[gasman]

Ok...Sorry for the wait gentlemen. Here's my quick assessment of the M_DCT after 300 miles of highway and back country road driving.

Exterior- First of all, Holy Shit! The thing looks amazing, especially the contrast of the CF roof with AW. After seeing both the 18's and 19's in person, I'm glad I went with the 19's. IMO, much better looking.

Interior - Wonderful as well. I was very worried about the Sycamore Wood inside an M3, but honestly it looks amazing with the black dash and Fox Red on the doors. It's very difficult to take photos of as it tends to look very light brown in pics. It's much darker in person. I'll get some good pics today and post them. The leather seats are great. Very soft, very comfortable.

M-DCT- Simply, amazing. I love the fact that you can make the shifts as imperceptible or as aggressive as you like. I drove in all modes D1-D5 and S1-S5 for over 300 miles. I immediately hopped into the SMG-II and drove it as well. One word....Antiquated. The shifts with DCT are so much quicker and so much smoother. It's just a seamless transition from one gear to the next...but only if you want it that way. Here's my quick review.

D1- Starts you off automatically in 2nd gear. You have to really step on the accelerator to get this puppy going. It would be very helpful on wet, icy, or muddy roads. As you accelerate, the shifts are almost imperceptible. Very quick, very smooth. Cruising at 60mph and about 3000rpms in 7th, if you step on the accelerator it will usually just accelerate in 7th gear..if you give it WOT it might drop down to 6th.

D2- Starts off in 1st. Very quick, very smooth shifts...almost imperceptible as D1. Main difference is when cruising at 3000rpms, when you depress the accelerator it will drop down to 6th every time.

D3- You can now start "feeling" the shift more. Still very quick and smooth, but with the start of that little surge. This was my favorite, well should I say safest D mode to be in because it kept me under 5500rpms. When driving in 7th and you depress the accelerator, it immediately drops down to 5th, rev matches, and off you go....very little delay, if any at all.

D4,D5- Very aggressive downshifts and upshifts...simply put you feel it. Not the jerking and clanking of SMG II, but I guess that surge everyone is talking about. It's definitely a jolt forward. Keeps you planted in your seat. I got into trouble in these modes as any depression of the accelerator would drop this baby down into 3rd or 4th and she was ready to rock. RPM's would kick up to 5-6 thousand so I had to lay off the accelerator. As soon as you back off, it quickly shift to the next gear.

Simply put, the automatic modes are lightyears ahead of SMGII. This car is a joy to drive in the auto modes both on the highway and on the back roads, with or without traffic. Now onto the manual modes.

S1- Very tame...Very smooth...still very quick. If you didn't see yourself shifting gears...you might not even know it was shifting. That's how smooth.

S2- A touch more perciptible.

S3- Now you can really start to feel this surge that everyone is talking about. It's not the jolt you get from SMG II...with the neck snap. It keeps you planted in the seat and there is no perceptible loss of acceleration.

S4,S5- Now this is big time!! I can't wait to shift at redline in these modes. Trust me...you feel it! I really can't describe it but it feels as though there could be some tire chirping if you took off the DSC. It's just so fast. The other modes are just as fast, but these you can really "feel".

S6- Don't get excited...it's still a mystery!!

Efficiency- Ha Ha....not in your sweetest dreams. This thing is a gas guzzler. I averaged about 8.5 to 10 mpg for the first 90 city miles. This was obviously revving to 5500 in every gear and me just toying around. Lots of starts and stops...even let my buddy play around. Once I got on the highway, it averaged out to just under 16mpg for the whole trip....approx 300miles. Now on the highway, I played with all modes and varied speed and revs quite a bit as well. SHe has some potential....but you'd have to really baby her.

Premium Sound- Wasn't impressed until I played with the equalizer. It rocks and is a must. Not blow you out of the car bass...but still very, very good for OEM. THe louder you turn it up, the clearer it gets. Truly a very good system and a must have.

My only complaint- THe exhaust. Very unimpressed. I guess I've been watching to many Kreisegg and other exhaust vids. This will be my first major mod. I'll give it a 5/10. The rest of the car gets a perfect 10.

I'll post pics later as I didn't have much time to stop and take pics. I just wanted to drive. Hope you guys can read and understand this.

Mark