Drove an '04 645 SMG

[X5Jay]

One of the sales managers at my local BMW dealer is a friend of mine and he knows that I'm looking to get a new vehicle. He called me last week to tell me about a jet black/beige '04 645 - SMG with 29K on the clock. I never drove an SMG so I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, I drove the car for maybe 20 miles or so - mix of highway and around town. Overall I really liked the car - looked super and was pretty loaded, although I didn't like the fact that the sunroof only tilted and didn't open.

The SMG transmission was really interesting. I was expecting something similar to a steptronic and really never did understand the difference (not sure if I really understand the difference now, either). I'm not sure if something was wrong with the car or if it was my lack of experience, but it was quite a challenge to smoothly drive the car in manual mode. It really felt like a true manual without a clutch - it would even roll back a bit on inclines when starting off, just like a real manual. I felt like I had to get on and off the gas at just the right time to make it smooth and this was something that was clearly going to take me a bit of time to master. Also, the drive-line felt a bit clunky - like it needed u-joints. It wasn't terrible, but it was noticeable. My dealer friend told me that while this car may have been a bit more loose than a new SMG, this is how they are and it's normal. I didn't think I could deal with that daily - not in a BMW. If it was a manual 6-speed, that car may be in my garage right now as I thought the price he gave me was great...

All in all it was a cool ride and the tranny was certainly interesting, but it just felt too unrefined to me and I didn't want something that I'd have to concentrate so much on to drive it smoothly.

Those of you w/SMG experience, was this car a clunker or is this really how they are?