the dual clutch gearboxes on supercars, they work great on cars like the M5 and AMG Mercs but a good single clutch F1 is proper. Drove an Aventador last friday and thought the gearbox was the best bit!

You are spot on mate! That's a beast of a gearbox on the aventador!

[Cold Fusion]

The electronics are being forced on european cars so that eventually they can be controlled by outside forces. At the flick of a switch the plod will be able to switch your engine management down to low output facility slow you down to a stop in a safe area put your electronic hand brake on and then disable your car. Its about control.

Nigel.

[don logan]

kambites said:

Zod said:

kambites said:

Zod said:

I think you are wrong, certainly for London cars, V8s in particular.

Hmm, I know of four (V8) owners well enough to know and none of them use them daily.

Even most 911 owners I know don't use them daily, and I'd have thought that was much more of a "daily driver" type of car than a Vantage.

You don't live in London. The 911 is the Ford Focus of the City commute.

I suppose that's true.

I wonder what proportion of UK M5s live in London?

There are stLOADS of 911s in London and the whole success of 70s 911s stems from the fact that the could be driven around a city without any freak out "choking up" along with a small size, I'd say that on a 5 mile journey in central London to work each morning I probably see 15 or more 911s, less Vantages but proportionate to how many have been sold!

Not many M5s yet but a surprising amount of Panameras

[northwestrecover]

If you carnt be arsed to change gear you are either crap at driving and need help ? too old to be driving as gears are too fiddly or think you are some f1 driver and tell the women and your mates ive got tiptronic ,paddel shift ,dsg dct or st or whatever its called ! .either get a full auto or get a manual simples

[HighwayStar]

Cold Fusion said:

The electronics are being forced on european cars so that eventually they can be controlled by outside forces. At the flick of a switch the plod will be able to switch your engine management down to low output facility slow you down to a stop in a safe area put your electronic hand brake on and then disable your car. Its about control.

Nigel.

Lol... Reminds me of one of those guys, conspiracy theorist with a metal colander/and tin foil round there heads. Keep those mind reading waves out!!!

[blearyeyedboy]

Article said:

even in America the M5 feels on the large side

I know cars are getting bigger but does anyone else find this scary compared to a 1979 M535i?

[E38Ross]

northwestrecover said:

If you carnt be arsed to change gear you are either crap at driving and need help ? too old to be driving as gears are too fiddly or think you are some f1 driver and tell the women and your mates ive got tiptronic ,paddel shift ,dsg dct or st or whatever its called ! .either get a full auto or get a manual simples

Is it end of term already?

[aeropilot]

blearyeyedboy said:

Article said:

even in America the M5 feels on the large side

I know cars are getting bigger but does anyone else find this scary compared to a 1979 M535i?

I wouldn't use the term scary..... perhaps, absurd would be my term.

But, I guess it's all in the name of safety regulations or some such nonsense.

A year or two ago, I was sitting in a traffic queue, behind an old early 70's 911S, and it looked tiny amongst the surrounding traffic. But, when a modern 997 Carrara 4S crept up gradually in the other lane and eventually was alongside the old 911, the difference in size between the two was quite staggering to see.......

[BeirutTaxi]

northwestrecover said:

If you carnt be arsed to change gear you are either crap at driving and need help ? too old to be driving as gears are too fiddly or think you are some f1 driver and tell the women and your mates ive got tiptronic ,paddel shift ,dsg dct or st or whatever its called ! .either get a full auto or get a manual simples

I use to think along those lines a bit. However, I've never heard a bad thing about DSG boxes.

Sounds great to me, stick it in auto for when you can't be arsed, lightening fast paddle mode when you want to have a bit of a play. Awesome.

I would still take the manual, but that's more due to my love of the old school

[6th Gear]

Speaking of old school...

http://www.4starclassics.com/BMW-E28-M5-For-Sale-9...

Beauty.

[northwestrecover]

The bad bit for me apart from i feel in better control with a clutch is , by the time i can afford one the clutch or control unit or box will be fooobared just like lots of smg m3s on ebay and i wont sell my my house to pay the repair bills !

[Rog B]

Personally I hate Dct/SMG/Auto/Tiptronic or whatever automated malarkey or fancy name that doesn't involve a clutch and a manual gearchange. As with anything there is always a reason for not selling it here, and it'll be purely market driven.

Epic car in either format though, but in a perfect world i'd opt for manual. i'm curious about the sales figures of SMG Vs. manual E46 M3's now I think about it more.