evperry

The salesman told me today that i might not like the smg in the 545 if I have driven the m3 version since tey are different.

Has anyone driven both and if so what are your thoughts?

SueBMW

They are certainly different, since during the last heated debate about SMG or not, I was clearly screwed up in my opinions on SMG, which I had based on my M3 experience. I gained that, bare minimum, the paddles are larger and shift both up and down in the E60. I have not ever driven an E60 with SMG.

bmwin14rsm

I have driven both a M3 SMG and an E60 SMG. The E60 is smoother and more user friendly than the M3. The M3 is definately faster, it is designed as a sports car.

yogibear458

I test drove a E60 with SMG. There's a long delay between 1st and 2nd. Putting it in Sport Mode made it shift faster in all gears. Perhaps it was just the test vehicle but I find the long delay between 1st and 2nd is unacceptable. Had the service manager to drive it, and he said it's normal !! And there isn't another smg 545 available in Ontario to test drive...so I went for the old school automatic.

Service manager did say the SMG on the e60 is a simplied version and not the same as in the M3 where it has different programs and launch control.

evperry

Im gonna drive the smg 3 series (non m3) smg version which is the same as the 545 in order to get a feel for it before i order.

bmwin14rsm

Good choice. Make sure you keep in the back of your mind the SMG is has learning curve everyone needs to anticipate. I made the decision on SMG based on this. My wife really wanted a manual, but cannot drive one. The purpose of a BMW for us is this car to be our "FUN" car.

With an automatic, we could have chosen a less expensive car for about the same performance. For example, the new STS and Infinity M45 are comparable cars for approximately $20,000 less than the BMW with similar performance in the automatic. By the way, for all you BMW fans who are critical of Cadillacs. Be careful of the new STS. It is an impressive car especially with the V8.

Rudy

bmwin14rsm is correct. There is a learning curve with SMG that takes time and patience.

If you're still pondering the decision to go SMG or not, this post contains links to other threads where the topic of SMG is covered fairly well.

Also, this thread in the FAQ has some good information...

alohalc

i think i've read an article from one of the car magazines saying the new sts is a good car...but still can't compare w/our e60s .

heezy545i

The STS looks promising, but I'd rather have a CTS-V

Iceman

i think i've read an article from one of the car magazines saying the new sts is a good car...but still can't compare w/our e60s .
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Spyshots of the new '06 STS-V:






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