Got my M135i on order in HK for June delivery, since I stay in HK 4 months per year, I figured I should get a car. Anyways, this whole Launch control thing got me thinking whether I should pass and wait for a later car…
According to everyone and the procedure described above, the said LC for the Sports Auto tranny should be the same as the ones in the current X5M, Audi’s ZF S-tronic, and so on?
I have no knowledge of the sports AT from BMW nor the S-tronic, or any modern performance auto, I wonder how the LC on the X5M work mechanically, and if there is a difference between that and regular Sports Auto Tranny on the existing 1, 3 series. I know automatic Corvettes in the States do have LC built in, but not that impressive. Has anyone tried the BMW sport auto LC on a X5M or any other sports AT equipped BMWs here? Does it really rev to 3k rpm before engaging the converter, or it is just a gimmick that works similarly as torque brake launch on a regular Auto box? Some said the Youtube Motor Trend test on the 335i sport, was a launch using regular torque braking, some said it was the X5M type LC with a flag on the display….quite confusing.
I’ve also checked the so called M135i owner posters from BMW Fanatics claiming they saw a flag on the older M135i dash similar to that of the X5M, but turns out no one from the website can confirm it after asking around for 2 days.
I too also believe that real launches can only be done with Manual or DCT of some kind. And if the Sport AT LC yields similar 0.1-0.2 sec gain in 0-60mph, it is not really worth waiting for, might as well just use torque braking launch when you really need it. Improvement is minimal, and people driving auto in slow city traffic don’t really use it.
However, if BMW is adding this feature on all Sport AT easily with no extra charge, it might just be a software gimmick that can be upgraded on all previous cars. I wish there are tuners like the ones familiar with tuning GTRs and Evo Transmission Control Module (TCMs) who know how a specific tranny works inside out that can easily answer this mystery.
Any thoughts? Just curious.
Jack
