This just occurred to me as I was parked on a steep hill the other day. My car transmission is SMG and when parking anywhere, I have to pull the emergency brakes to keep car from rolling. However, this hill had a good slope and I needed to pull the e-brakes all the way up inorder for the car not to roll backwards. :'( Unlike a typical manual tranny where you can put the car in 1st gear and set e-brakes to keep car from rolling backwards, SMG will not lock its gear with engine off.

The e60 are fairly heavy vehicles and it was nerve racking to take my foot off the brake pedal once the e-brake was set....the car rolled a little bit backwards then stop. What happens if the e-brake were to fail, my car will just roll out of control. This seems to open up some liability issues for BMW, since cars with SMG transmission only have the one e-brake system to depend on. Was this a design fawl on BMW??? Maybe that is why they are discontinuing SMG for the e60 models.

{Moral of Story} Anyone with SMG must make sure their is ample brake fluid and to always have emergency brake cable re-adjusted for maximum secure stoppage!!

 

I'm pretty sure mine stays in gear if I shut the car down when the transmission is in D or R. I've tried it before and I wasnt able to move my car.

Thats why like a year ago when you heard of all these people not being able to start their SMGs was because their car was stuck in gear after being parked. Their Hydraluic pumps were going out. HUmmm come to think of it I havent heard of this problem for a while now. *knock on wood* 545 times...

I usually park in gear when parked anywhere except my house. And when I start the car, I shift the lever to Neutral and when I turn the key I can hear the transmission going back into N and can see it on the center dash. So I'm pretty sure it can be parked in gear.

 

If you attempt to leave your transmission in neutral, there will be a roll away warning appearing in the small message panel between the speedo and tach. As long as the car is shut down in gear, the clutch will engage and perform the same function as a typical manual tranny left in gear. If you don't believe it, try leaving the car in gear on a level surface with the emergency brake off and shut the car down. Then see if you can roll the car. If it does, then you should have the Dealer check it out. Also, try leaving it in neutral and see if the warning appears in the message panel, if not then this too should be checked out at the dealer.

Joe

 

yeah what they said...

but if you're still worried about parking on a hill, do what they taught you in driver's ed - turn the steering wheel all the way so if you do roll, you roll into the curb.

 

I feel alot better now! I just took my car to test it on a little hill and turned off the engine while the car was in the drive gear and it held... . I guess prior to now I was putting the car in neutral, turn off engine and then press on break to set it in gear. That was my routine on my previous stick shift. You guys are awesome...thanks again.

On a side note, when you guys use the paddle shifter, does it feel like it shift slower than when you shift via the knob?? That is my impression...please comment.

 

I feel the same way about the paddle shifters. Doesnt bother me because I rarely use them anyway. The shifter feels more comfortable to me, since I drove a manual for many years.