2004 BMW Z4 2.5i SMG

Paddle Pushers


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More edgy than pretty, the roadster marries classic sports car dimensions to radical chic sheet metal.

SMG has its roots in racing. This is shifting sans clutch, accomplished in either an automated or manual mode, with normal or sport settings. As a manual, the driver gets from cog to cog by one of two methods. You either access the twin, steering wheel mounted paddles (pull to shift up, push to downshift), or tap the center console mounted lever. Using the sport mode setting and with a little finessing of paddles and throttle, you can run the gearbox rapidly. Every time I am stuck chugging through a major metro area in a manual transmission car, I am reminded of why many city dwellers buy automatics. A regular diet of pumping clutches can get tedious.

For that reason, the appeal of SMG is obvious - the fun and control of picking your own gears, without the quad burning workouts. In automated mode, the car does the shifting, but here, the case for SMG become less clear. Selecting sport mode will hold you in gear longer, but the shifts occur with a noticeable lag. By comparison, Audi's twin-clutch DSG is quicker and smoother in auto setting. More importantly, so is BMW's fully automatic Steptronic, and maybe even the manual gearbox, given a coordinated driver. Though the SMG offers the novel, no clutch option, we think most drivers will ultimately be happier with either of BMW's traditional transmission choices. As for me, I'd pick the smooth five-speed stick, take the $1,500 that you'd pay for SMG and buy a different option or two. That sum will get you, for instance, the premium sound system and xenon headlights ($1,575), or almost all of the Navigation system ($1,800, smart but hard to see in some lighting conditions).