[ajchoi]

Originally Posted by deerfox37

I came to my 6MT '24 having driven manual cars for 30+ years. I wanted to love the car, but was just conflicted about this transmission. The 1-2 shift was rubbish, 2-3 was somewhat better and the rest was great. I've never had anything like it. I found myself either short shifting or winding it out to 4000 and then hesitating to get a smooth shift, but I couldn't drive it around town like I wanted to. 100 miles after break-in, I got fed up and took it for a nice long drive back to the dealership and traded for a BSM '25 with an automatic. I did lose a few dollars on the deal, but it was worth it. In my opinion, this car is way more suited to the automatic. It feels like a completely different car.

I really liked how I could take off from a stop slowly without touching the gas at all. I didn't get any lurching or chattering. Very useful in traffic and pulling in the garage. And the shift assist is a great feature, love the buttery smooth downshifts.

The manual is almost impossible to stall. I ALMOST stalled it being absent-minded in a parking lot where I had the car in 1st, parked, and then forgot to actually turn off the car before letting off the clutch. I got like 95% the way off the clutch and the car lurched and sounded like it was going to stall but as soon as I pressed the clutch in, it kept running. Totally my fault but I was impressed it didn't just stall out completely.

[M2PDX]

I've had zero of those issues in my '23. Granted, I've had 9 manual BMW Ms over the past 30 years. I actually think this is one of the best. I'd love a little more low end torque, but that's easily cured with a tune. It's a high horsepower car, not a Honda Civic, so it needs a transmission that can handle the power.

OP, take it to your dealer and ask if they can find anything wrong.

[ednir98]

Originally Posted by deerfox37

The 1-2 shift was rubbish, 2-3 was somewhat better and the rest was great. I've never had anything like it. I found myself either short shifting or winding it out to 4000 and then hesitating to get a smooth shift, but I couldn't drive it around town like I wanted to.

Sounds like a whole lot of operator error to me.

[Mhrob24]

Originally Posted by M2PDX

I've had zero of those issues in my '23. Granted, I've had 9 manual BMW Ms over the past 30 years. I actually think this is one of the best. I'd love a little more low end torque, but that's easily cured with a tune. It's a high horsepower car, not a Honda Civic, so it needs a transmission that can handle the power.

OP, take it to your dealer and ask if they can find anything wrong.

There’s nothing wrong, it’s just me being new at driving a manual lol.

I’ve made a concerted effort to try and fix how I’m finessing the clutch and I’ve gotten way better since I posted this. I was getting chatter and bogging taking off because I wasn’t slow enough off the clutch. I still try and give it some gas taking off now but if I wanted to I can get it to take off without gas and basically no chatter.

The 1-2 shift issue I’ve seemed to resolve by pausing briefly at the bite point and just getting better at finding the bite point to begin with. I think a lot of the jerky shifts I was getting was me just underestimating how much the clutch pedal needs to travel before getting to that point. The bite point is high on this car; much higher than the car I practiced with initially.

[ajchoi]

Originally Posted by M2PDX

I've had zero of those issues in my '23. Granted, I've had 9 manual BMW Ms over the past 30 years. I actually think this is one of the best. I'd love a little more low end torque, but that's easily cured with a tune. It's a high horsepower car, not a Honda Civic, so it needs a transmission that can handle the power.

OP, take it to your dealer and ask if they can find anything wrong.

I'd only had multiple each of Honda / Subaru / VW manual transmissions before this and I can confidently say that having 9 manual BMWs definitely helped you here haha. I'd driven a handful of friends' manual BMWs over the years and they're all very similar and took getting used to vs the car I was driving. I don't mind it now that I figured out my seating position you just can't treat it like most other clutches.

[deerfox37]

Originally Posted by ednir98

Sounds like a whole lot of operator error to me.

Yes, I must've forgotten how to shift properly after a lifetime of manual driving. My slant six, three on the tree Duster had a more satisfying 1-2 shift.

I must admit, though, that this was my first BMW manual trans. Previous cars were primarily Japanese and classic American.
CDV delete, short shifter, spacer, etc. probably would've helped, but I was reluctant to start modifying the thing with 1300 miles on it.

[87M3]

Great hustle helping to keep the manual transmissions alive!! Practice, practice and more practice will get you there.

Originally Posted by Mhrob24

There’s nothing wrong, it’s just me being new at driving a manual lol.

I’ve made a concerted effort to try and fix how I’m finessing the clutch and I’ve gotten way better since I posted this. I was getting chatter and bogging taking off because I wasn’t slow enough off the clutch. I still try and give it some gas taking off now but if I wanted to I can get it to take off without gas and basically no chatter.

The 1-2 shift issue I’ve seemed to resolve by pausing briefly at the bite point and just getting better at finding the bite point to begin with. I think a lot of the jerky shifts I was getting was me just underestimating how much the clutch pedal needs to travel before getting to that point. The bite point is high on this car; much higher than the car I practiced with initially.

[JMcLellan]

You could just avoid the 1 to 2nd upshift.....i accidentally started out in 2nd gear the other day not paying attention to what I was doing. It was a bit clunky but hey I got to avoid that tricky upshift.

One thing that I have noticed with the auto rev-match feature is that if I coast for a while with my foot on the clutch the auto rev match will not engage when you slide into a gear and I admit I am not used to having to apply the right revs manually prior to letting the clutch out. The automation has got me lazy.

[danohdanoh]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

You could just avoid the 1 to 2nd upshift.....i accidentally started out in 2nd gear the other day not paying attention to what I was doing. It was a bit clunky but hey I got to avoid that tricky upshift.

One thing that I have noticed with the auto rev-match feature is that if I coast for a while with my foot on the clutch the auto rev match will not engage when you slide into a gear and I admit I am not used to having to apply the right revs manually prior to letting the clutch out. The automation has got me lazy.

So y'all just letting the clutch out without modulating the gas pedal at all? That's wild. I'm driving a 10 year old WRX so no fancy tech. I wonder if this is the reason why OP's been having issues. My VB is still on order but I test drove my buddy's ZB and didn't notice too much difference in shifting.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by danohdanoh

So y'all just letting the clutch out without modulating the gas pedal at all? That's wild. I'm driving a 10 year old WRX so no fancy tech. I wonder if this is the reason why OP's been having issues. My VB is still on order but I test drove my buddy's ZB and didn't notice too much difference in shifting.

Yes. At first I thought I wouldn't ever want to use the auto rev-match but it quickly became one of my favorite features on the car.

VB is a nice color. That will be exciting leading up to and getting the new car.