I did a lot of research and read the posts here thoroughly:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=55056&hl=
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=60766

I ordered the necessary parts (making sure I ordered the correct parts for RHD) and fitted them, the install was fairly ok except for a small black plastic unit was attached to the ECU (via 2 torx screws as mentioned in the DIY retrofit guide). This black plastic thing made it very difficult to get the old ECU out and put the new ECU in. Removing it was not mentioned in the DIY guide and it proved to be very tricky. With some careful force, I was able to move it to do the swap. That was the first surprise. Anyway, once it was fitted, I had a little play while stationary and it seemed to work all ok.

I took it for a drive and noticed the tightened steering (at low speed it is very very tightened). However, the gear changes are no quicker. This is contradictory of the above posts as these should be present as soon as the retrofit is done (i.e. does not require a software update).

I'm due to have a software update to get the extra features (Sport indicated on the speedo when enabled and gear shown when in DS mode). Can anyone confirm who has done this retrofit when the quick gear changes happen? Before or after the software update?

I've been in a car which has had SAT installed from factory and the gear changes are blindingly quick (well according to the tach). But there is definitely the normal lag with this when manually changing gears.

Any thoughts? Apart from that, it is a very good mod even if for the looks alone.

 

I agree about the looks alone, the SAT shifter looks so much better than the steptronic shifter which looks kinda awkwardly bigger.

 

I have done the SAT retrofit a few months ago, I'm on RHD as well. You can refer to this thread that I have started in the Singapore BMW forums:

http://www.bmw-sg.com/forums/engine-perfor...r-retrofit.html

Before the retrofit, I have been driving my LCI for about a year plus.

After the SAT retrofit, the gear changing in manual is indeed much faster. It is not instantaneous but close to it. I have not sat in a car with factory SAT before, so I can't comment if the retrofit is as good as the factory one. Or maybe the reason I find that the gear shift is fast is because the original steptronic is way too slow!

I did not go for any coding after the retrofit, and everything works fine. The only difference is that you still see the same M1, M2, .... instead of S1, S2, .... as listed in the other thread.

There is another problem that I've encountered with the original steptronic. Sometimes when I shift the gear shift say from P to D, there is no response and it still stays in P. This also happens from D to R and R to D. The BMW service centre here has checked this problem a couple of times, and still it could not be solved. This problem happened like about once or twice a week. After the SAT retrofit, this problem completely disappeared!

Hope the above info is useful to you.

 

Must be just me but I don't see how adding sat nav affects shifts.

 

We are not talking about Satelite Navigation here, we're talking about Sports Automatic Transmission.

 

Excuse me for a minute while I go bang my head against the wall.

 

LMAO - DD

 

I am going to abbreviate everything from now in my posts on so nobody understands anything.


yeah i read this 3 times before I sort of understood what was being discussed. So he retrofitted his tranny? Hmmm wouldnt it be easier to just buy a new car?

 

Sorry about the confusion with the abbreviations. I assumed it was common knowledge. The retro fit is a 20 min job and very easy to do. I don't touch anything except the gear shifter, a bif ecu block attached to the shifter and some trim panels. Have a look at the linked posts in my first post.

 

Can anyone who has SAT able to post a video clip of the speed of the gear changes when in manual mode with the Sport button enabled? When I'm in manual mode, there does not seem to be any speed difference between Sport button enabled and Sport button non-enabled.