Great article about SMG tranny - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Rave E55 · 26th March 2002, 03:33

Click here for article
Click here for pics.

EBMCS03 · 26th March 2002, 03:40

Cool... neat article... thanks.

Steve Morling · 26th March 2002, 04:54

Great article. I continue to be impressed by the SMG technology. I really think it would be my gearbox of choice when available.
One point of confusion though. The pictures seem to show a sport button just in front of the shift (?) lever. One of the pics also shows a sport button on the dash about where it would normally be? Do they control the same sport mode we all know and love? If not, what does the other one do?

de Witt · 26th March 2002, 06:17

Have any of our European members driven an E36 M3 with the SMG Transmission? Did you like it? Any comparasion to the E46 M3 w/ SMG II? I have heard that this was a pretty good system and shifts took ~4/10 of a second. Pretty fast, especially when hooked up to the European 3.2L S52 variant. Lucky!

Great article, Rave! Thanks for posting it!

greg · 26th March 2002, 07:09

I'm interested in SMG, and found this article informative. I've also been looking for a picture of transmission innards to help illustrate how they work for board members. So I studied this picture very, very carefully.

And I can't for the life of me figure out how the tranny in the photo could be anything but a 5-speed - implying this is NOT the innards of the M3 SMG tranny. I have labeled the components according to my best guess. Any transmission gear heads out there - did I miss something?

P.S. - If someone sees this diagram and has general transmission questions, please re-post in a new thread.

-MVI- · 26th March 2002, 08:42

Did anyone notice the green gauge lighting?
Reminds me of my Volvo...

greg · 26th March 2002, 10:19

Here is a link to the getrag site - they make the M3's SMG Box. There is a PDF there that is VERY complete - the most info on the logic and management I've ever seen:

http://www.getrag.de/e_index.htm

atomic80 · 26th March 2002, 10:33

Quote:

Originally posted by -MVI-
Did anyone notice the green gauge lighting?
Reminds me of my Volvo...

I did notice that...but when I went to check out a couple M3's around here they were all the same color as the M5's gauges. Must be an European only thing?

Loz · 26th March 2002, 11:21

I heard from a Sales person, that the impressive "Launch Control" mode can only be used 6 times before the warranty for the gearbox is invalidated!!

Anyone owning one, can confirm that.
Doesn't sound too good to me. How can you impress with that limitation. That aside the system sounds great. I wonder if they will ever include it on future models of the Beast.

Loz

kgk · 26th March 2002, 11:52

Sadly, BMW put the shifters on the wrong place (the steering wheel). The steering wheel makes sense for racing cars, since you don't turn the wheel that much, and can always grip 9-and-3; but, on a street car, it's stupid. Note that Ferrari street cars have the shifter on the steering column, *not* on the wheel.

BMW foolishly insists upon is that the 9-and-3 grip is correct for a street car, but that is absurd: One should shuffle-steer and grip down low, for safety reasons (to avoid the exploding airbag, for example).

So, if I have to reach to the console in order to shift, I might as well have a manual.

greg · 26th March 2002, 18:13

Quote:

Originally posted by kgk
Sadly, BMW put the shifters on the wrong place (the steering wheel).

KGK - I agree that paddle shifters in a street car are less than perfect because of the degree to which you have to turn the wheel - unlike, say, an F1 car where it never gets turned more than about 120 degrees and a single hand position can always be used.

On the other hand, BMW did the RIGHT thing by making it possible to shift with the console lever too - and I don't think having to reach down there negates the benefits. You're going to have to put your hand somewhere - and the motion between wheel and console is efficient and quick. More over, there is no "pattern" - it is simply forward or back to upshift/downshift. And, unlike a manual, no clutch to manage or shift to miss - it works every time. If you're into left foot braking it will make that a breeze.