OkieISF

My guess is that they probably had issues with the timing of the blip(response and duration) and disengaging/ reengaging of the tranny in the low RPM's. I can feel the car surge a little going down from 5-4( or 6-5 i can't remember) but that’s at high speed and the surge is less noticeable. If that happened when trying to come to a stop the surge could cause you to over shoot, which could suck if someone was in front of you. I am sure it is something that could have been tweaked but they probably ran out of time/money. I know that if it was my project i would have kept tweaking until it was ripped from my hands. Again this is just my guess.

FieryISF

I actually traded the F in for e90 M3 with DCT back in August. I really liked the F, especially the tourquey engine, but my heart belongs to the M. I realized how it just does everything better than the F, at least for me. One thing I found incredibly annoying on the F was no option to get to the lowest optimal gear when flooring it in manual mode while cruising. Let me explain. On numerous occasions, I’d be cruising on a freeway in 8th gear in manual mode, and I’d have someone pull up next to me, give me the look, and floor it. Well, it would take me roughly 4-6 seconds to downshift to let’s say 3rd gear at 65-70mph. Even if I threw it in auto and floored it, it would still take 2-3 seconds. By then, the douchebag is gone. With the M, you can be cruising in 7th gear in manual mode, and if you need to quickly downshift to the most optimal gear, you just floor the gas paddle until it clicks, and hit the downshift paddle, and it goes from 7th to 3rd or 2nd depending on your speed. All that takes just 1 second or less. Again, I’m not knocking the F, and I did truly enjoy it for the few months of ownership, but I wouldn’t be honest if I told you I miss it.

ISF4life

iTrader: (30)

take you 3 to 4 seconds to down shift from 8 gear to 3 or 4 gear ? are u kidding me ? its will take u less than a second to continues clicking down 8 gear shift to get to 3 or 4 gear if u do it correctly on the F. Even on the automatic you can use paddle shifter to down shift or up shift anytime u want . Maybe you didnt explored enough time in the F ??

FieryISF

Maybe you miss understoond my example, or maybe you know something I don't, but if you downshift from 8th to 3rd gear manualy (going for 8 to 7 to 6 to 5 to 4 to 3) that's clicking the downshift paddle 5 times. Even if you get two cliks per second, that's still 2.5 seconds which seems an eternity. Either way, you're missing the point. In the M going from 7th to the most optimal gear takes less than a second. It's just my observation.

anxiouz

iTrader: (9)

No matter how you look at it, downshifting from 8th to 4th in the F has a delay. I agree that it's not crazy bad, but you cannot instantly go from 8 to 4 which would be optimal. You have to go 8-7-6-5-4 which, even at best, is not ideal for when someone gets the jump on you.

FieryISF

that's exactly my point.

Roffles

It sounds as if you did not learn how to drive this car based on what you are saying. Only in normal driving mode and especially snow mode have I experienced throttle response delay but NEVER in the 4-6 second range as you describe. I think in auto/snow on the freeway cruising, it could take ~3 seconds for the car to start pulling hard, but why would you accept invitations if you're in this mode? In sport mode, it has always been immediate downshifts. For me, If I'm cruising the highway and accepting invitations, I will have my car set-up with one of the two options below.

option 1. sport/manual/5th or 6th gear depending on speed but never using 7th or 8th -- down shifting to 3rd or 4th in this mode has never taken more than a split second for me. I have had difficulty catching the top of 2nd or 3rd gear in manual mode and so I often prefer option 2

option 2. sport mode/automatic -- even when cruising in 8th, stomping on it hard ALWAYS puts me almost immediately in the lowest possible gear. I have found this to be the fastest way to accelerate because it will catch the very top end of 2nd or 3rd gear (depending on your speed) where the manual shift will not allow it. I've blown past a few 400hp cars, including an M3, doing it this way so my experience is the opposite of yours. Maybe you weren't stomping on it hard enough, there is actually a full throttle actuator button on the floor below the gas pedal and you have to give it a good stomp to activate it in automatic mode.

At any rate, no love lost between complete strangers on forums, so enjoy your M -- I know it's an amazing car -- but you sound like a n00b who didn't learn the F before you dumped it.

VtotheJ

iTrader: (2)

This is exactly it. When in D mode if you stomp on the gas and the little button behind the gas pedal, it will downshift an extra gear, and will not take an extra few seconds at all. And besides, when someone gives the "look" and wants to go, in order for it to be fair wouldn't you need to be next to each other anyways? I have had no issues with people flying past me, I'd just mash the pedal and catch up with no delay.

I do understand what the OP is saying in regards to downshifting from 8-7-6-5-4-3, you are dropping 5 gears so it will take some time, but certainly not 4-6 seconds. Maybe this weekend I'll time it and see how long it takes. Probably 2-3 seconds at most, considering you aren't skipping any gears on the downshift like a traditional manual transmission.