Carterena

I think it depends on the engine (before LCI)

Kier

That's correct - BMW have some story about too much torque from the motor for a manual box to handle...

My experience in a BMW manual diesel is in my wife's 120d, as I said.

Kier

I wouldn't have thought so - I've seen people punish their clutch a lot more than the brief moment between pulling away and shifting to 2nd. The clutches in BMW diesels are fairly heavy duty to handle the torque anyway.

Palmo

To be honest I don't really have a problem with jerkiness when changing gear. I guess we all lift the clutch a little too quickly or slowly from time to time which may cause a little jerk, but on the whole I find my manual very easy to drive full stop.

I would certainly advise against setting off in 2nd gear from a standing start very frequently - this will certainly be adding unnecessary stress on the clutch and drivertrain - it was fitted with 1st gear for a reason - and yes the clutches are quite heavy duty and will easily take it in the short term, but it would take it's toll in the longer term.

I find when driving 'casually' in normal day to day traffic (excluding setting off on steep inclines) that the torque of the engine allows very early, relaxed (i.e. slow & smooth) gear changes, with changes made either at or just before 2000 RPM. For more spirited driving I obviously increase this accordingly. I also find 'flat out' driving with extra fast gear changes easy, the clutch feels so strong and precise when making a super fast change, that no sooner is the clutch quickly, and fully engaged, the car is immediately back surfing the next wave of torque. If ever I do make a 'jerky gear change' it is more likely to be somewhere between the two scenario's i.e. neither a fully relaxed, slow & smooth gear change nor a super fast change, but somewhere in between e.g if pulling steadily out of a junction then realising an approaching car is coming faster than initially anticipated, thus needing to make the gear change at slightly higher RPM's and semi-quickly - unexpectedily - having to change to the next gear - if that makes sense.

I actually find the gear lever throw to be very acceptable - it's no racing car, but it certainly ain't sloppy with a long distance between gears. However, I do have the 'M-Sport' model fitted with the M-Sport Gear Lever knob. When I initially took delivery of the car it had the wrong 'SE' type Gear Lever Knob fitted. This did seem to have a much longer throw between gears simply due to it's longer length. When the correct M-Sport lever was later retrofitted, the improvement was quite noticeable with reduced throw due to the shorter length.

Hope some of this helps.

Allen

This is what I do. I use 1st gear simply to get me rolling from a stop, then shift into 2nd as soon as revs permit (2000-2500RPM). Also, I shift gears very gently...I don't actually PUT the shifter in gear...I more like coax it into gear...kinda put pressure on the shifter in the direction of the gear I'm going into, and let it slide into gear on it's own...if that makes sense. This takes a wee bit of extra time, but unless I'm trying to "race" someone, it's plenty fast enough. Also, I generally will skip 4th gear, rev 3rd a little higher, and go straight to 5th. Bottom line...I try to be as smooth & gentle as possible. Even if I'm haulin' ass, I still try to shift as smooth as possible...because smooth also equals fast.

This method worked good for me on my '95 525i 5-speed. It had 250K on the original clutch and was going strong when it was totalled ...no clutch or gear issues ever.

Anzafin

Great answers! Thank you all.
Does anybody know a chart where you could compare gear reductions (I hope you understand what I mean) between diesel and petrol cars. Manual of course.

hibberd

If you have a diesel with a manual gearbox you should change at about 1500 revs and use the torque as ist so flat a curve. The automatic does start in 2nd in D mode and 1st in DS mode