First Test: 2008 BMW M3 DCT at AutoFans www Auto Com

First Test: 2008 BMW M3 DCT

You may be a confirmed stick and clutch-pedal guy. You may think dual-clutch transmissions, which add paddles and subtract a pedal, take the skill, the challenge, the fun out of driving, and have no place in a performance car. You haven’t driven the 2008 BMW M3 DCT.

Developed in conjunction with Getrag, and available as a $2700 option, BMW’s new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) is the gearbox the M3 was designed for — the missing link between the screaming 4.0L V-8 under the hood and the almost preternaturally alert and agile M-tuned chassis.

Our track-test numbers tell the story: The DCT car is a tenth of a second slower than the regular six-speed manual version to 30 mph, even to 40 mph, and then it’s all over. Zip to 60 mph in the M3 DCT takes 4.1 sec, two tenths quicker than in the stick version, and by 100 mph,the gap has stretched to four tenths of a second. The standing quarter mile comes up in 12.6 sec at 113.2 mph versus 12.7 sec at 111.3 mph.

With the DCT, the 414-hp M3 closes the straight-line performance gap to the sturm-und-drang 451-hp Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. It’ll run wheel-to-wheel with the thundering Mercedes to 60 mph and is a tenth faster to 100 mph. Quicker acceleration off the line gets the gruntmeister Benz to the end of the quarter in a tenth of a second less, but the trap speeds are virtually identical.

The reason for the performance boost, of course, is the DCT virtually eliminates the time lost switching between gears because the transmission already has the next gear selected. The Getrag ‘box uses two oil-cooled, wet multi-disc clutches, one controlling the odd gears, the other the evens. The transmission can be driven in full automatic mode, where you let the electronics do all the work, or in full manual mode, with shifts actuated by either the centrally located lever, or paddles on the steering wheel.

You can set up the transmission 11 different ways. There are five shift settings, ranging from soft to sporty, available in either automatic or manual modes, and a sixth, a full-commando racetrack mode that’s available only in manual mode with the stability-control system switched off.

There’s also a launch-control function, accessible only when the transmission is in track mode. You push and hold the shift lever forward until a checkered-flag motif appears on the dash. Take your foot off the brake and flat-foot the gas while holding the shifter forward, and the revs will rise to a fixed point (and those race-savvy BMW engineers allow you to choose a number between 4600 and 6100 rpm, using the cruise-control lever, to take into account the available traction). Then simply let go of the shifter, and keep your right foot buried. The DCT automatically machine-guns through the first five gears as you power down the quarter.

Improved straight-line performance isn’t the only reason to prefer the DCT, however. Because there’s no clutch pedal, it’s a cinch to use your left foot for braking, which means you can be coming off the gas and squeezing on the brake — and vice versa — simultaneously, eliminating the transition time created by your right foot dancing from pedal to pedal, even if you’re good at heel-and-toe downshifts. You can brake much later and deeper, get on the gas much earlier — and be way smoother all the while — than you can in a regular stick version. Hey, it works for Robert Kubica…

And you only need one good, hard, fast blast along your favorite switchback road to understand why. In the most aggressive road setting, the DCT thumps a little on the upshifts as the transmission harnesses the rotational inertia of the engine as it sheds revs to ensure there’s absolutely no delay in forward motion. Downshifts are accompanied by an instantaneous brap! brap! brap! as the computer perfectly matches revs.

The M3 DCT sprints from corner to corner in a single, electric surge. You’re always in the right gear and always able to exploit the alert, tactile M3 chassis to the absolute limit. You know exactly what every corner of the car is doing, all the time. The front end grips like a limpet, and the closer you take the howling V-8 to its 8300-rpm power peak, the more precise your control of the rear end becomes. This thing’s a scalpel next to the sledgehammer C63 and Nissan GT-R.

And when the fun finishes, when you have to schlep back down the freeway or through stop-start traffic downtown, the M3 DCT is easy to live with. The transmission’s default setting is midway between race fast and schmooze slow and delivers the same neat shifts you get in the VW and Audi dual-clutch trannies, regardless of whether you shift it yourself or allow the electronics do the heavy lifting. In schmooze mode, it’s as seamless as a CVT, a million times better than the dull-witted SMG that blights the M5, and making the regular six-speed stick feel like you’re wrestling a tire iron through a drum of molasses.

The DCT transmission takes the M3, already BMW’s best, most rounded performance car, to a new level. This time, the F1-style paddle-shifters and lack of a clutch pedal are not just gimmicks — they are the real deal, helping you to go faster, smoother, easier, on any given road or track you care to take on. Call it the racer’s edge.

[source:MotorTrend]

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First Test: 2008 BMW M3 DCT

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 6:50 am and is filed under BMW, Auto Review, Car Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.