sj3

Thanks, Rudy! I'm completely amazed as I considered my case totally hopeless!

Sam

kscarrol

Way to go Sam, 1 week down, many years ahead of you. As someone who has been down this path, I can tell you it only gets better. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel in just a month or two, how things will taste better (smoking deadens the taste buds). Keep it up!

As for statements about folks not liking the SMG, I think he may be talking about some very early posts over on Roadfly. I remember when I first found these boards as I researched about my impending purchase, that some people were having trouble making smooth shifts, etc. No similar comments in a long time, so likely these folks finally got used to the SMG and there satisfaction level has greatly improved. Just my guess though.

isbell

I live six miles south of the airport. It takes me twenty minutes to get to Ga Tech... that's an average of a little more than sixty miles an hour. On a Friday afternoon it takes twenty five minutes to get home. Maybe thirty if it's raining. That's not traffic.

Now in NJ, the garden state parkway was a parking lot from 2pm-8pm. Boston? Took about thirty minutes to travel from one end of Cambridge to the other. That's 2.5 miles. NYC city? Don't get me started. Midnight on the Throggs Neck would find you in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Compared to other major metropolitan areas, Atlanta traffic is a blissful exercise: even in traffic you still get to move, at least on the highways. Some of the urban planning folks have even done studies of this sort of thing. You still get to move. It may take you an hour to get home during rush hour, but then you're probably traveling thirty miles north of the city (and, honestly, why would you want to live north of the city anyway? ).

Peace.

JDN

Go for it, Sam. If you have been smoking long, it won't be easy, but the benefits are worth the effort. I was off 18 years one time and went back. I could never get over the feeling that a cigarette would taste good. The second time, I kicked it good. Occasional smokes are what finally did me in the first time. The urge gets weaker every time you resist.

I have been off 24 years this second time around.

Flowerfred

Well done Sam,

I've been off since March 14th, after smoking 30-40 a day for many many years.
It can be done.
Two tips; do not get drunk in a place where people smoke around you and if you have an urge for a smoke, think how clean you car stays on the inside now !!

Mercy

<You're right, manuals are fun to drive. It's just that SMG's are even more fun.>

You could be right.

<I never had a problem in heavy traffic with my left foot after 25 years of driving a stick. (See my above post about the lazy issue.)>

Well, it?s still easier on the foot to drive SMG. So now you burn less calories while you drive.

<As far as being "all about gas management", that's fine but you are assuming that you don't downshift with the SMG. That's simply false. As you surmised, these things are not only possible with the SMG, they're required, in my opinion. (Again, see above post.)>

Yes, I?m aware that you can down shift with SMG or with an automatic for that matter. I know SMG does it better.

<Also, the "just like an automatic it does add a lot of complexity to your transmission" statement is misleading. The gearbox on the SMG is essentially the same gearbox as the 6-speed manual. It's the clutch assembly that's entirely different. Sure, it's more complex as a package but the SMG is much more similar to the manual than it is to the automatic. I think an automatic transmission is way more complicated than an manual transmission.>

You are right and I agree that SMG is a 6 speed manual but I seen a diagram of the SMG clutch assembly and it looks complex. Automatic is definitely way more complex then SMG or manual.

Curious, with SMG can you put it in neutral at any speed from any gear and then back to some other gear. If this is possible are you also able to step on the gas as you shift from neutral into gear.

<(Okay, so I kind of did it again...shoot me I guess! )>

Mercy puts one in the chamber and readies himself for he knows he's going to get hammered by Rudy.

sj3

Thanks sooo much, everybody and I apologize to Speedracer for the temporary hijackacking, which wasn't intended! Yeah, I was a very bad case and basically started when I was about 8 years old and never thought I would be able to stop. Acupuncture + hypnosis were the big guns that were needed. Thanks again.

Sam

JDN

One advantage I believe SMG has over manual is there should be less wear on the clutch plate - no slipping since all shifts are sharper.

As for kicking it into neutral, yes you can and it will roll and roll. Push it back into drive and a gear is automatically selected based on your speed. If you want to resume with a zoom, paddle down a gear or two and do it. If you want to to resume modestly, paddle up a gear or two and ease along.

I often upshift and downshift two at a time. It's just a quicker clicker. Just as with a stick, you can jump two up or two down very fast.

Dare I ever do anything so I can hear the exhaust! Methinks that would be dangerous -- but a heck of a lot of fun.

Rudy

Oh Mercy, have mercy!

It sounds like we agree more than disagree. As you can tell, I'm passionate about the SMG. I think it's the future of all manuals. If that's true, in the future, people will probably call the SMG a "manual" and the clutch version something like an "old-style manual".

I can just hear it now at collector car shows in the year 2024:

"Look at that car son, back in 2004 you needed to operate the clutch with your left foot before changing gears."

"Really dad?"

"Honest son. It was quite different then but at the time, that's as far as the technology had developed. The electro-hydraulic clutch that is used on cars now was only in it's infancy back then and available only on really high-end cars like BMW and Ferrari. It's funny, back then when they were first introduced, people thought that these 'new' manuals were supposed to behave just like automatics and didn't like them. There were actually people that, for some crazy reason, didn't want to give up using their left foot to operate the clutch!"

"Why would they want to do that?"

"I don't know, maybe something about exercise or calorie burning I guess..."

"Wow dad, that's almost as funny as the story about those 'record players' you told me about or those funny telephones where you had to spin a wheel to dial a number!"

"Yes son, that's exactly right."

Welcome to the future!

speedracerF4i

Hey Sam,

Here is a sample of SMG regret post:

SMG Woes

My friend Beewang and I have ordered our 545i at about the same time. We have been discussing a lot on the options we should get. He has chosen the SMG and I, the steptronic. With the recent deletion of Gas guzzler tax, I am having second thought about not getting the SMG. I've talked to a few (maybe 5) people who has SMG's and are getting mixed reactions. Yes, it's a great performance tranny, but the novelty may wear off sometimes depending on your usage environment.

One of my friend with the SMG has a newly-born and has to carry a child seat now. So he is seriously regreting getting an SMG because now, smoothness reigns over performance.

That's why I wanted to know how you guys drive to correspond with what type of transmission.

Peace