BMW M3 SMG
If You Thought The Standard M3 Was A Screamer, Wait Until You Try The M3 SMG With Its Sequential Manual Gearbox, Reports Andy Enright
One of the joys of spectating at motorsports events is to be able to hear in surround sound the way the drivers use the throttles, accelerating at maximum attack off the line and blipping them aggressively as they change down the gearbox. If
BMW have their way, these are sounds you wont have to travel to Brands Hatch to hear these sound effects. The BMW M3 SMG takes a race ready sequential manual gearbox and lets it loose on the road.
Were starting to get used to these gearboxes, but theyve garnered something of a mixed reputation. Whereas the concept works beautifully in amusement arcades and on racetracks, it took some time to transfer the technology satisfactorily to a road car. Early BMW sequential gearboxes, where you shift up and down a box instead of using a conventional gate were notoriously jerky.
Alfa Romeo and
Ferrari refined the concept further, but the transmissions were still quite recalcitrant in traffic.
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It wasnt until Alfas second generation Selespeed system and Toyotas SMT gearbox fitted to the MR2 that sequentials started to gain genuine approval. BMWs latest system takes things a stage further again. Dont confuse these gearboxes with shiftable automatics like Porsches Tiptronic system. Whereas they give the driver fingertip control over a conventional automatic gearbox, torque converter and all, the M3 SMG is a proper manual gearbox with electronics and hydraulics being used to operate the clutch and change gears.
Sounds fun in principle, but with 343bhp under your right foot, it has to be clever too.
"An automatic fixture in any enthusiasts fantasy garage "
BMWs answer is to give the driver nearly limitless choice. Firstly the driver can choose between the manual gearbox doing a fine impression of a conventional automatic box or a full-on sequential manual. In addition to this, the M3 also allows the selection of five different programs in Automatic and six in Sequential, giving 11 different gearboxes in total! Of course the changes are all just coded into the clever software, but you can choose from Automatic 1, a creamy smooth automatic system that swaps cogs in about half a second through to Automatic 5, which is a far punchier and more brutal automatic system, holding onto the gears longer before shifting itself quickly once more into the M3s broad power band. The automatic mode is impressive indeed, but for the sort of drivers who go all moist and gooey at the sight of an M3 in the first place, the full sequential manual mode will give them grins big enough to slot woks into.
The quickest of the manual programs can shift gears in just 0.08 seconds (thats theoretically 12.5 gearchanges a second!) and twice as quick as a
Ferrari 360 Modena F1. Downchanges are the stuff of F1 fantasy, however, with the throttle blipping perfectly as you brake into a corner and flick away at the left hand paddle behind the obscenely chunky steering wheel.
Unlike the Ferrari, the paddles move with the steering wheel, making gearchanging on the fly far easier. The Formula One parallel continues through the fitment of acceleration assistant, a program that acts as a launch control system. Launched just as traction control was legalised in Formula One, the M3 SMGs acceleration assistant program was written by the same men responsible for the Williams-
BMW FW23s launch control software. Top that.
In practice, the acceleration assistant gives the standing start capability of a professional test driver to anybody with the requisite £43,255 that will land them the M3 SMG Coupe. The gear selector has a hold function which allows you to dial in as many revs as you want, the software levelling it off to a steady 3,600rpm. Release pressure on the gear selector hold and the M3 will rocket off the line, the upshift light blinking as you home in on the 8,000rpm red line. Flick up another gear and youll easily replicate BMWs conservative 5.
2 seconds to 60mph figure. Keep hard at it and the M3 will hit 155mph before more electronics rein it in. As with all M3s, the engine, the interior and exterior styling, the handling and the packaging are all exemplary, but perhaps the most surprising aspect of the M3 is the noise. For drivers who are used to the silky 3 Series coupes, the M3 will administer a sonic battering; the sugary 3.
2-litre engine note turns into an insistent drilling right up to the 8,200rpm red line. Unlike the old 321bhp unit, the new six-cylinder engine doesnt make you work to access that power, its present and correct at every dab of the accelerator, but still avoids its predecessors off-throttle jerkiness. Depress the Sport button for even more responsive throttle reactions, seemingly hardwiring you into the cars nerve centre. The SMG system adds a mere 8kg to the cars total weight, and makes an already ridiculously capable car into something of an automatic fixture in any enthusiasts fantasy garage.
Its so quick, so well built, so deeply engineered by people who have racing in their blood that even at over £43,000 it seems something of a bargain. It can more than hold its own against £60,000 of
Porsche 911. Weve waited a long time for a sequential manual gearbox thats better than a standard stick. That day has now arrived.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: BMW M3 SMG
PRICES: £43,255 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
CO2 EMISSIONS: 287g/km
PERFORMANCE: [M3 SMG Coupe] Max Speed 155mph / 0-60mph 5.2s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (Euro average) 23.7mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front, side and head airbags / ABS / DSC
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4488/1947/1369
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