Re: PDK review after 7000 km
ADias:
That '0' BMW tranny position is no more no less than N (neutral) on the PDK or on a manual. I think that people are discussing here how many angels fit on a head pin. It's all mental. :)
No the "0" position was a a position you could select from the paddles by pressing the left paddle to change down all when the stick was in "M". There was also a "N" setting on the gearstick that was a true "N" in the same was PDK "N" is i.e. it disables the paddles completely. The difference being you could engage neutral from the paddles if you so wished on SMG, not so on PDK.
I agree that these are all little things, and dont really give any functional advantage, but they all added up to the feeling that SMG was still a manual, whereas the sum of the parts with PDK adds up to an automatic. Its the little things that count.
Dont get me wrong Adias Im not saying PDK is a bad piece of technology, far from it - its great for what it is and it ceratinly gives a smoother drive than SMG did. I still have no doubt that PDK is faster and slicker than anybody from this universe could ever be on the manual box. Im saying that for me however it feels like driving the best automatic on the market, not a sequential manual. It is detracting from the feel of the drive in a way that SMG never did.