1 car family, going from SUV to convertible - possible? (1 Viewer)

[Dave Smith]

I've got a 2002 M3 with SMG. It is good. I like it
There are indeed quite a few blown engines by the way (around 40 reported so far). But this is a performance car with a 4-year warranty, plus the engine failures seem to be clustered around November 2001 build cars. Porsche had the same problem with the first-year Boxsters. I'm not worried, and I'd be surprised if you let it influence your decision.

 

[Jay H]

You'll find ASC-T (aka Traction Control) pretty good when moving, I've managed to get places in the stock Bridgestone Turanzas (Z rated) on my E36 328i which seem to be horrible in snow. But I have a set of Blizzaks which are very good.
I have an sequential tranny in my MR2 spyder, which if you're worried about luggage space, don't even think about buying cause it basically has next to nothing (1.9 cf)..
However, if you're looking to haul snowboards and bikes, you can either put a hitch on it and get a hitchmount carrier or find a company that does a luggage rack on the back. There is a company that does luggage racks for my MR2 and they also do the Z3, but I didn't see anything for the M3 Conv.
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I can get a bike rack for my MR2 that attaches to the luggage rack, it's really wild looking but it's real pricey, like $500 for the rack + bike carrier + accessories you need.
Jay

 

[Daniel Swartz]

I went the Blizzak LM22 route as well for the snowy roads of upstate NY.

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

Jared,

Good idea and a hearty thumbs up for thinking ahead about getting involved with drivers schools programs to teach you how to really drive your car. You may want to look into what rules regarding convertibles these specific clubs / organizations have. I know my local BMW Car Club chapter (National Capital Chapter) does not allow convertibles at drivers schools. Other clubs / programs allow convertibles but only with a roll bar.

I'll second the notion that with snow tires and traction control, you can take an M3 thru snow. I've done it on mine.

Andrej
'97 M3

 

[CharlesD]

(OT) Jay H: how was your bike ride? Did you get to see the F1 practice in Montreal ?

 

[PatrickM]

Dave, great car! I personally would get an M3 even with the reported engine problems. Its a hell of a deal for such a high performance vehicle.

Patrick

 

[Jared_B]

There has been some word of the M3 engine throwing rods and such and not in isolated cases where someone is abusing it.

Not at all worried. Like Dave said, they all seem to be around that magic 11/01 build date. I've been on the bimmer.org boards for years, and have been following the M3 engine failures.

Dave, how's the SMG for everyday/traffic driving? Are the shifts in A mode comfortable enough for lazy cruising? Have you had anyone else drive it (wives, girlfriends, valets), and did they have any problems?

Oh and MikeS, $35 for 3 weeks of gas!?! Ha! Even though I average 17-18 in the X5, We still drive enough to have fill fill up once a week. I'm expecting to get around 21-22 with the M3, considering 85% of our driving is on the highway (Dave, your thoughts?).

 

[Daniel Swartz]

No complaints from the valet, I'm sure....

 

[Cam S]

So what exactly is this SMG tranny?? Is it like a semi-Sequential Manual or something??

 

[CharlesD]

The SMG tansmission is an F-1 style "semi-automatic" transmission. This means that the internals are similar to a regular manual transmision, but the clutch and gear selection is done under computer control rather than by mechanical linakages to a clutch pedal and gear shift.

The driver presses a button on the steering wheel or a paddle behind the wheel telling the system to shift up or down and the computer does the rest.

 

[Daniel Swartz]

Here you go... It's the + and - tabs on the steering wheel and the gearbox of course.

 

[Jared_B]

What Charles said is pretty close. The SMG tranny's internals are exactly the same as the manual-shift M3's. The only difference is how it's shifted. The driver can select A mode (automatic) or S mode (sequential). In A mode, the computer does the shifting - the driver would drive the car like an automatic. In S mode, the driver must tell the car when to shift by pressing the steering wheel mounted paddles. The car will not upshift until you tell it to, even at redline.

The shifts happen in as little as .08 second, and the computer does all the rev-matching so every shift is perfect. All this, without having a torque converter sucking up power.

 

[Jay H]

In addition to what Charles says, the BMW's SMG has a bunch of modes (it's software controlled anyway) where it has a sport mode and a normal mode, and even an automatic mode. The sport mode is meant for faster shifts which may be less smooth than normal and the automatic mode is actually self-shifting. However, it's still a manual gearbox, it wont "creep" like an automatic does and will roll back from a standstill on hills.

My MR2 is a much cheaper SMG ($780 versus like $2500 for the BMW) cause it has one mode, no auto mode, but it does have a cruise control, which the 5spd MR2 lacks (at least for 2002). It's also called a "Sequential" because you shift sequentially, you can't shift from say 5th to 3rd and you wont ever misshift. It also rev-matches nicely too, probably the best part of the sequential, IME.

Jay

 

[Dave Smith]

So how's SMG, you ask? Before I begin, understand that I've been driving for 12 years, 7 years in the UK and then 5 over here, and apart from one dreadful year where I was forced to drive an automatic, I've always driven a manual. I can heel and toe. I rev-match downshifts. I understand why certain people might want an auto, I suppose, but they're not for me.
Pros and cons then, and I'll start with the cons. The drivetrain in the M3 is known to be "clunky", and the SMG does not smooth that out. The lower, slower shift patterns are smooth but can be slow. Changing up in the higher shift programs is pretty brutal, though you can modulate that with the throttle. Sometimes I miss having manual control of the clutch, mainly for launching.
But onto the pros: SMG is a BLAST. Driving the car is like driving Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2. From a standing start in S6, traction control off, nail the throttle and keep it there, and click up through the gears as you launch. Hear the tires chirp between third and fourth at 7500rpm Reach a bend and change down without lifting, hear the engine revmatch to the lower ratio and you don't feel a thing; the balance of the car is maintained perfectly.
Would I get it again? Hell yeah. Would I get it over a manual, after 12 years of nothing but? Hell yeah. When driving elderly relatives, put it into A2 mode and just cruise around perfectly smoothly. For the morning commute, I often use S3 or S4. For some fun, S5 or S6, which shifts gears in only 80ms!
Most of the magazines which have reviewed SMG have come off a bit lukewarm on it for some reason. It definitely takes some time to get used to it, and a lot is still up to the driver, especially when it comes to smoothness. I think that in future we'll see a lot more of this kind of transmission, and they'll only get better from here on out.
Hmm, reading this over again it sounds a bit manic. Oh well Incidentally, my mileage so far is reported as 19.1 mpg. Most of my driving is city.

 

[Jay H]

Hey Dave, have you ever tried to "launch" with the SMG? I know the MR2 people have talked about figuring out what the computer does when you try to shift the MR2's SMG (called the SMT by Toyota) from neutral to S (which is ingear). From what I heard, it's somewhat random as the computer will put the car into the gear it should be in for that rev but its not always repeatable. I'm just curious, I'm not about to try to destroy my clutch or anything, but just tinkering.

The MR2 has upshift buttons on the back of the steering wheel and downshift buttons on the front, as well as the gearshift on the floor which is similar to the Rally cars, shift towards you to go up and away to go down.

Jay

 

[Mark Larson]

My friend, there is no S6 mode for us. If anyone has been following the release of the M3 all over the world, you'll know the suits at BMW AG were afraid of lawsuits over here from people who've fried their clutches, broken their trannies and generally fucked up in their M3's with SMG II. So, Europe and the rest of the world get S6, but we don't.
That's why i would buy the manual if given a choice.
Oh, and anyone who bought a SMT MR2 - you have my sympathies, unless you actually enjoy it. In that case, you have my envy!

 

[Mark Larson]

Oh, and i'd love to know how the car in the snap is showing 8 000 rpm and 160 (mph?)..

 

[Jay H]

(...and only in 3rd gear)
For some reason, I would imagine that is in kmh, if you look closely, the speedo goes up to 300 :sic:

Jay

 

[Jared_B]

My friend, there is no S6 mode for us.

Completely wrong. I think you are referring to the Launch Control, which is only available in Europe. LC is performed in S6 mode by pressing and holding the gear lever, then flooring the throttle. Once you let go of the lever, the computer will allow a brutal 4000 RPM clutch drop that is intended to get you the fastest acceleration times.

US cars do indeed have S6, which is the fastest shifting (.08 sec), but don't have the Launch Control. (Apparently US cars do have a tamer version of LC, like a 1800 RPM clutch drop, but not the clutch modulation that the Euro version has)

The instruments on BMWs have a self-diagnostic mode that when activated, causes all guages to spin around to their max values (much like the Corvette does on startup). This is how the above pic was taken.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Anybody who says that convertibles cannot be for 'enthusiastic' driving has never driven a proper roadster.