For me, SMG > manual.

 

SMG has that "notchiness" (a word?) and jerkiness of a MT car, that's why i still prefer it over DSG or auto.

okay so i looked up DSG and it turns out to be about 2 times as heavy as SMG. Besides DSG seems to be only in VW-owned companies (except potentially a new 7-speed DSG for BMW). so none of the cars that i want have/will have it

 

Post your resources. Either way DSG is much quicker shifting, and MUCH smoother.

Audi/VW are the only ones with dual-clutch auto's right now that I know of but the 08 Mitsu Lancer EVO will have it. BMW is reported to be working on one as well. There's a reason they would go for a dual-clutch setup compared to their SMG. SMG is obsolete.

Why would you like the jerkiness of a manual car in an automatic? You may as well get the manual and the benefits that a manual has. Half the reason for an auto is that it's great for driving in traffic. SMG sucks at that.

 

No human can clutch faster than a well programmed computer. For absolute pure performance a computer controlled clutch in an SMG/DSG/whatever you want to call it can make a pretty big difference. There's a reason why F1s use sequential manuals (i don't know if F1s use dual clutch yet). I agree that having a clutch pedal has a certain fun factor to it, but in a pure performance scenario, having a real clutch eliminates the power loss of an automatic's torque converter AND combined with a well calibrated computer will beat the pants off any human being clutching/declutching manually.

 

I've heard very good things about the Audi TT's clutch... thing lol. I'm talking about the S-tronic paddle shifters. It can shift gears in 0.2 seconds. I dont know of any human being able to do that.

 

Not me...lol... I love that S-tronic on the TT. I saw one with it a few days ago down here in Beverly Hills, and the owner was having some real fun with it...

 

Why would you like the jerkiness of a manual car in an automatic? You may as well get the manual and the benefits that a manual has. Half the reason for an auto is that it's great for driving in traffic. SMG sucks at that.

Actually how smooth an SMG is depends on the driver. You simply can't shift it like an auto and expect smooth shifts; there's some modulation required between the gas pedal and shifting to get a relatively smooth shift. Guys who are accustomed to driving manuals are far more proficient with an SMG, than guys who have never driven a manual tranny.

I only drove one M3 with SMG for around 20 minutes and I was able to shift relatively smoothly, although not nearly as smooth as a six speed auto. What I found interesting is that the M3 SMG had a launch mode, and it would automatically increase engine rpm on downshifts.

I agree with others however, that SMG requires far less involvement from the driver and therefore may be less pleasurable to drive, but if I had to go through stop and go traffic on a regular basis, I would buy one in a heart beat.