[vtknight]

Originally Posted by X6DB

I find it strange that people are so pissed off without ever having driven the car. The first drive reviews of the F90 M5 have been overwhelmingly positive.

I enjoy my DCT as much as the next guy, but it has its shortcomings when I use my M5 as a daily driver. I'm open to the possibility that the new transmission will deliver the performance goods; only a test drive will tell. It will most definitely smooth out the rough edges of the M5 as a daily driver, and I would guess that most M5 drivers log the vast majority of their miles commuting to and from work and running assorted errands.

To me the M5 is all about striking a balance between performance and comfort, not about all-out performance at the expense of comfort.

^This.

So much concern over nothing in my opinion. The shifting is more quick enough. The ZF is a sublime gear box that makes normal driving excellent and shifts more than quick enough for racing. I own a DCT car and it is terrible for regular driving.

And on this point - I may have to start a common sense revolution for people to stop discussing the M5, E63S or RS7 as track cars. They are not. That time has passed. They are all - very - track capable. But they are not track cars. You want to track a car? These 4300-4500+ lb cars ain't it. There are many more optimal setups out there. Just like the manual fans - everyone has to get with the times. I and you may not like it - but that is where things are going - just like heavy M, AMG and RS cars.

For what these cars ARE...GT cars. They are out of this world - being able to do literally everything - extremely well. Even beating those one dimensional cars at their own games...

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by vtknight

^This.

So much concern over nothing in my opinion. The shifting is more quick enough. The ZF is a sublime gear box that makes normal driving excellent and shifts more than quick enough for racing. I own a DCT car and it is terrible for regular driving.

And on this point - I may have to start a common sense revolution for people to stop discussing the M5, E63S or RS7 as track cars. They are not. That time has passed. They are all - very - track capable. But they are not track cars. You want to track a car? These 4300-4500+ lb cars ain't it. There are many more optimal setups out there. Just like the manual fans - everyone has to get with the times. I and you may not like it - but that is where things are going - just like heavy M, AMG and RS cars.

For what these cars ARE...GT cars. They are out of this world - being able to do literally everything - extremely well. Even beating those one dimensional cars at their own games...

AGREE with every word.

[kyrix1st]

I did a 30km test drive a while ago...the car is indeed very quick to accelerate; probably the fastest car in a straight line I've driven in a while. Around corners, it seemed like 4WD sport did some torque vectoring trickery to get the car turned in; some will like it, some won't as it feels too artificial.

The suspension felt too soft for my taste even in sport plus but I can definitely see the appeal on rough roads. I would probably take it over E63S if this were the only car I would own. That one rides like a tank stepping over dead animals on street...

As for the transmission, I thought the shifts were alright but slightly laggy in response when braking and downshifting into the corner so I tried to change the intensity to 3 bars only to find out that the salesman next to me already set it to the max intensity. Upshifts were sometimes quick, sometimes delayed. It's probably the turbos spooling up in that short instance where I want the immediacy.

Conclusively, I would say it all depends on how much time you spend inside the car. I can see the merit of ZFat for those who spend a lot of time in congestion. However, for those who commute relatively short distance and drive occasionally on b-roads will want something more dramatic and hardcore than just "fast."
The mechanical thump on upshifts and crispy downshifts of DCT/MT are what made the previous iterations of M5 "the super saloon" as opposed to, arguably, "a super saloon" feel this gen gave me. E63S on the other hand gets this sporty transmission feel very well albeit being a multi clutch torque converter.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

I did a 30km test drive a while ago...the car is indeed very quick to accelerate; probably the fastest car in a straight line I've driven in a while. Around corners, it seemed like 4WD sport did some torque vectoring trickery to get the car turned in; some will like it, some won't as it feels too artificial.

The suspension felt too soft for my taste even in sport plus but I can definitely see the appeal on rough roads. I would probably take it over E63S if this were the only car I would own. That one rides like a tank stepping over dead animals on street...

As for the transmission, I thought the shifts were alright but slightly laggy in response when braking and downshifting into the corner so I tried to change the intensity to 3 bars only to find out that the salesman next to me already set it to the max intensity. Upshifts were sometimes quick, sometimes delayed. It's probably the turbos spooling up in that short instance where I want the immediacy.

The car you drove is nothing like mine, I have had E90 M3, F10 M5*2 M6GC CP and two F80 M3's this M5 is better in every area apart from fast tight cornering, it seems cars in the USA all have a problem with something, this M5 is is not laggy and the gear shifts are very quick, do I miss DCT.............>NOPE.

[marcvtec]

I just miss manual - and sometimes I don't when stuck in traffic.

What i do hate is it always down shifts while braking and thus the car behind me is not aware of me slowing down so I have to hold the brake lightly or risk getting rear ended at times - if comfort mode had a coast ability like other cars would be sooooo much better.

[dkhm3]

My X5M zf8 has overheated 3 times in the 23k miles I have driven-

all 3 times have been from prolonged and aggressive driving in manual mode, there is no way this x5m can do sustained track driving in manual mode.

I wonder if any of you have taken the m5 on a track for sustained use without overheating the tranny.

"drive train malfunction" error comes on and the manual shifting mode stops working.

There is no comparison between the zf8 and the Getrag dct or the zf pdk from porsche (yes, ZF makes the pdk too)

shifts speeds are pretty much identically fast on the zf8, but it is more modulated to protect the tranny from the torque, the dct and pdk snaps gears quickly and perfectly connects each time.

also try a 3 gear drop on the zf8 in manual mode, it doesn't do it, it will drop one gear, then skip 2 gears, vs the dct or pdk is instant 3 gear down shift.

The current porsche manual is actually a dual clutch pdk unit, without the computer shifting it.

[JSR2018]

I tend to agree that even in D3 that the downshifts can be a little laggy but this is only when comparing to the DCT in my C4S, upshifts are almost equally as fast.

However, the downshift being slightly laggy probably doesn't matter as the turbo lag is almost certainly equal to this "lag".

Had I not been used to the PDK then I would not notice it to be fair.

In all honesty I think the gearbox (and car) is great and works really well, its just the PDK in the Porsche is particularly good.