Tonight at the BMW CCA raffle drawing, Larry Koch, BMWNA M-brand manager said that he has driven the 6-spd E60 M5 and raced against the SMGIII car. I got the impression he was talking about either a long straight on a test track or at an airport-type venue. It was hard to hear as there was lots of noise in the room (vendor reception area). In any event, paraphrasing his words, he said that he was shifting as fast as he could but the SMGIII car just walked away from him and that by the time he got to the speed limiter it was practically out of sight. (he actually said it was "like a 1/4 mile away").
I didn't get a chance to talk with him last night, but I hope to get some time on Friday to speak with him about it, so I'll post back then. He did confirm that it will be available for the 2007 model year. The message was just don't expect it to be as fast as the SMGIII car.
With regard to the E90 M3...he said that here in the USA, if you bought a new E46 M3 now on a "30-month lease", you should be timed just about right to swap into the new one.
Cheers,
Chuck
I didn't get a chance to talk with him last night, but I hope to get some time on Friday to speak with him about it, so I'll post back then. He did confirm that it will be available for the 2007 model year. The message was just don't expect it to be as fast as the SMGIII car.
With regard to the E90 M3...he said that here in the USA, if you bought a new E46 M3 now on a "30-month lease", you should be timed just about right to swap into the new one.
Cheers,
Chuck