I was also told by Canadian dealer that SMG is no longer available for 06. Also that manual would be delayed by one month. I was able to find car with everything I wanted in 545i and was offered great lease deal. While I would have wanted new key and some other 550i items, I'm very happy with my new car. It's manual and makes you really appreciate the great engine. Would never settle for Step if manual/SMG is what you really want. My advice, don't compromise on tranny, wait.

 

I'll vote for the "wait for what you want" camp. My steptronic 545i is fabulous but many with the steptronic who were prior manual drivers seem to dislike what I would describe as a "highly managed" transmission, meaning the transmission makes all kinds of changes to its shift point pattern based on vehicle and driving conditions. Its always "thinking" which some people believe introduces a delay- I haven't noticed this and think the transmissions if perfectly appropriate for a performance oriented luxury car. Regardless, for this much money, you should wait for the right thing.

 

There's an assumption running through most of these responses: "BMW will be bringing back either the 6-speed manual; or the SMG(/ZSG?) transmission; or both in the '06 e60". Is this truly a safe assumption to make? Does anyone have any data to back up this assumption? Is there an expected timeline for such a reintroduction?

Cheers,
Karim

 

Unless the SMG everyone is waiting for shifts more like the M series, I'm holding out for the 6-speed manual.

One thing you could consider is weighing out the cost for your ED including vacationing during this time vs. upgrading all the way to the new M5 with the REAL SMG transmission. I'm sure some of the regulars on this sight could provide some cost projections.

Good luck what ever you decide!

 

wait for the manual and I can tell you that I did ED in 2nd wk of MAY and it was cold with some days up to 65 but that was down south of Munich