drjochen

I kinda sorta heard from 3 different dealer connections that the SMG is not much liked since the cars come back so much for repairs after they get 1 year or older.
I don't know if it is true though.

joseyu

I believe that there is some truth to that statement. In the post below, the member had a SMG failure after 12,000 miles.

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=25013

Here is another thread of similar problems after 1 year. I believe there are additional threads linked within too.

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...&hl=SMG+failure

Rudy

Again, there will always be people with problems, SMG, Steptronic, or manual. I have well over 20K miles on my car and I don't baby the thing much at all. I downshift all the way to first each and every time I slow or stop (and I do it with some decent RPMs left) and the thing just keeps performing like the day I took delivery.

It's quite possible that some dealers are simply clueless about SMG since they are much more rare than the mainstream transmission choices. Maybe some of the owners are clueless too?

robg

I had a rather lengthy discussion with my salseman about this issue. By way of background, I have used the same salesman for may years/cars and when we talk about things like this, I get the straight dope, not the corporate position. He told me he tries to talk customers out of the SMG becasue many who get it are coming from a car with Step (and w/o manual experience) and think the SMG is just a newer/cooler version of Step, expecially becasue it has an auto mode. He told me many customers come back after a week or a month and want to trade the car in for a Step. The salesman/dealership is then faced with either making a tough financial decision or risk alienating a customer. He said it is just easier to try to convince the customer not to get the SMG in the first place and each salesman will make up his own story.

jet190rs

A local salesperson gave me a similar explanation as well.

At first he was apprehensive about me wanting SMG, but after we went on a test drive in a CPO M3 SMG, he realized that I UNDERSTOOD SMG, and thus encouraged me to get it.

my530i

Katheikia,
If your cousin wants to buy E60, I'd recommend him buy Steps or Stick. If he/she leases, get SMG in a blink. Shifting with paddle on steptronic already give me some fun. SMG will be a blast!

katheikia

Yes he is leasing. I had a previous manual E39 and had problems with it and it also seems that the steptronic has ssues also like transmission slam, and holding first gear too long. So in my opinion the SMG transmission is as reliable as all the others

Rudy

Thanks for helping to confirm my theory that I posted here:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?s=&showtop...ndpost&p=277203

I had a feeling that's what was going on...

EBMCS03

Mp0i has a 530 SMG. PM him and ask how he likes it. Seems like all the 545s like the SMG and 550s.

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showuser=1057

mp0i

I like my 2005 530 SMG. I had to order it because there are none at the dealers for reason pointed out above. I had one software issue last year but it was taken care of with a software upgrade. Clearly, it is not as fast as the boys with the 545 or 550 but as long as you have the revs in the right part of the power band it's fine. Tooling around town (60% highway, 40% so cal traffic) I get 24-27 MPG which is nice as well.