M3 convertible in Geneva

[southlight]

Originally Posted by drvai

Standard equipment in all BMW's

Too bad there's no delete option on this.

Best regards, south

[nusevad]

Beautiful, JBZ Black is a winner!

Originally Posted by southlight

Too bad there's no delete option on this.

Best regards, south

lol, you could always get it wet sanded...

[southlight]

Originally Posted by FifthStreetz

Beautiful, JBZ Black is a winner!



lol, you could always get it wet sanded...

Yeah, matt paint FTW


Best regards, south

[vietmunki]

Video isn't much but anything to feed our hungry stomachs.

[Steved]

I sat in this Jerez M3 Convertible at Geneva and had a good chat to the BMW reps on the stand.

A few interesting snippets that I was unaware of; firstly the paddles feel like metal and are much more positive and mechanical than the SMGIII paddles on the E46 M3. They 'click' softly and feel of a higher quality than SMG.

It still has drivelogic, adjustable as per SMGIII but BMW quote 0 second delay between gearchanges so rather than vary the time period of the change, with M-DCT the drivelogic function varies the 'feel' you get through the seat of your pants. So it 'simulates' a mechanical kick when changing to give the impression of a gear change. Only time will tell how natural this feels, but clearly BMW were concerned about maintaining the feel of SMG in this double clutch system.

There's still launch control operated in the same way, i.e. push forward the lever then hold down the throttle which keep the revs at 4500rpm, and then let go of the throttle for launch.

It felt good to operate in this stationary environment, so it all bodes well for the driving experience.

Jerez Blue looked stunning on this car, much better than I've seen it in daylight, so BMW have been lucky with the positioning of their display stand.

[swamp2]

Originally Posted by Steved

I sat in this Jerez M3 Convertible at Geneva and had a good chat to the BMW reps on the stand.

A few interesting snippets that I was unaware of; firstly the paddles feel like metal and are much more positive and mechanical than the SMGIII paddles on the E46 M3. They 'click' softly and feel of a higher quality than SMG.

It still has drivelogic, adjustable as per SMGIII but BMW quote 0 second delay between gearchanges so rather than vary the time period of the change, with M-DCT the drivelogic function varies the 'feel' you get through the seat of your pants. So it 'simulates' a mechanical kick when changing to give the impression of a gear change. Only time will tell how natural this feels, but clearly BMW were concerned about maintaining the feel of SMG in this double clutch system.

There's still launch control operated in the same way, i.e. push forward the lever then hold down the throttle which keep the revs at 4500rpm, and then let go of the throttle for launch.

It felt good to operate in this stationary environment, so it all bodes well for the driving experience.

Jerez Blue looked stunning on this car, much better than I've seen it in daylight, so BMW have been lucky with the positioning of their display stand.

In some PMs with a BMW marketing person this "0 time" shift thing has become clear. What they mean is that since the shift is pre-selected there is 0 time spent actually moving selectors during the clutching operations. A super loose defintion of a "shift" IMHO. The clutching operation to me is an essential part of a shift and seems to be the only logical definition. This time will be somewhere between the "milliseconds" quoted in the M-DCT press release and about 100ms as the upper limit. My personal guess is closer to 50ms, maybe as little as 30ms.

The "feel" of the shifts will be controlled by software and hardware. On the software side the speed and phasing of the clutch operations, the fuel and or spark cutting and sequencing relative to the clutching and the automated throttle adjustments during the shift sequence. As well there is no escaping the rpms before and after the shift and the flywheel inertia.

It's going to be exciting.

[apw2607]

Thanks Steve and Swamp for this. Yes, definitly exciting stuff. I've only ever owned MTs since I started driving 20 years ago ... so this is a big leap of faith for me!

[M2381]

Looks good...still not good enough to pass up cf though

[CSL-Fanatik]

Originally Posted by the_stranger

Thats ok. Did the e46 have shift lights too?

Yup, LEDs in the rev counter, not just in the top part. It looks a little bit different, but not much. I am sure you will easily be able to find pics if you do a quick search.

Best,

CSL

[Voltigeur]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

Nice orange peel in the vent shot!

+1 ugh Great lighting for this colour ...

[Jack28]

Man I cant wait to drive M-DCT and I Hope i like it. I have always been the "Stick & Clutch" kinda guy as I had the 6 Speed on my E46 M3 and other cars, But I really wanna try something new and go with the M-DCT! I really cant wait to try it, especially as I read more and more about it, makes me want it even more!