Saturday 29th April 2017

Manuals and DCTs disappearing from M cars?

Senior M bod Peter Quintus suggests conventional autos will be the way forward

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While many may dream of buying a new M car and sticking with the standard manual gearbox (where it's available, at least), the reality remains that the vast majority of buyers opt for the dual-clutch alternative. Given BMW manuals are far from the best, but its DCTs the very opposite, this makes quite a lot of sense. Especially when the cars often feel to be configured for two pedals.

Therefore the news that the manual only has a handful of years to live in BMW M cars, at least according to M's Vice President of sales and marketing Peter Quintus, shouldn't be all that surprising. What should come as more of a shock is his belief that the dual-clutch alternative will meet its demise at the same time as the manual.

"It's more a question of how long has the DCT got to go - how long will it last?" he said in an interview with Drive in Australia, citing the rapid recent improvements in conventional torque converter automatics. Where DCTs once held weight and shift speed advantages, the latest autos have significantly closed the gap: "Now, a lot of that shift-time advantage has disappeared as automatics get better and smarter."

Moreover there are automatics now with up to 10 speeds, bringing benefits for fuel economy and acceleration. As for the manual, apparently there is another issue beyond emissions and a lack of buyer demand - durability. According to Quintus, manuals will struggle to cope with the latest range of super torquey turbo engines; the limit is said to be about 450hp and 443lb ft, with durability issues beyond that.

In fact, such is the way manuals are going in M Division, Quintus believes cars below the M5 may now be going automatic-only. "I'm not even sure the next generation of M3 and M4 will have the option of a manual gearbox." There you have it then - get one (if you want one) while you still can!

[Source: Drive.au, via Motor1]

[Thorburn]

And just like that I lose all interest in BMW M cars.

[Thorburn]

Guvernator said:

Strangely enough the Americans who were traditionally the land of the automatic have realised that in sports\performance cars, a lot of people don't actually want all the techno-wizardry that removes them from the experience but the European manufactures seem to have got their priorities all wrong. Can I move to America please? They still seem to know how to make cars I'd actually want over there.

Weirdly the US got a manual version of the V10 M5 too, where as Europe didn't!

I think a RHD V10 M5 Touring would be right up there in my perfect garage line-up.

[Thorburn]

Dave Hedgehog said:

i think many people already had when they moved over to 6 pots with fake engine noises through the speakers

doubly so with the lack luster reviews of the cars

such a shame after the epic V8s they made

Pretty much, although for me I'd look to the old E30 M3 or E46 as the ones I long for.

I drive an M135i with the 8-speed auto fairly regularly, and its an impressive piece of engineering, particularly given the cost, but it doesn't stir the soul. It's all mid-range grunt, strangely weighted, dead steering, and electronic assistance. I'd rather be going slower and actually enjoying myself.