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Re: No US SMG: why? (archive)
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Posted by PeteS on October 28, 1999 at 00:35:24:

In Reply to: No US SMG: why? posted by Randy G on October 27, 1999 at 21:38:22:

: I don't understand why BMW wouldn't put the SMG in US cars. The guy I talked to at Peter Pan BMW said that they give us cars with less power to avoid the gas-guzzler tax. I can understand that, but surely a car with SMG would get just as good mileage as a manual car, because it should be able to shift more efficiently. Right? Do they think we're all Cadillac drivers at heart, or what? Assuming it actually works (which it may not), I would be happy to pay extra for SMG: faster shifting, no missed shifts, and I wouldn't have to do *all* the driving on long trips, as I do now.

SMG was not a great success in Europe; it didn't work terribly smoothly. It takes time to learn to use it and I suspect many drivers that try it on a test drive were disappointed because they didn't know how to use it properly. I understand BMW is reworking the system. I'd guess that this and cost are the main reasons we have not seen it in the US yet.



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