Steptronic gearbox problem.

Yes. It could mean GM or ZF.

Not in the UK.

You know for sure that the introduction of "Steptronic", with the push up-or-down to shift, did not coincide with the switch from GM to ZF?

Or are you saying that you never got GM in the UK?

What are you saying?

I dunno. But I understood on an E39 there were Steptronics with the GM box. But don't know dates - and if it was fitted to the E46.

Correct. We had the 5 speed ZF from about '92. Steptronic option with the introduction of the E39. Gawd knows what made BMW fit the GM four speeder in the US since the 5 speed was so much better.

HTH. The OP is in the UK and says so.

My first two BMW's had five speed manual boxes, but these became very hard to get on 7 series after the E32 came in.

The next had a four speed auto - pretty sure this was NOT GM.

The next had the five speed switchable box above - nice, but not as nice as the manual or

The latest has five speed Steptronic, which is super. I occaisionally use the sport option, but very rarely use the manual option.

I am looking forward to the six speed Steptronic in my next one. There are six speed manuals (two sorts IIRC) in the the 6 series, but the Steptronic probably does better than an average driver like me and certainly gives better economy, so I now wouldn't go back even if they were available in the

BMW didn't fit the GM box in the UK at that time. I've never really had it explained why they took this retrograde step in the US - it's a long time since GM were the definitive auto. Probably 40 years. ;-) They were late in deciding to using electronics even when it was obvious this would be the way forward.

The Steptronic is merely a different user interface. If you don't use the manual option there shouldn't be any real difference. But I do like the more simple selector it gives for normal use. What I don't like is the way it overrides in manual mode - my earlier 5HP locked in the selected gear regardless of speed or revs in manual mode. The Steptronic is a sort of nanny manual.

Modern autos can really be quite superb. Locking out the TC whenever possible improves efficiency. The race between DSG and conventional autos is not over...

My 2000 323i has a 5-speed GM. It's nice, for an auto. I've always been a "manual guy", and my "other car" is still a manual, but I don't hate the GM slushie at all. 8)

It does help. It's more evidence that this "reverse" issue is with ZF, not GM.

I've experience the great and the shocking with a TC auto recently - Jag S-type 6 speeder is superb. The 4 speeder in a Focus is shocking.

I'd prefer to stick to my Sillyspeed, though - it works very well once you've mastered it.

Yes - GM eventually caught up with the number of ratios. Which doesn't explain why in the '90s BMW fitted 4 speed GMs in the US but 5 speed ZF in the UK, etc.

Clutch failure can happen on any auto.

Strange isn't it that Jag seem at the forefront in speccing their autos where parent Ford seem to end up with the dregs?

I've only ever used a SMG for some time - and that was truly dreadful. A brief drive of a DSG gave me hope, though.

Well, the original 'new' S-Type had a Ford box, which was notoriously unreliable, in typical Ford auto style.

What I did notice in particular is that the Focus had stupid amounts of 'creep' at idle, whereas the S-Type appeared to be much more intelligent in this respect.

Many of the Sillyspeed complaints (aside from questionable reliability) seem to stem from users keeping their 'toe in' when changing. You do need to lift slightly as you change, in manual mode, and you can 'sense' when it's going to change in auto mode and slightly back off to smooth things. This only happens at partial loads, though - if you have your foot flat to the floor, the (up)changes are amazing.

Down changes are something that makes you feel like a driving god, though, as the ECU gives a perfect 'blipped' downchange, even on full throttle.

GM = USA parent company, ZF = German parent company, or am I being far to cynical of US protectionism, it wouldn't have been the only market where 'local' (to the export destination) components have been used for export models...

I did wonder if this were the reason - they certainly fit locally sourced batteries. But it's fairly unusual to carry this on to major components which would be factory fitted?

ZF did have problems with one of their boxes in the US round about '90 - something to do with revving the engine in neutral for longish periods for emission testing - and perhaps BMW wanted to avoid any connection with that?

At certain times in the past, (maybe even now?) cars imported into the US were subject to tariffs and quotas, which varied according to how much "domestic" content they had in their build. Perhaps that was the reason.

"Dean Dark" wrote

Cars have not had tariffs since around 1980, perhaps earlier. Small trucks (about the size you have in EU) have had (and still do, I believe) tariffs on them.

FloydR

IMO, there's not much more silly and useless than a "manually shifted" tranny that still changes gears when it wants-to, like when the gas is stepped hard...

Best one I've experiened was in an IS350. Step on the gas hard, and it would *immediately*, and without any jerk or lurch, step-down up to three ratios, and you were off! (That's one fast car.)

More to the point is the way it changes up when you approach the rev limiter. Or rather the max they allow in a gear. If you want to hit the limiter on a manual there's nothing to stop you - so why in a so called manual mode? Also not being able to start in a high gear on ice is plain stupid.

They just keep on getting better.

Except the 750 which kept 4 speed boxes longer than the rest of the range. Not sure who made it though.

There was quite a delay before 5 speeders for the more powerful models arrived. The pressing need (in Europe) was to improve the fuel consumption of the 'bread and butter' auto models so they were closer to the manual without ruining the performance. Indeed my first 5 speed auto, an early 24 valve 525 E34, actually returned better highway mileage than the manual due to taller gearing. It was easy to get in the high '30s when sticking to UK speed limits on motorways.