I have read the in's and out's about the SMG transmission. Now that I am really considering purchasing an M3, I would appreciate if ONLY owners of SMG transmissions could chime in for me.
Have all the owners had to replace or toss crazy amounts of money at your transmissions? Is the SMG really engineered to fail? No matter what? I am only speaking about the SMG in the E46 M3...no other design.
I plan on driving the vehicle as a DD with the occasional spirited driving. I will not be tracking the vehicle or performing launch controls.
I would love to hear how many miles some of you have on your current trannys. I will most likely buy one with 60-80k miles.
Mine has 80000km on it with the last 20000 with active s/charger fitted. clutch might be getting a little worn but now probs with smg at all - fingers crossed. mine is an 04 model, I think the earlier ones had issues
I'm on my 2nd smg m3. First one is still alive and kicking with the original pump at 190k miles. Current one has 67k miles on original pump. Both have just needed new salmon relays and resistor mods. Besides that no issues.
OP don't fall for the hype on the SMG. Keep in mind when reading online forums that people tend to only post when they are having issues and not when things are all good with their cars. Of course its a good idea to take the steps and be thorough when buying the M, and getting into a car that has a well documented history should be a top priority. I would try to find a one owner E46 M that is adult owned. This will usually weed out the cars that have been flogged as there's a better chance you will get an unmolested car from the adult that paid big money for the car new and maintained it rather than the kid that bought it second hand for cheap and whooped the snot out of it. Good luck and make sure you drive the SMG first before making a final decision. I love the trans myself and prefer it over a manual, but its definitely not for everyone.
Thanks for the replies guys. Obviously you only hear about the negatives when it comes to the SMG and that's why I wanted feedback from others who had positive. The 190k mile is very impressive!
Go for it! It's a great transmission. I'm on my 2nd E46 SMG coupe. I track it all the time with no problems (and use it for a DD). Only the salmon relay (very cheap as noted above) has failed and this one has 130k. Clutch is wearing out, but that's to be expected at this age.
It's a great tranny and I really like the versatility it offers. Don't go crazy with launch controls b/c it puts too much stress on the SMG. My compression spring broke and I had the stealership replace it under warranty. It's a $.50 part (marked up to $20) but with a $1900 labor. I had them replace my clutch and flywheel while they had the tranny out and taken apart. Other then that, 86K miles and still running strong.
2002 SMG, 91K and driven daily. Original everything except relay, and no issues with the pump. I have I believe 2 broken compression springs (happens on manuals as well) that I want to replace, but I don't really need to as it still drives fine for DD purposes, I just can't beat the ever loving snot out of the car, or it will fail to shift into 2nd and 3rd at WOT/redline.
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