Keep meaning to get round to doing a thread on this, but a couple of weeks ago I sent my Z4 back to BMW to have an troublesome alarm sensor replaced, and remote roof reinstated. For what turned out to be 5 days, I had this to play with...
The only flappy paddle gearbox I'd previously tried was in a 360, which wasn't nearly as much fun as the manual version, but that was only for a few laps, so as I was going to have this for a few days, I was glad I'd got the DCT, so I could give it a proper try. Everyone seems to be raving about these boxes, be it DSG, SMG, DCT, or PDK, general consensus seem to be that the new dual clutch boxes are a real step up, and as everyone seems to point out, they're quicker to change gear than a manual.
First impressions
From the outside it looks the part, although I'm not a fan of the light coloured kidney grills. Inside is awesome. The optional white extended leather against the piano black trim looks fantastic. Much more grown up than the old one. <3 I-Drive.
Now to figure out how to get the damn thing going. Stamp on thin air with left leg, then press the start button. Not interested in auto mode, so we'll knock the stick accross to sport, and fiddle with the sport settings. Sport+ is the highest of the three settings, so we'll have that. DSC light comes on, but I have little to no talent, so we scale back to normal sport mode. Gently on to the accelerator, aaaaand nothing. Bit moooooore throttle and the turbo kicks in and we're away. Sport mode doesn't equal manual, but a quick flick of the right hand pedal sees to that... Sorted.
Coming up to a roundabout, so stamp on thin air again before changing up from 4th to 6th as I apply the brakes. No idea why, but for some reason the left hand paddle does exactly the same as the right one. It seems you need to press away on either paddle to change down, and pull back to change up. Don't like that.
On to the motorway and it's much quicker than mine, I'm doing 120 and hadn't even noticed, so I back off, go up to 7th, and look for Cruise Control, which it dosen't have. Don't like that.
One truck tries to overtake another, and the fast lane grinds to a halt while someone else tries to over take at bang on 70. After what feels like an age, traffic clears, so with a clear road, I drop to 3rd and go for it. Or rather I don't, because the ******* gearbox hasn't sorted it's life out yet. Don't like that.
External noise is noticably different. I think there's less wind noise, but more tyre noise, very odd.
Off the motorway, and with heavy rain down to a couple of spots, time for the roof to come off, which takes much longer than mine, albeit not as long as it takes for the seats to heat up, as there's no heated seats. Dual zone climate control, but no heated seats or cruise control. Why?
It makes a cracking noise with the roof down, but in a completely different way to mine. You'd never guess they were both straight sixes, as this has a more, engineered, more processed sound which on occaison has the same quality as an Italian V8.
And that was pretty much it. It's faster, but only when the gearbox (which I still hate) gets it's act together, which often means it's only noticeably quicker at license losing speeds. The gearbox stops me thrashing it to within an inch of it's life. I can't wring it's neck like I can with mine. Even in sport mode it always changes up 200rpm before I'm ready to. Very fustrating. More grown up, but not as much fun. Feels more of a GT than a sports car. More 6 series cab than a Z4. I don't care that it is faster, because it doesn't feel like it's going as fast.
The steering wheel is much chunkier than mine, and very nice for it. The seats are much more supportive, but not as warm (Grrr!), and the pretty interior as a couple of dirty marks in places, while the piano black trim has a few light scratches in. Very pretty, but after only 2500 miles, you have to doubt the longevity.
But you get a 10(!) number plate, and for this you are expected to hand over £44k, or late thirties and the keys to mine. A 2003 3.0 manual Z4 with 97k on the clock is far from the last word in driving pleasure, but it is far, far more than 20% of a 2010 sDrive 3.5i DCT.
Which is something of a nuisance, because unless a manual gearbox transforms the new Z4, it's a potential replacement to mine scratched off the list.
The only flappy paddle gearbox I'd previously tried was in a 360, which wasn't nearly as much fun as the manual version, but that was only for a few laps, so as I was going to have this for a few days, I was glad I'd got the DCT, so I could give it a proper try. Everyone seems to be raving about these boxes, be it DSG, SMG, DCT, or PDK, general consensus seem to be that the new dual clutch boxes are a real step up, and as everyone seems to point out, they're quicker to change gear than a manual.
First impressions
From the outside it looks the part, although I'm not a fan of the light coloured kidney grills. Inside is awesome. The optional white extended leather against the piano black trim looks fantastic. Much more grown up than the old one. <3 I-Drive.
Now to figure out how to get the damn thing going. Stamp on thin air with left leg, then press the start button. Not interested in auto mode, so we'll knock the stick accross to sport, and fiddle with the sport settings. Sport+ is the highest of the three settings, so we'll have that. DSC light comes on, but I have little to no talent, so we scale back to normal sport mode. Gently on to the accelerator, aaaaand nothing. Bit moooooore throttle and the turbo kicks in and we're away. Sport mode doesn't equal manual, but a quick flick of the right hand pedal sees to that... Sorted.
Coming up to a roundabout, so stamp on thin air again before changing up from 4th to 6th as I apply the brakes. No idea why, but for some reason the left hand paddle does exactly the same as the right one. It seems you need to press away on either paddle to change down, and pull back to change up. Don't like that.
On to the motorway and it's much quicker than mine, I'm doing 120 and hadn't even noticed, so I back off, go up to 7th, and look for Cruise Control, which it dosen't have. Don't like that.
One truck tries to overtake another, and the fast lane grinds to a halt while someone else tries to over take at bang on 70. After what feels like an age, traffic clears, so with a clear road, I drop to 3rd and go for it. Or rather I don't, because the ******* gearbox hasn't sorted it's life out yet. Don't like that.
External noise is noticably different. I think there's less wind noise, but more tyre noise, very odd.
Off the motorway, and with heavy rain down to a couple of spots, time for the roof to come off, which takes much longer than mine, albeit not as long as it takes for the seats to heat up, as there's no heated seats. Dual zone climate control, but no heated seats or cruise control. Why?
It makes a cracking noise with the roof down, but in a completely different way to mine. You'd never guess they were both straight sixes, as this has a more, engineered, more processed sound which on occaison has the same quality as an Italian V8.
And that was pretty much it. It's faster, but only when the gearbox (which I still hate) gets it's act together, which often means it's only noticeably quicker at license losing speeds. The gearbox stops me thrashing it to within an inch of it's life. I can't wring it's neck like I can with mine. Even in sport mode it always changes up 200rpm before I'm ready to. Very fustrating. More grown up, but not as much fun. Feels more of a GT than a sports car. More 6 series cab than a Z4. I don't care that it is faster, because it doesn't feel like it's going as fast.
The steering wheel is much chunkier than mine, and very nice for it. The seats are much more supportive, but not as warm (Grrr!), and the pretty interior as a couple of dirty marks in places, while the piano black trim has a few light scratches in. Very pretty, but after only 2500 miles, you have to doubt the longevity.
But you get a 10(!) number plate, and for this you are expected to hand over £44k, or late thirties and the keys to mine. A 2003 3.0 manual Z4 with 97k on the clock is far from the last word in driving pleasure, but it is far, far more than 20% of a 2010 sDrive 3.5i DCT.
Which is something of a nuisance, because unless a manual gearbox transforms the new Z4, it's a potential replacement to mine scratched off the list.
.
