I got a test drive in Bornem (BMW test center Belgium) and I have been driving the sdrive manual, and the sdrive auto. No xdrive available.
The conditions today were somewhat rainy, and wet underground (but not soaked), and the sdrive (still with winter tires) did not have much grip problems, only on cobblestone surface or full throttle launch from standstill.
So here xdrive would clearly have an advantage. But mind you, the speed that you build up so quickly with xdrive, you must also be able to stop it if needed ! (and xdrive does not have better stopping power or tire grip than sdrive !)
But the M135i is a beast. Really... It's easy to whoop out the tail in sport+ mode, and I've gone sideways a few times (where it was 'safe' to do this).
I've also turned DSC completely off on an empty parking lot, and tried for some drifting. I found this more difficult to do with the AT then with the MT.
With the AT transmission, the launch and 0-62 of this car is phenomenal.
No man can shift as fast as this AT transmission.
Then again, on different occasions I felt that the AT transmission was not really doing what I expected it to do, like downshifting and giving an uncomfortable 'bump' after just a little press of the accelerator pedal.
And with 8 speeds to choose from, it is not possible to completely drive the AT transmission with the flippers manually. You simply don't know what gear you are in (when driving hard and not watching the instrument panel) and when you brake hard for a corner, you don't really know how many gears you have to downshift to be in the proper gear to attack the corner.
Maybe one can learn this when spending more time with the car, but after 1h test drive, I certainly didn't manage that part very well.
With the MT, I feel more connected to the car and the driving experience, and you just 'know' what gear you need to shift to when braking before a corner.
I feel that with AT, you need to go fast to enjoy the driving experience. With MT, you don't need to go as fast, and can already enjoy the pleasure of "piloting" this machine yourself without the need for high speed or acceleration.
So now I even have a bigger problem as before...
sdrive with MT, sdrive with AT, xdrive with AT... I just can't decide...
