Dec. 5, 2006

SMG in the M6 “fails miserably” in daily driving, complains the New York Times.
BMW’s sequential manual gearbox drew another negative review, this one in the New York Times on the BMW M6. “The seven-speed sequential manual gearbox, intended to mimic a paddle-shifted Formula One racecar, is neither a good automatic nor a competent manual,” wrote Keith Martin in the Dec. 3, 2006 review. “After a week of frustration, I asked for a second week with the car to see if I could eventually make peace with the transmission.” (We’ll have to remember that trick the next time we need an extra week in the M6.) He says “the gearbox shifts crisply … when driven hard … [but] shifts are harsh and come at unexpected times. Starting from a stop is an exercise in lurch management.”



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