i seem to remember reading that bmw shift times on the highest sport setting were <0.1 seconds. Heck, the MR2 spyder does it in <0.5 seconds. Bmw's will rev match on a downshift as well, not sure about the Toyota's

 

What do you mean toss up? If you compare the BMW M3 manual vs the M3 SMG, the SMG out performs the manual in straightline and in cornering. The speed of the SMG's gear shifting can not compare to human shifting because it is so damn fast.

 

Interesting. Just how does the SMG manage to outperform the manual in cornering? No driver worth the title ever shifts gears in a corner - manual or SMG, shifting while hard cornering is a real no-no. So how can a transmission affect cornering performance?

Regards,
Gordon

 

I think that the introduction of an SMG unit in the Mazda lineup will do wonders for garnering press and sales. They do aspire to be the japanese equivalent of BMW--not by price but sporting nature of their vehicles. An SMG unit in the RX8 will probably win over a few 350Z/G35 buyers that were on the 'fence'.

 

It does generally post better lap times, maybe that's what he meant.

 

So to sum up -- if youalready own a 6spd manual Rx8 then none of this is bignews.

 

I personally don't like the SMG that much, you can only get a good fast shift when you are racing it. Try driving the SMG in normal traffic and that thing shifts like a slug, when rolling off the 1-2 shift it seem to take my car 1.5~2 full seconds to engage the gears. I tried very hard to live with it but it's just hard when people behind you suddenly have to slow down because the car is not accelerating for that amount of time per shift. I tried dialing the SMG mode on aggressive but doesn't seem to help and even put the card on sport mode and nothings changed. A normal slush box shifts a gear at the rate of 0.25 ~ 0.5 seconds. So the moral of my post is.... the faster you drive (or rpm) the faster the smg will shift. In my case I rather just drive a manual or a slushbox. My comparison is based on a M3 SMG.