sleepyca31

So every other car virtually I have looked at in my time-or atleast most of them, including most of the bmw lineup, INCLUDING the new 535 offers a shorter gear ratio in 1st gear and usually 2nd to make up for some of the loss via slushbox in the acceleration of the car. EXCEPT for some ridiculous reason in the 530i it was as follows for 1st gear
M6-4.32
Step-4.16

Second gear was also shorter for the M6.

Now there is NO reason for this to happen in a 6 gear automatic and obviously since the new 535 is more appropriately geared at
M6-4.06
Step-4.17

Which makes SENSE so what is the dilly people? I have to buy the one car where they forgot to shorten up the first couple gears of the tranny or what??

EBMCS03

BMW keeps screwing everyone over... why did they drop the MY2005 so early in march 2005 and screwed my resale value over? why did they drop the 545 badge and goto a 550 and screw my resale value again? Should have kept it like the 540... called the 540 through out its life...

pinguhk

They got to think of something to make money

BMW.Aaron.TeamF1

Very Funny Post !

gwf545

Is the differential gear ratio the same? I've seen them use different rear end gear sets based on whether it is auto or stick. You need to look at the overall gearing ratios at the wheels to be compare them.

noonehome

This is true... the rear end is different on AT and M6 cars. I would imagine the MT6 folks would like to get the AT rear end as it lower( bigger number) like 3.86 AT vs 3.10 M6 (guessing at the number but I think they are close)

sleepyca31

hmm sorry for the naivity but can someone enlighten me on what the rear end ratio represents. I do not recall them listing that on the cars specs when it was up on bmwusa.com. It listed geras 1-6 and a final drive ratio.

So with a higher rear end number-you can haver taller first and second gears and stil be equal to someone who has a smaller number rear end but shorter 1st/2nd gears

Woa-I will try to read but could someone do a quick explanation.

UUronL

Final Drive ratio (rear end gears) are what you generally look at for the exercise you are conducting. You'll find that listed for each and every model. The higher the ratio, the better the acceleration. Since the automatics -all- have a higher final drive ratio than the 6MT counterparts, it's probably pretty close to a wash. I'm sure you could find mathematical equations with a little searching to figure out exactly how they compare.

sleepyca31

Oh I see a rear end just means final drive ratio-that that is a concept I somewhat understand-although the final drive ratio may be a bigger number-in the case of the 530 gears 1 and 2 were taller whereas most auto v. M cars I see make the first gears shorter despite whatever the final drive ratio is. I would think there is a way to make the final drive ratio a higher number by gearing 3,4,5,6 shorter than the M but still having gears 1 and 2 taller than the M in this case which would effect the 0-60 since those are only gears 1 and 2-if ya know what I am saying.

Even if the final drive is shorter I wonder why 90 percent of other autos I see have shorter first gears is what I am saying. So let me get this straight. Even with taller 1st and 2nd gears, because it has a shorter final driver ratio-the auto has better acceleration? To me that does not make sense but if that is how it is then hey! I mean the 530 the diff between the SMG/Manual and the auto is like .1s in the 0-60 so pretty negligable. I have seen much greater gaps-take the new 328-there is a .7s diff I believe