BMW 3 series automatics

The BMW 3 series has an automatic transmission and a sports automatic transmission on most models. The sports is about £250 extra, not much on the price of the car.

Reading the blurb on the BMW website the sports version seems to be the more efficient and faster but has no impact on fuel consumption, but I cannot find any independent view of the relative merits and wonder if you can provide an analysis or opinion?

Asked on 10 October 2014 by westwight

Answered by Honest John

Sorry, I'm not aware of any difference because I haven't know if a 3 Series I was driving has the sports auto or not. Obviously you do want the paddleshifters because if you're ever going to shift manually its far easier to do it from the steering wheel.

The M3 has a completely different automatic transmission: twin clutch, twin shaft rather than the standard 8-speed torque converter. Alpinas have shift buttons on the steering wheel rather than paddles.

Tags: automatics buying a new car

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