[cdnalpina]

Good day all,

I was doing some reading on my Allrad that is coming from Japan (there is very little literature on this car that I can find). I was reading about the versions of the shiftronic used in the E34 B10s. There was mention of there being buttons on the steering wheel or something. In my E39 540IT it has the shiftronic but it is the shifter handle only, no steering wheel shifting controls. So, I was surprised to read that the older E34s had steering wheel shifters on them (per say).

Can anyone enlighten me as to how the shiftronic works on the E34 B10s? If someone has pictures of the wheel and the shifter that would be fantastic too. I have an automatic B10 Allrad, would it be safe to assume that it has the shiftronic transmission?

I am very excited to get the car - end of the month...

Thanks so much!

Rob

 

[cdnalpina]

I just did some more reading and I may be confusing 'Switchtronic' with 'Shift-tronic'. What is the difference between the two? Which one is found in the E34s?

Sorry, just trying to get edu-micated

cheers,

Rob

 

[nealpina]

My understanding is that only B12 (E31s) had swift-tronic, I once read on the internet that the B10 Bi-turbo and B10 4.0 V8 also had swift-tronic as an option, but I must emphasis never read anything else to confirm this. Shift-tronic and if I remember correctly were only produced between 1992 to 1993 therefore if a E34 does have this, it will be a very rare car but I have never see one or heard of one!

Shift-tronic is the like the Citroen system that was used in the 60’s and is also like the 90’s Saab, a standard manual gearbox that is clutch-less.

I am sure you know what Switch-Tronic is, but if you don’t then it is the automatic system developed by Alpina and ZF, for the driver to change gears via the steering wheel. This is only from E36s onwards, and all automatics before I believe are ordinary ones.

 

[cdnalpina]

Thanks nealpina! I thought that I read that a B10 3.0 Allrad had switch-tronic on his car. I will have to do some digging to find where I read that.

all the same, thanks for the info!

 

[cdnalpina]

Here is where I saw it...

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=88566&highlight=allrad

Apparently Dom's car had switchtronic gear indication, which I assume means that he had switchtronic. Perhaps if Dom is around he could enlighten me further...

Cheers,

Rob

 

[nealpina]

Switch-tronic was introduce in 1993 therefore they must have used the same gearbox has the E36s/B3. When I have looked at late E34s Alpina’s for sale in the UK they are either automatics or manual, I therefore believe that I am unsure because I have not seen any E34 with the switch-tronic option. Can someone please verify, cheers.

 

[alpinab846]

switch-tronic was introduced in 1993 with the B3 3.0 indeed-this is an automatic'box from ZF with a special Alpina programme and the "switches" in the steering wheel for up/down shifting. The switch-tronic has been sold in several models and the name is used up to the present days.

The shift-tronic is a semi-automatic 'box similiar to the later SMG-M box introduced in the M3 E36 EVO or 3.2 from 1995 on. The clutch-operation and shifting is operated by a hydraulic system. The system was developed by Fichtel & Sachs and was only sold for the B12 5.7 Coupe. As far as I konw 13 of these cars have been build. Some people say the clutch has to be rebuilt every 10.000 km because of the high wearing.....not the best option in this aspect I think....

 

[nealpina]

Swift-tronic uses the traditional H configuration as SMG doesn’t.

Did the B10 E34 have the option of switch-tronic?

 

[Chas C]

I once read on the internet that the B10 Bi-turbo ..... also had swift-tronic as an option

Definitely not! The BT was manual only with a Getrag 5 speed gearbox made specially for this car by Getrag and an uprated F&S clutch.

 

[Passmore]

Dom's 1995 e34 B10 Allrad DOES have switchtronic.:cool2:
It has small triggers mounted on the wheel.

I'll send this thread to him and I'm sure he'll enlighten you more.

Passmore

 

[dom_graf]

Hello All -

Sorry for late reply - Rob --> I replied earlier to your message but I guess my connection timed out and the whole bloody response I wrote was lost :grrrr: grrr

But anyway, here once and for all:

Shift-tronic is what you have on your grandad's 525 automatic - where you move the gear lever over to the left and then you can move sequentially between the gears. This is a normal automatic gearbox where you determine the shift point. As far as I know there's no automatic clutch involved like the SMG.

The Alpina version is switch-tronic, which is built into my E34 B10 3.0 Allrad - and as far as I know all auto-box allrads after '93. It's the Alpina/ZF development of the shift-tronic 'box. It's totally sweet, and uses small rubber buttons on the back of the steering wheel that you can activate with your forefingers while driving. You can keep the revs low while warming the motor, then later on let it spin up to 7000rpm before either switching with your finger or letting the car change up automatically on the red line. It works very well indeed, and the changes are swift and immediate.

It's only activated when "sport" mode is on, otherwise you're driving a normal automatic.

As far as I know, BMW never made anything called Swift-Tronic...unless anyone knows otherwise

Rob - be happy if you have switch tronic - you'll have lots of fun. Launches with 4wd in 1st gear are fun, the traction is just too good. The sound at 7000rpm is sweeeeet. Kickdown works as normal too, so you can hit the pedal to the floor in 2nd gear on moist corners, it switches down to 1st gear at about 6000rpm and lays some nice little 4 wheel drifts down. Lovely.

I'm gonna miss my allrad, but I'm sure I'll be able to console myself with the Bi-Turbo !

:M5launch:

 

[Tinker]

The shift-tronic is a semi-automatic 'box similiar to the later SMG-M box introduced in the M3 E36 EVO or 3.2 from 1995 on. The clutch-operation and shifting is operated by a hydraulic system. The system was developed by Fichtel & Sachs and was only sold for the B12 5.7 Coupe. As far as I konw 13 of these cars have been build. Some people say the clutch has to be rebuilt every 10.000 km because of the high wearing.....not the best option in this aspect I think....

Right and wrong, it was one of the development branches Alpina looked into before setling on an auto-box with a lock on the torque converter (switch-tronic).
The shift-tronic is a manual box, with normal H gate (different to all modern flappy paddle) where the clutch is automatic (again different to flappy paddle as all is auto)

 

[cdnalpina]

Hi Dom,

Thanks so much for chiming in on the Allrad's transmission and thank you everyone for describing the various types of switch/shift transmissions - I learned a lot in this thread.

Dom, you have me super excited to see the Allrad! I am excited to try the swtich-tronic tranny. From the way you describe it, the car will give me the fun in winter that I miss with my BT in the summer. Do you happen to have any pics of the steering wheel and center console of your Allrad? Just curious as to what the setup looks like...

Good luck on the BT hunt - do show us pics of your new addition when you get her!

Cheers,

Rob