isbell, that would be well past 70 for those of us who never promised their old Dad they would ever grow up.

Peace.

 

I'd love to order the 6-speed stick, but besides the wife thing, I found that the engagement and the rowing action too rubbery on the test car that I drove. I was disappointed because that direct and firm mechanical feel was gone.

I know that BMW installed "Clutch Delay Valve?" thing to make it smoother, but many people have opted to remove it. Has anyone done this and care to share how did make the shift action better?

KSCARROL mentioned that steptronic can be manually operated a la SMG. What would be the differece performance wise between shifting the steptronic manually versus SMG?

 

isbell, that's my point. You WON'T feell like an "old man" (age is relative, right JDN?) with an SMG once you learn how to drive it. Instead, you'll feel like Andretti, Montoya, Schumaker, etc. every day!

 

Sounds good to me. I was thinking about the SMG, but couldn't test drive it at all, and because I needed a car sooner rather than later, I decided not to wait.

I did get to drive an M3. Wow, what a short throw on that baby. That took a while to get used to.

Peace.

 

I wanted a manual, but there's none available here in east Bay Area at the time I was looking. I don't regret my decision to take a Steptronic. It makes my wife happier.

I plan to take a SMG for my next Bimmer though.

-khl

 

great question speedracer. Rudy, JDN I have driven the SMG, I assume you guys have driven the steptronic. I would assume the manual feature on my steptronic changes the gears slower than the SMG does, but I have no experience. And as for the 70 yrs OLD wisecrack, those of us who are still taking our recent 40th birthday kind of hard are just hoping to make it to 70!

 

I plan on sticking with SMG. I love it and will not trade it for any other transmission. Forget Steptronic, I do not need to find a reason for my wife to drive. Plus you can sort of drive it like an automatic when you shift it all the way to the right. All the better it is just me. I will always drive SMG, the paddles are teriffic.

 

Wiser words were never spoken

 

I really haven't, ksc. The only automatics I have ever driven are a couple of demos. So, maybe I shouldn't judge. I have always preferred manual except for a long time ago with Fordamatic and Hydromatic.

 

I see it this way:
I am 21, plus 164 months... But who cares about the months...