If you are parking on a downhill, you should park it in R (and still set the brake...)

 

It rolled backwards in D. I also tried R, the same. It seems that the clutch opens after ~ 15-20 min and its like the car is in N. Maybe this has to do with all the other SMG issues I have????? My dealer told me its supposed to be like this.

 

Interesting. I always set the parking brake so I can't say what my car would do in that situation -- and I may not be willing to do any testing on that issue!

It sounds like the clutch is disengaging once the car goes into sleep mode but I would assume that the clutch's "resting" position would be in an engaged state so even a loss of hydraulic pressure should still keep the car stationary.

Any other SMG'ers care to test this? \\

 

I had talked to an instructor at my M driver traing last year at the Salzburgring and he had been on the E60 development team.
He said this should NOT happen. The clutch should stay closed. But then my SA disagreed.

 

Pretty easy bet as to who you should believe...

 

Can't say how it is in other models but with a V8, SMG is awesome for everyday commuting, pleasure driving, or just going down to the store. Once you get the hang of it, there are no losing situations.

I did have a couple of mis-ques at first:
- When using the paddles I reached to far with my fingers and accidentally turned on the wipers
- I've flashed my headlights
- Out of habit I put it in N while coasting down a hill in bumper to bumper traffic and momentarily had to apply the brake to get it in gear to apply power again. Luckily the guy behind me was far enough behind but if they were closer could have rear ended me!

Comming from a long line of manual transmissions myself, I would defineatly get SMG again!

 

I'd get another SMG in a heartbeat but there are is another minor issue I'd like to see addressed in future versions of the transimission:

I would like to see a "winter" switch or some method of telling the transmission that you want to start in second gear "until further notice." Right now, you can start in second but if you come to a stop, the car assumes you want to start in first again. This becomes an even bigger problem when you're trying to rock the car if it's stuck in the snow, etc. (Yeah, I know Heloha, you don't have that problem...)

 

What is this "winter" thing that everyone keeps talking about?

 

That cant be the case... Its suppose to stay in gear. Thats very weird... I would like to know but I'm too impatient to sit there and wait for 20 mins to see if the car will roll... and no I will not just let it sit and see what happenes.

 

Like all crappy weather it's a British concept