E46 SMG question

[dan101smith]

Asking this before I've had a chance to drive one to check, but does the E46 SMG have a "full auto" mode, and is it decent enough for town driving?

[Dave Dax builder]

Yes.
And Yes. ;o)

Edited by Dave Dax builder on Tuesday 28th August 17:21

[Vixpy1]

yes,

and

ish

[Chessers]

Yep it does, not a big fan of the car in full auto mode but ok.

Remember there is no clutch so simple move of the paddle / gear shift to change up and down anyway

[m12_nathan]

The auto mode is shit IMO.

[mikem7709]

I nearly always leave mine in auto unless I`m really pushing on. How well it drives in auto will depend on which program you select, in A2 it will shift up through the gears quickly at low revs and wont "kick-down" to the lowest possible gear when you floor it. In A5 it wont shift up even on a light throttle `till it gets to about 4.5K revs and if you floor the throttle it`ll drop to the lowest gear possible. The only thing the auto mode is lacking is the "creep" normally found on autos but if your on an incline and you hold back the - shift paddle it will increase the revs to the "biting point" for you. Parking is fairly straight forward once you get used to the throttle response. I wouldn`t swap mine for a manual.

[dan101smith]

Cheers guys. I ask because I live in London, and the reason I sold my old M3 was because of spending so much time in traffic in town, and switched to an auto.

I fancy another M3 now, so the SMG having a full auto mode is a real bonus. Off to try some out this weekend I think!

[Zod]

m12_nathan said:

The auto mode is shit IMO.

Shit and I never use it. It pissed me off when they updated the software to make it default to auto. I thought my clutch had gone bang the first time I set off in my old SMG M3 after a gearbox software update and it autochanged up as I was accelerating.

[f13ldy]

I seldomly use mine.

I'm not sure it is totally worth having given that there is minimal effort required to change gear in the S modes.

[Rochester TVR]

Dan,

Not tempted by the Z3 anymore?

My dad will be selling his M3 Cab SMG in the coming months if your interested.

The SMG 'box is great in my opinion, never used it in Auto mode but its so easy to change gear in S mode you wont ever need it in full auto mode.

[dan101smith]

Hello Lee!

Nah, driven a few Z3s and they were a bit dull.

Been driving a Z4 3.0 recently - nice, but the ride on run-flats is killer.

Looking at M3s again now, I like the idea of a full auto mode for driving in town, and paddle shift for pressing on.

Not sure about your old man's, i've heard it's been thrashed ;o)

Shame to have missed the Kent Re-Run, but sounds like the weather didn't work out for you - let me know if you're about again soon.