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Interesting talk about the transmission from the Jalopnik review:
But I was even more nervous when I found out that the only transmission available in the new M5 is a new eight-speed M Steptronic transmission, which is a regular-old automatic. There is no double clutch transmission option, and BMW has done DCTs so well before.
As it was explained to me by the M engineers: this was a performance decision, as the automatic is actually faster than the old dual-clutch transmission so many of us have loved. They told me that the torque converter is already fully locked as soon as the car starts moving, so shifts are close to instantaneous.
I’m not sure how much of that was marketing speak, but I will say that both on track and around town, I never once was left waiting when I needed to drop several gears in a hurry. And transmission’s shift mapping can be changed on the fly. Mode 1 is for daily, around town driving. Mode 2 shortens up the shift times a bit. Mode 3 is fully dialed for the track with extremely short shift times.
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