I need help from any owners of a new E60 with SMG who live in Orange County. I am contemplating a new 545i, and can not choose between an automatic or the SMG. I have not found a dealer who has a e60 with SMG available for a test drive.

I know this might be asking a lot, but is there any e60 SMG owner in Orange County who would be willing give me ride in their e60 SMG. I am not asking to drive the car, just feel how it shifts through the gears and how different it is than an M3. I have driven the M3, and it is great. My concerns are that the e60 does not have the adjustments the M3 has with the different shift modes.

I would be willing to treat to dinner at Woods Ranch in Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca. Wood Ranch (http://www.woodranch.com/)

bump

From driving both of them back-to-back at the Performance Center two-day school last month (actually I drove the Z4 3.0 SMG, 545i SMG, 645Ci SMG and M3 SMG), the SMG in the non-M cars was totally different than the M3. I understand it is even made by a different company. Anyway, the 545 SMG was much slower shifting (I know I could shift the 6spd manual faster) than the M3 and much softer. I was driving the M3 in S5 and S6 modes, so it was snapping out the shifts real nice.

I would say that you should make sure you understand that non-M SMG is completely different and much slower at shifting, even in its "sport" mode which I had each car set for. So for all out performance, I can't possibly see how this would be faster than the 6spd manual. However, compared to the automatic, I would probably get the SMG since I prefer a manual and the direct connection it gives. Hope that helps.

If your e-mail box can accept a large attachment (i.e. up to 10Meg), I can send you a video shot of the guages in an E60 530i SMG running up through the gears. PM me for it.