Need advice on '06 M5 - which one is slower?
 

A while back I was researching the E60 M5, but ended up with something else. An '06 has popped up locally and I'm thinking about grabbing it up. If memory serves, one of M5 variants (transmission wise) is purportedly much slower than the other. The one I'm considering is the SMG and apparently has a new clutch/clutches.

Is the SMG of this era the slow one, or is the the manual. I swear I read somewhere that BMW dialed one of the back so much it was noticeable. I want the quickest/fastest, as this is my hobby and it'll see the track.

I read on Car and Driver that the SMG '06 did a 4.2 0-60 and 12.5 @ 118 1/4 mile, so I'm thinking this is the car to get. http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...-bmw-m5-page-4

Anyway, I'd like to play it safe and confirm this is accurate and this isn't the model year / transmission that needs to be avoided.

Thanks!

Please disregard as I think I'll get a cls55 amg instead. The SMG along with the rod bearings has me rethinking it.

The manual transmission was slower than the SMG. They didn't make the manual in '06. It started late '07, and there are not very many out there (I think 5-10% of E60 M5's are 6sp). One of the reasons it was marginally slower was due to the fact that the DSC was not as user-controllable as the SMG. However, BMW began fixing this issue the '08's.
With that said, the 6sp cars I've been in have been fine, and their users are normally very happy with them. Although, I like my SMG.