Mark Phelan reviews BMW's M5... and isn't pleased
Sure it's got
great handling and massive amounts of horsepower, but when you've got a clunky 7-speed sequential manual gearbox and an
overly-complicated i-Drive, you just paid too much for your $81,000 super sedan. So says Mark Phelan, who tested out the
BMW and can't wait for the manual version to come out this fall.
While the i-Drive is tolerable (because it's largely avoidable), Phelan maintains that the SMG is not. Slow and jerky, the gearbox can be controlled by the driver tapping the stick up or down, or via 11 different electronic programs that enables the car shift to on its own. The only good thing about the getup is that drivers who can't drive stick get to experience something an awful lot like it, though Phelan argues that that probably wasn't what BMW was going for.
The interior appointments and exterior design are stellar, Phelan says, and giving the vehicle a traditional manual will likely put it at the top of Phelan's list.
In fact, Phelan's criticism of BMW's SMG gearbox and i-Drive aren't new, but a growing chorus of voices have expressed discontent with both. For support, look no further than reviewer Robert Farago of TheTruthAboutCars.com.
[Sources: Detroit Free Press; BMW; TheTruthAboutCars.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
That One Person 5:15PM (5/05/2006)
Personally, I think the M5 is a sweet ride but I wouldnt buy it just because of the transmission and i-Drive. I usually dont take the advice of someone else about a product. I like to try it before I buy it. But I have heard nothing but complaints about the transmission and i-Drive. They should have just stick a regular manual transmission in it.
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Michael Karesh 5:21PM (5/05/2006)
I've yet to drive a BMW with SMG. For some reason dealers don't seem to stock them...
I have driven a Maserati with a similar transmission. I couldn't get it to shift smoothly, but the salesperson could. So it might be a matter of technique. Yes, an "automatic" shouldn't require special skills to drive well. But, if this also the case with the BMW, better this than impossible to drive smoothly at all.
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Hung2 5:40PM (5/05/2006)
I had a 2001 M3 Convertible w/SMG and it was jerky at first and a little weird getting used to. After I got more accustomed and found the right "dialed in" shifting - I was fine with it. Hardcore drivers - wait for the manual.
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Michael 5:41PM (5/05/2006)
The M5 has progressed from a powerful executive sedan to essentially a "supersedan" now, and the 7-speed SMG transmission is fitting. Interestingly enough, the 6-speed unit will be for North America only...
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bernie 5:42PM (5/05/2006)
Mark Phelan is an official member of the Detroit homers association. The M5 is one of the sweetest driving cars in the world and I challenge anyone to drive one of the red, white and blue shitboxes he's praised in the past six months and tell me it can hold the M5's jock. I'm not a big BMW fan, but the M5 is awesome. Phelan once was a credible journalist whom I've met and once respected. To pan the M5 is just BS and he knows it.
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PJ 5:49PM (5/05/2006)
I've driven BMWs with SMG, and found the system's response aggravatingly clunky and unpredictable--except at WOT, where it's brilliant. I've never driven an M5, nor could I even remotely hope to afford one. But as much as I like the 530i and 550i, the M5 won't be on my dream-car list until the conventional manual arrives.
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Michael Karesh 6:19PM (5/05/2006)
He didn't pan the M5, just the transmission. He's far from the first journalist to pan a clutchless manual. I'm not sure nationalism has anything to do with it.
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Andy 6:23PM (5/05/2006)
I'm not sure why people consider a manual stick more 'hardcore' than the SMG. To me, the SMG is for hardcore car enthusiasts.. it gets you quickly into the correct gear out of a hard corner, or getting out of a double apex in the correct gear at the maximum possible speed. Otherwise, why would anyone want it. Automatics are for normal drivers, manuals are for those who want more control, and the SMG is for the truly hardcore drivers.
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Calvin 6:39PM (5/05/2006)
He needs to realize that the SMG needs to be driven like a manual, not an auto.
I made that observation when driving the M3 SMG with comp package.
http://wheeltalk.fancal.net/?p=39
Took some getting used to - you need to lift the throttle a little when shifting at low speeds to smoothen it out.
The VW/Audi DSG is a better solution for those looking for a more traditionally auto experience. Frankly, given the availability of new auto transmissions, the only reason to go with a manual is because you want to. It's a valid reason, but it's not about performance anymore.
And iDrive has the first navigation UI that I can't figure out with 20 min of casual use. I finally figured why it's got such a bad rep. Doesn't have to be that way though.
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lalaland 6:47PM (5/05/2006)
Naw. The SMG is crap, absolute crap. And the iDrive is horrible. Normally I love BMWs but this thing had me screaming from the second I got in the car. The dealer was trying to convince me that I was at fault for how the car was driving (always a strong sales tactic). Finally I got fed up with that mouthiness, told him, okay you show me how to drive it. He spent 10 minutes fiddling with iDrive to change the vehicle dynamic settings, saying maybe that was the problem, and it still drove terrible. The last M5 was a sports sedan of the Gods, but this new one sucks. BMW blew it big time. Man, if Lexus were ready with its own "M" version of its cars, it would be all over. As it is, I'm ready to check out the SL AMG, although I normally don't like their work.
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PJ 7:00PM (5/05/2006)
Just my .02 regarding the manual vs. SMG/DSG debate...
Clutchless manuals do indeed make you faster on a track, saving fractions of a second that you'd otherwise spend moving a lever between gates.
On the road, though, performance isn't measured by lap times, it's a simple matter of how much fun the car is for the driver to drive it. This is why I often find cars that do 0-60 in the 6-second range more fun in the real world than those that can do it in 4-something. They're still fast, but you can push them hard without doing anything seriously illegal or endangering other road users.
A long-winded way of saying that while clutchless manuals are faster, they're not as much fun, because they remove a layer of direct, physical connection between the driver and the machine. Anyway, to each his own.
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Dumbstruck 7:56PM (5/05/2006)
you peaple know nothing about smg. it DOES have an automatic made you know. if you don'e know what smg is, don't comment about it. if you think its a clutchless manual, you know BS. its two transmissions in one. plys it also have sport mode.
and about the idrive. it not bad.. its just this guy is too lazy. he wants it to have voice activation. the m5 is a racecar - and no racecars have voice activation. your lucky it even has al those luxury feature AND the the v10. so if u think idrive is complicated, your just lazy!
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gbh 8:41PM (5/05/2006)
I would echo PJ's conclusion- different strokes for different folks. Personally I'm not a fan of most of the manual shift/sequential stuff being offered to the general public. Race boxes are a wholly different affair.
I personally hate i-Drive. If I can't reach over and operate it by touch and instinct, it has no place on a performance auto.
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Talis 9:13PM (5/05/2006)
This sums up what I have been saying about BMW for years now. Although I think BMW's are awesome cars, they have been trying to do too much with too little. The feel as though the company needs to take a closer look at what they are making, the M5 is a good halo car, and is fine the way it is (even with the iDrive and SMG) because only people with 80K in the bank will actually buy one. For the rest of us who looked at the 3-series or the 5-series in "normal" trim (not a M), and looked the other way after feeling like a dork becuase he/she couldn't figure out the idrive or some other computer controled system, BMW will not forget. Then again, most people who "own" BMW's really lease the car so I guess I am just blowing hot air here. Oh well, I'd rather have a two Corvettes for the same price...
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Kevin 9:27PM (5/05/2006)
I drove a 645 with SMG and hated it. Not only is it way less fun but it feels slower actually, simply because you are waiting for the shift to happen. When you do a shift yourself... you know exactly when it begins and when it ends. But with the SMG, you flick the lever/paddle whatever, and when it doesn't isntananeously engage the next gear like in Gran Turismo, you're a little disappointed.
There was Top Gear article a while back by an author who loved the E39 M5 and reviewed the new one. He compared it to a piano... with a normal shift, you strike a key and the force with which you do it with determines its resonance and volume. But the SMG is more like an "old-fashioned synthesizer." It's all or nothing with no varience. The manual is more expressive.
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Steve S 10:50PM (5/05/2006)
Well if any of you high money rollers want to sell or SMG enabled 2006 M5 I'll buy it for 1/3rd the cost just to take it off your hands.
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Stoneman 10:55PM (5/05/2006)
I've never driven the SMG but I can tell you the DSG from Audi is fabulous. 0.2 second upshifts, seamless, fast, efficient. I wish all cars were this good (A3 V6 with DSG). Man, I think it's time to head back to the audi dealership again!
Stoneman
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Andy 5:04AM (5/06/2006)
Here are a couple of videos of SMG shifting (from 0-200 km). The links to the video are in the first post. I assume none of you test drove like that.. :)
http://www.bmw-drivers.de/ftopic13661.html
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MikeW 2:29PM (5/06/2006)
Maybe the manual shift will be a 7 speed (dog leg 1st) otherwise it will be way slower than the SMG
Maybe the SMG isn't for Mark Phelan, maybe he needs MB AMG 6.2 and 7g-tronic?
A double cluch 8 speed would solve BMW's (and maserati's) problems.
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Charlie 4:22PM (5/06/2006)
My dad actually has an e60 M5 and while I was home from college for Christmas break, he decided to let me drive it for the entire break (3 weeks!). As a result, I'm quite familiar with the car. If you don't believe me, I will email you some pics.
iDrive: Automotive journalists complain to no end about how confusing the system is to operate. I believe this is due to the fact that they merely do not spend enough time with the system and are not as familiar with its working as someone who owns the car. When I first drove the car, I made it a point to learn how to use iDrive. I love it now and whenever I drive a car without it, I feel a little lost. Some may argue that you shouldn't have to learn how to use iDrive or whatever, but I think that's just crap. What new technology doesn't have some sort of learning curve?
SMG: It is basically the same story as iDrive. SMG requires a period of adjustment. It is NOT AN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION and you cannot drive it like one. Many think that a manual transmission would be better suited to the M5 but I would strongly disagree. The M5's engine is a screamer and you need to rev the crap out of the engine to get anything to happen. A manual transmission just doesn't allow you to exploit the potential of the engine the way SMG does. It's seriously the perfect fit. For all those thinking the 6 speed will be better just remember that you're going to be down a gear, so you're more than likely going to have taller gears to compensate. As a result you're not going to accelerate as quickly through each gear and on top of that, you just can't shift as fast as SMG. In the end, you're to be working a lot harder and not going nearly as fast with a 6 speed manual. Don't give me the crap about how SMG isn't more involving. If you want a sports car with a manual transmission for a truly involving drive then you should not be looking at a 2 ton sedan, no matter how much power it has. Too many people forget that the M5 isn't a mid engine purpose built sports car; it's a family sedan with too much power. What do you expect?
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