Ever drive a true SMG transmission car?

[CurtEgerer]

I don't know specifically what is in the M3 in the video. Obviously, it has straight-cut gears with dogs rather than normal bevel gears and syncros - that's where the noise comes from. It probably has a foot clutch, but it would only be used to start from a dead stop. You don't use the clutch once you're moving. The gearbox probably has a 'shift-without-lift' force transducer in the shift lever that signals an ECU to momentarily cut power to the ignition - just enough to allow the gears to engage. F1 gearboxes operate like this too.

Back to SMG: the traditional 6-speed and the SMG 6-speed both use the same gearbox. The only thing different is the shift linkage and the type of clutch. So technically, the SMG isn't a true Sequential box - it's an H-pattern box that simulates a sequential box!

[brittbolen]

I've driven 5, the SMG in a Z3, the F1 transmission in the Maserati Coupe, the DSG in a VW Eos, and the manumatics in a Smart ForFour, and the new US Spec ForTwo.

The smart ForFour was the worst transmission I have ever driven. It couldn't modulate the clutch at slow speeds, and would buck when parking. it shifted very very slowly, and if you didn't lift was very rough when it did shift! AWFUL.

The new smart was much smother, but still slow, and you really needed to lift while it shifted to maintain smoothness. parking problems were all fixed.

The SMG was ok, you had to lift on upshifts or it would lurch/buck (this was a few years ago) but the downshifts were smooth.

The Maserati was so cool, you could just floor it and just flick off shifts as it accelerated. No bucking at all.

The DSG was the smoothest of them all. Very fast and smooth on both up and downshifts. Downshifts were especially cool, imagine cruising at a even speed and just downshifting, each shift caused the tach to tick up a thousand revs, and the motor got a little louder, but never unbalancing the car. Very cool.

I don't really recall how any of these worked as full automatics (except the old smart, it sucked no matter what mode it was in)

All that said, I'll take the DSG.

B

[MysticLlama]

I had the same experience between the M3 and the Maser.

I drove the Maser Spyder a few weeks ago, and it definately put a big grin on my face. The shifting once in sport mode was quick and smooth. Even with traction control on, it fishtailed just a little into 2nd at about 40mph, then spun the tires a little bit again into 3rd at about 70mph. Felt like the engine wanted to claw its way out of the front end, and the transmission wasn't distracting in the least, and added to the fun.

The M3 on the other hand, was pretty cool, but since it was a convertible and had a couple of people in it, it kinda felt like a tank. It made a lot of noise and sounded like it wanted to go, but wasn't really going that quick. I definately need to try the coupe since it's 365+ lbs lighter.

The SMG was definately more distracting than the F1, though I still kick around the idea of getting one. It's a little less refined, and you have to pay more attention to get any kind of smoothness out of it.

The reason I'm considering it is that the 5 speed in the Boxster is just getting a little tiresome for traffic and popping around town, and I think the SMG could still be fun without the annoyance of working the clutch when I'm not out for a fun drive. I also still have the 911, so I'm not completely ditching a 5 speed for a semi-manual.

I think in a few years I am going to have something with the F1 transmission though, either a Maser or something like a 360. (Just gotta save up the $$ for quite a while)

[CurtEgerer]

Yeah, I think there's nearly half a second difference 0-60 with the M3 Cabrio

Anybody ever try 'launch control' with the SMG? Turn off traction control, select P6, hold gear stick forward, depress accelerator to floor. Engine management takes RPMs up to maybe 2500RPM or so on US cars and, I think, 5000RPMs on Euro cars, release gear stick, computer dumps clutch, do nice smokey burnout