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Originally Posted by Soorena
I'm surprised how many people dislike the current torque converter. That transmission is the best automatic transmission i've ever tried, even better than the 8HP. Very intelligent, no lag, no jerkyness. Definitely a huge plus for the M SUV IMHO.
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Had the chance to spend some time in a X5M last year and IMO the AT in the old X5M and X6M adds a nice bit of comfort to those M SUVs and let you have fun when you want to. The smoothness of the ride and shifting is great, in fact the overall ride quality is better than the regular X5 50i I tried (which did not have AD).
While the M SUVs are great performers, I think the target customers are less performance minded than those who buy M3/M4/M5/M6, and a smooth yet fun to drive AT make more sense in such vehicles....I know the DCT in the newer M5/M6 are very good, but I have yet to see any DCT type transmission as smooth as a good traditional AT.
Maybe it makes sense financially for BMW to put a DCT in the new X6M since it will very likely share the same S63Tu engine, and they can save money on developmental cost of fitting an AT into the car. But if I have the choice between AT and DCT in a M SUV, I'd go with AT.