[335BOY]

Originally Posted by cehlion

My wife refuses to learn to drive a manual. My wife has never driven my MT 2002 325i. My wife will never drive my MT M235i.

Would be a little more convienent is she could...sure...enough to make me give up shifitng my own gears...nope.

It hasn't wrecked our marriage yet (We'll celebrate our 21st anniversary next month while in Munich doing ED

My Wife drives mine all the time but the kids don'y drive MT!

[SteveSFO]

I miss the manual but also realize that I am in the SF Bay Area with nearly constant bumper to bumper traffic and tons of steep hills to creep up. The ZF8HP auto is good and no complaints. However, just manually shifting the ZF8HP sort of handles my missing the 6sp, but I am finding myself wanting to pick up another vehicle with a manual to just take care of those cravings. Tough decision. Good luck!

[crbalch]

Originally Posted by ba83

Or northern Va , Dc area

or Chicago

[AlpsRider]

Originally Posted by akuan99

I'm glad you mentioning this.
I have exact same experience with my former 128i steptronic AT and 228i AT during test drive.
I was surprised that ZF8 had same flaw although it took about one second compared to steptronic's 1.5 seconds.
All I did during test drive is move slowly from full stop and let it coast for about 5MPH and then floor gas pedal. There was about a second of absolutely no response (and bit scary).

You guys must be talking about the four cylinder engine. The M235i auto launches off the line as fast as a manual. It has almost zero lag even with the automatic. The difference with the manual of course is the ability to play with the gears, I understand this having owned many manuals in my life. One of the main reasons I bought the M235i auto is because of the transmission, I was looking for a GOOD auto tranny/engine combo. I test drove LOTS of cars, MB, Audi etc. The only car that had a transmission/engine that I liked besides the M235i was the Audi S4. The combination of the V6 supercharged engine and the 7 speed DSG was really nice, but the car itself was not tossable like the M235i, cost more and burned more fuel, and to me was just more conservative. With the M235i, it's a personal choice not a performance choice.

[akuan99]

Originally Posted by AlpsRider

You guys must be talking about the four cylinder engine. The M235i auto launches off the line as fast as a manual.

128i has NA I6 engine so I was not talking about 4 cylinder engine.
The issue was NOT from launches from stand still position.

[Cpdbeemer]

Originally Posted by akuan99

128i has NA I6 engine so I was not talking about 4 cylinder engine.
The issue was NOT from launches from stand still position.

3 weeks into ownership of the car I have not experienced this at all. And I am coming from years of driving a manual, and still have a manual track-only car. I hate laggy transmissions which is why I have stuck with manuals, very happy with the auto on this one.

[akuan99]

Originally Posted by Cpdbeemer

3 weeks into ownership of the car I have not experienced this at all. And I am coming from years of driving a manual, and still have a manual track-only car. I hate laggy transmissions which is why I have stuck with manuals, very happy with the auto on this one.

It has happened to me 2 to 3 times in my 3 years of ownership but I now know how to test it and new auto trans still has this bug.
There are ways to avoid it like using manual mode instead of auto shift.

[Cpdbeemer]

I always have mine in Sports mode, maybe less susceptible in this?

[midwest 340xi 6sp]

Originally Posted by Ramos

You might regret AT, but you will never regret 6MT (unless you live in LA)

Not true...S hit traffic here in the midwest too. No thanks to manual in that.

But I get that many love it - choices are good

[crbalch]

Originally Posted by Midwest M235i

Not true...S hit traffic here in the midwest too. No thanks to manual in that.

But I get that many love it - choices are good

I've driven manual my whole life but living in Chicago the past three years made me go AT on the new build. I'm excited to not have my left leg get sore from pushing the clutch in a thousand times in three miles haha

[esp260]

Been wanting a MT car since high school and finally decided to get my 228i in a MT. No regrets at all! It's a blast to drive and I'm never bored. Even when I drive back down to Boston in bumper to bumper traffic, I still love it.

Another benefit: friends don't ask to drive your car!

[EternalVendetta]

I just got back from my ED trip, and I had some mild regret going with MT whenever I stalled (it only happened ~3-4 times! :/). Like the previous poster, I've always wanted an MT car, and I decided to take the plunge now with the M235i while I'm still relatively young; I'm hoping for this to be my car for at least the next seven years or so, and who knows how many cars will offer MT in the 2020's (and maybe my interest in MT will have departed by then too).

Being inexperienced with manual while driving in a new environment (Germany) was a bit stressful initially, but by the third drive I was feeling much more confident in my feel for the car. I was also very impressed with how courteous the drivers in Germany were: no one honked when I stalled, I didn't see anyone cutting each other off, etc., which made the initial experience much more positive than it otherwise could have been. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going with MT on an ED if you have little/no MT experience, but it is doable if you're set on going with MT on this car.

[FlyingScot1050]

Hell, I live in Houston, drive the Beltway every day to and from work (30-50 min to go 15 miles), and I love my 6 speed! The engine makes enough torque at idle that you can creep along in first without using any throttle or feathering the clutch, and the clutch is light enough that it wouldn't be bothersome if you had to. This is the best manual transmission I've ever used.

If I had to pick a nit with it, the only gripe I have is that sixth gear is very short. For a car that makes this much torque at so low an engine speed, exceeding 2,000 rpms to even reach 60 mph and knocking on 3,000 to cruise at Texas highway speeds seems unnecessary.

[crbalch]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot1050

Hell, I live in Houston, drive the Beltway every day to and from work (30-50 min to go 15 miles), and I love my 6 speed! The engine makes enough torque at idle that you can creep along in first without using any throttle or feathering the clutch, and the clutch is light enough that it wouldn't be bothersome if you had to. This is the best manual transmission I've ever used.

If I had to pick a nit with it, the only gripe I have is that sixth gear is very short. For a car that makes this much torque at so low an engine speed, exceeding 2,000 rpms to even reach 60 mph and knocking on 3,000 to cruise at Texas highway speeds seems unnecessary.

How do you find 1st to 2nd gear changes? In my 135i I was never able to get smooth shifts at low speeds and I am an experienced MT driver. BMW added that clutch delay valve which I could never quite master. Same with the 235i?

[Tpeterson]

Originally Posted by crbalch

How do you find 1st to 2nd gear changes? In my 135i I was never able to get smooth shifts at low speeds and I am an experienced MT driver. BMW added that clutch delay valve which I could never quite master. Same with the 235i?

Don't know about the M235i,but that's how it is with the 228i MT.

[williewonkerz]

Originally Posted by akuan99

It has happened to me 2 to 3 times in my 3 years of ownership but I now know how to test it and new auto trans still has this bug.
There are ways to avoid it like using manual mode instead of auto shift.

I'm convinced its "worse" if your wheels aren't straight.

Most times I can trigger it at 1 left turn in the city. Its an uphill left hander, you have to hustle so its also the place where I'll suddenly stomp on it.

Using Manual works, but its a place you don't always think to "preemptively" go to manual mode.

[caycep]

For me, no regrets mostly because I still have to learn stick reliably. But, different cars for different things. For an all purpose daily driver, the AT is great, esp when coming from a Toyota 5-speed in my highlander (also a great car but in different ways...).

May look into putting time into a miata for learning stick

[BMW335iOn18s]

If you guys can't shift smoothly, change your seating position to accomidate your muscle memory. It took me about 2000 miles before i felt 100% at home like in my old E36. If you want it to shift smoothly, tilt the seat back. Not the back portion of the seat, but the whole entire seat by twisting the bottom cushion adjuster knob in the upward direction.

The manual on the N55 cars, especially with the M sport short shifter (standard on the M235i) is PERFECT!! As fantastic as the E36, E46 and E90s. Very reminiscent of the E46 M3. If it makes anyone feel better, the F8x M3/4 use the same transmission. I love that BMW was able to make a MT car in 2015 without rev hang unlike VW, Honda, Subaru, Hyundai, and many many many others. I don't think anyone has better manuals than BMW other than Honda in the S2000...and Porsche is on par if not slightly better.

P.S. if you have a non M-sport F2x/F3x then you are missing the M sport short shifter which makes the shift action much notchier. Some hate the notchiness, but in my opinion the notchiness is a hallmark of BMW MTs.

Long live the 6 speed!

[FelixGTS]

I also went for the 6MTdespite the BMW salesman being very, very ambitious in convicing me of the ZF AT. I do also think that the AT is a better choice in many ways, speaking of efficiency and comfort.

But I bought this thing as a kind of sports car... I want to shift gears myself in that.

Haven´t regret it once in my 2,5 month ownership. Haven´t stalled it either

[FlyingScot1050]

Originally Posted by crbalch

How do you find 1st to 2nd gear changes? In my 135i I was never able to get smooth shifts at low speeds and I am an experienced MT driver. BMW added that clutch delay valve which I could never quite master. Same with the 235i?

I haven't had any issues, although I've been driving it pretty gently, trying to at least make it to 1200 miles before going to town on it

[Ruhnie]

Originally Posted by crbalch

How do you find 1st to 2nd gear changes? In my 135i I was never able to get smooth shifts at low speeds and I am an experienced MT driver. BMW added that clutch delay valve which I could never quite master. Same with the 235i?

I'm curious about the clutch delay valve in the 235i as well, I think I read somewhere that it isn't something you can delete like in older cars. I did the delete in my e90 and shifting was amazingly smoother. I never understood the point of handicapping shifting this way.