To DCT or not to DCT?

[wakbrdin750]

Hey guys,

Still being a noob and all, I'm having a difficult time to decide between manual or DCT. I truly want the DCT, but after reading about some glitches (and the softwares keep getting pushed back), I am scared to get one. If i buy a DCT, Is it probable to encounter these glitches? Are they just one in a 100?

Thanks!

[ferrari6891]

one in a hundred

[wakbrdin750]

there is one specific thread that GT3Tim and many others encountered stalling issues though

[ferrari6891]

yea but those are a few cases compared to a lot of ppl who have DCT

[wakbrdin750]

is there any way to detect which ones may have the glitch or not? also, when is the software suppose to come out?

[sfbimmer13]

the stalling issue might be 1 in 100, however the downshift under hard braking issue seems to be experienced by all M-DCT owners and supposedly acknowledged by BMW. In daily driving this is not an issue, however if you are planing on tracking your car it will be, unless BMW really fixes this, which remains to be seen...

[wakbrdin750]

I never heard this issue? what is it exactly?

[ericlikescars]

Doesn't even feel like an M too me without using my left foot. 6MT for me.

[sfbimmer13]

Originally Posted by wakbrdin750

I never heard this issue? what is it exactly?

under hard braking the DCT refuses to downshift - there are a lot of posts in the track and general forum where DCT owners have reported this - including me. It is a very reproducible issue and is really annoying when you approach a corner at over 100MPH and need to downshift to 3rd or even 2nd and nothing happens until you are mid corner and than suddenly the downshift occurs...or sometimes an upshift to 7th

[torredresen]

Well, but you could use the pedals or the stick when you are driving, than it works??
Or is it every time??
If not, I dont see an issue
DCT rules for me, I love the padles, the only thing that bothers me a bit, is when ur driving slow during break in, you cant really push trough and when you give a lil bit of a push, it reacts very slow. But for all the rest, DCTFTMFW . Its so smoooth

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by sfbimmer13

the stalling issue might be 1 in 100

Plus, the stalling issue has not been tied to M-DCT with 100% certainty yet as far as I know. There are 6MT owners with stalling issues also, so it could be something else that's causing these, regardless of which transmission is optioned.

however the downshift under hard braking issue seems to be experienced by all M-DCT owners and supposedly acknowledged by BMW. In daily driving this is not an issue, however if you are planing on tracking your car it will be, unless BMW really fixes this, which remains to be seen...

Agreed. There are also other issues reported such as the car mis-shifting, ignoring shifts, or not shifting consistently under what appears to be the same conditions. These issues seem to be sporadic among M-DCT owners, but I would bet they are all software related (rather than hardware) and thus probably all cars will likely exhibit them if the exact input conditions can be determined and then the procedure attempted on a number of cars. A software fix really needs to be forthcoming if BMW wishes to keep customers happy, not to mention safe, driving their cars.

That all said, I went with M-DCT.

[MDCTFTW]

I'd only be worried if you track the car. On the street dct is awesome. Besides ... It's faster.

[Doc]

get a dct next year when all the niggles are sorted out.. thats what i plan on doing anyways

[icemang17]

Originally Posted by sfbimmer13

under hard braking the DCT refuses to downshift - there are a lot of posts in the track and general forum where DCT owners have reported this - including me. It is a very reproducible issue and is really annoying when you approach a corner at over 100MPH and need to downshift to 3rd or even 2nd and nothing happens until you are mid corner and than suddenly the downshift occurs...or sometimes an upshift to 7th

TRUE......when you are pushing the DCT cars HARD they do weird stuff.....at say 7/10th pace they work perfect...but as soon as you start threshold braking forget it...it will not downshift when you want....& sometimes does really weird stuff like drop to 6th when you want 2nd (that happended to me once)....

However the engine is quite flexible, so lets say you are in 4th (up to 120mph)approaching a corner you could in theory take in 2nd (below 70 mph)...you come off the corner at 50mph....but only get 3rd.....it still pulls strong in the higher gear....even 4th won't be that bad......yes its not 100% but still good.... At thunderhill I only used 2nd gear on 1 corner (turn 11)....it was 3-4th everywhere else....

[Hans Delbruck]

Do you have to buy the car right away? I'd wait until the reported software fix is out and then take the plunge.

I went with a C63 partly because of the issues being reported with M-DCT.

However, my immediate thoughts after getting a ride in swamp's DCT car were "this transmission is amazing and it's worth it to risk some bugs"

You can really feel DCT putting the power to the ground the instant it hits the next gear. It's pretty awesome going full-out.

The only thing missing with DCT and the slushbox in my C63 is having full control and finesse with the powerband. That is something you can only get with a manual IMO! And something I miss a bit.