Paddle Shifts Are Like Broccoli

The turn of the 21st century was a wild time to be a car nut. Cars, like music and movies, were ditching everything analog and going digital.  Computers were being stuffed in a car's every nook and cranny while software and sensors began to reign with an iron fist. Heck, cars began having internal computer networks! It was, and still is, absolutely mind blowing to me.

During this whacky time, BMW (and everyone else) had some whacky ideas.  Their catalog was full of perfectly capable, yet perfectly boring automatic transmissions. People were also becoming less interested in manual transmissions, even in performance cars.  BMW’s Engi-nerds, thinking they could solve this conundrum, removed that annoying clutch pedal and replaced it with…*drumroll*…a computer!  They figured that subtracting your left leg from the manual shifting equation equalled faster shifts and eliminated stalling. Instead of a regular shift lever, they added steering wheel mounted shift paddles to make you feel like Michael Freaking Schumacher racing Monaco.  Who doesn't want to feel like one of the world's greatest race car drivers on their way to work every morning? On paper it's all brilliant.

Despite positive praise from reviewers, in practice BMW's new “Sequential Manual Gearbox”, or SMG, didn’t win over many fans.  It sold begrudgingly on their high performance M3, the most famous SMG car, but hardly at all on others.  Not surprisingly, a whole eleven 3-series wagons were sold with SMG transmissions. (I want the lone Japan Red one, really bad.)  While SMG could shift gears in 8/10’s of a second, many people found it jerky or just difficult to use. After a few drives in a few SMG cars, to say I was firmly entrenched with the critics would be putting it mildly. Like drum machines, SMG ain't got no soul...or so I thought.  

As time has passed, SMG cars have been converted to regular manual transmissions, especially when parts fail.  A new hydraulic SMG pump will set you back over $5,000 while a manual conversion kit will only set you back $2,000. For many owners that choice is obvious. Especially when in the current market, manual BMW's are fetching a premium over their SMG counterparts. In time though, I think this will change.

Until this week, I didn’t think I had spicy opinions on anything.  I like to think most my views on the world are based on logic and fact, and over the years my assessments have changed on everything from broccoli to paddle shift transmissions. But I guess I'm the only one?

I believe that in time, BMW's SMG transmission will be sought after by collectors. Further, I think that a clean, well maintained, SMG car will sell at a premium over a normal, manual transmission equivalent. Now please, take a breath and allow me to explain before you brand me a heretic and burn me at the stake.

The the number of SMG cars on the road is declining. SMG's are converted all the time because savvy sellers are looking to get top dollar in today's market. Expensive repairs are also catching up and owners looking for the least expensive way to keep their car on the road, which usually means a conversion. Also, the number of people that know how to drive a traditional manual is declining rapidly. To the overwhelming majority of 20-somethings, knowing how to drive a three pedal car is as useful as knowing how to use a slide rule. With manufacturers dropping manual transmissions every year, the number cars for them to learn on is dwindling too. Where a manual transmission is annoying, BMW's SMG and other early paddle shift cars game-ify driving. This is the ownership experience that owners of future vintage cars will crave and pay extra for. Today's popular opinion is wrong!

There's even historical precedent! General Motors' Rochester "Ram Jet" fuel injection system was introduced in 1957 and despite The Beach Boys singing it's praise, it was killed off in 1965. Compared to today's fuel injection, it's downright archaic, but it offered considerable advantages of the tried and true carburetor at the time. It's Achilles heel was that it could be finicky in cold weather and people just didn't know how to tune it. Over time, "Fuelie" equipped cars regularly had carburetors swapped in to ease maintenance. Today, vintage Rochester Fuel Injection parts fetch a pretty penny and Fuelie Corvettes can easily bring a $20,000 premium at auction over similar, non-injected cars. See...logic! For the non-logical ones reading this, how many cars were hated in their time that are now beloved? Chevy Corvairs, BMW Isettas, AmphiCars, Tucker 48's, Aston Martin Lagondas, Porsche 944's & 914's...the list is seemingly endless! We car nuts seem to have a way with coming around to everything and SMG's time will come...eventually.

BMW's SMG transmission, despite it's faults, brought Formula 1 technology to the mass market. (Ferrari did paddle shift first, but who can afford a new Ferrari?) While paddle shift cars like SMG BMW's were slow to take off, they haven't gone anywhere and the technology continues to improve. Today, seemingly every manufacturer has a paddle shift manual transmission of some kind. Despite the increased complexity, increased costs, and endless complaints from purists, nobody expects demand for them to evaporate. You won't be able to find a shred of proof to say the same about traditional, 3 pedal manual transmissions. Traditional manuals are, despite being awesome, a technological dead end and have been for decades. SMG was just a bit too ahead of it's time!

My garage is currently full, which is both sad and awesome. But you can bet if I had an empty spot and an SMG M3 came my way, I'd have a hard time saying no. Especially if it was Laguna Seca Blue...a color I loathed when it was new that I now lust for.

I know there's a moral in this ironic mess somewhere. Excuse me while I go grab a snack and think about it. I'm craving broccoli.