BMW Only Thread

I think its just the angle of the shot to be honest :)

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Thanks Nick, I do take pride in keeping them right. The E30 was a real shame, its back on the road, I see it local to me driving around now and then. But it was never the same after the size of the smash it had! I think the guy sold it to his dad after he smashed it up.... Wish I had never sold it, was an awesome car.
 
[TW]Fox;15220748 said:
I honestly can't beleive that after all the threads you posted asking advice you STILL went and bought an SSG1 fitted car. Are you asking for hassle or what :confused: Does make me wonder what the point in wasting the forums time asking for advice is if you've no intention of following it :)

Hope you are lucky with it :(
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Because I absolutely loved, it, and I still do...:confused:

I drove an auto and didn't like it. I can't drive a car with a clutch pedal due to back problems. So I test drove one, twice, and loved it. The gear change is responsive when pushing it and relaxed when driving slowly. It's faster than the auto, and still gives the sensation of driving a car with a manual gearbox.

Obviously I appreciate advice that people give on the forums, but at the end of the day, your advice on a car you've never driven is not better than me test driving it for myself. I spend about 10 days reading various articles, and everyone who said it sucked had not actually driven one.........

I seriously cannot believe that you think someone should not buy a car because 2 guys on the internet said not to.......!

I am VERY happy with it!
 
[TW]Fox;15221331 said:
Well the thing was he seemed to think the SMG v manual thing was personal preference (ie if he test drove it and liked it then why not) yet every peice of advice given was that it's more than that, it's a fundamentally flawed and inherently unreliable Alfa Selespeed based system which is nothing like the considerably better SMG2 system. Confused me that after learning this he bought one anyway, thats all. Especially after posting the first thread on it, getting a load of replies then posting the same thread again a week later :p

That said its obviously done now so I hope he's one of the luckier ones and the car gives him no trouble :)



Pot, kettle, black :p
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The car's done 65,000 miles with all service and receipts and has not problems with the system. It has a full BMW service history.

I spent AGES reading posts on the bimmerfest forums, which have a fair few people with E46 330 SMGs, and their only problems were either in the first year of having the car, solved by a software update from BMW, or by American's thinking they could drive it like an auto.....
 
It's a manual gearbox with an electro-hydraulic clutch. You therefore pretty much use the same sort of driving style as when driving a manual, eg it is better if you lift up a little when you change gear etc. You don't have to, but it makes for a better drive. Also, you shouldn't leave it in gear for too long whilst stationary, just like you wouldn't leave a manual in gear with the clutch down for 2 minutes...

It's also not very good in "city" mode, where is changes gear for you, unless you learn to anticipate when it will change gear, but to be honest no one drives em in city mode, although now that I know where the gear changes will be, it can be driven in city mode just fine, I just prefer changing up and down myself :D
 
Ah right, in my opinion that makes the box rather pointless in all but your scenario. The SMG2 has a proper automatic mode which you can use normally.
 
Jez said:
Ah right, in my opinion that makes the box rather pointless in all but your scenario. The SMG2 has a proper automatic mode which you can use normally.
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Not really .... the SMG box in my colleague's 2006 M3 acts very similar to driving mine in auto mode... Only difference being he has a lot more modes to change the options, but it still has to be driven in the same way. I drove his car and whilst the SMG2 box is undeniably better, it still has the same pros and cons and my car when driving it.

If you want a full auto, get an tiptronic auto!
 
When i say able to be used normally, i mean that i am yet to see any indication that they are unreliable when used normally (as an auto that is).
 
Jez said:
When i say able to be used normally, i mean that i am yet to see any indication that they are unreliable when used normally (as an auto that is).
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It's not unreliable when used in auto mode in the 330 either though!?

Apart from the obvious differences between a 330 and an M3, the difference in the way you drive either of them with the different SMG systems is very small. The main difference being the number of settings you can change on the M3, compared to just stardard and Sport in my 330. When driving the M3 SMG you still drive it in the same sort of way. In fact, some of the more ferocious settings in the M3 SMG make you feel like you are going to break the drive shaft!

Both cars can change gear EXTREMELY fast when you are really pushing them! Obviously the M3 is much better, except you can't really drive an M3 in a relaxing way, esp the SMG M3!
 
540i 6-speed, AC Schnitzer suspension & anti-roll bars, BBR Star chip, M5 alloys:

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525i 5-speed, bone stock and drives brilliantly. Too quiet though and could do with another 50ft.lb to get it moving properly:

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.....and my old (now sold) 325i SE M-Technics :)

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