Who's taken their M3/M4 for solid holiday thrashing??

[Powerslide]

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On Christmas day - as a present to myself after my kids were playing with their toys and my wife was just chilling at home - I found some wide open roads quite away out of the metropolitan area - low 40's, sunny, great visibility, Continental winter tires, and man... WHAT A CAR!!!

What I particularly love about the MDCT transmission is crusing along at about 40 mph on a straight stretch of road, flooring it and then pulling the left downshift paddle back - go from 6th gear to 3rd gear instantaneously - and the acceleration on this car is utterly savage... Also put the shocks in sport - and man - this car corners so flat and so confidently...

I've been out of town for a few days with the family SUV and I can't wait to get back home to drive the M... Any other holiday stories to share?

[Richy Rich]

I just drive like this daily, lol.

[Powerslide]

Originally Posted by Richy Rich

I just drive like this daily, lol.

God - I wish I could too - I work in the City - so I'm either taking the train to work or driving in rush hour traffic no faster than the Priuses...

On the weekends, however...

[bigant66]

In so cal we have the weather but our roads are packed with break checking dip shits! But over the Christmas holiday i was also able to find some rare open road time .. so much fun! Only bad thing is looks like im going to be needing tires soon!

[Richy Rich]

Originally Posted by bigant66

In so cal we have the weather but our roads are packed with break checking dip shits! But over the Christmas holiday i was also able to find some rare open road time .. so much fun! Only bad thing is looks like im going to be needing tires soon!

I do as well, I just don't leave my house during standard hours to combat this — freeways during off time are fantastic.

[DrtyJrze]

I gave Silvia a much needed wash/wax Christmas morning, but no thrashing. Only sweet slow lovin'

[Powerslide]

Originally Posted by DrtyJrze

I gave Silvia a much needed wash/wax Christmas morning, but no thrashing. Only sweet slow lovin'

Nice.... like the German version of the Mercury Mistress... hubba hubba....

[racsos]

Originally Posted by Powerslide

On Christmas day - as a present to myself after my kids were playing with their toys and my wife was just chilling at home - I found some wide open roads quite away out of the metropolitan area - low 40's, sunny, great visibility, Continental winter tires, and man... WHAT A CAR!!!

What I particularly love about the MDCT transmission is crusing along at about 40 mph on a straight stretch of road, flooring it and then pulling the left downshift paddle back - go from 6th gear to 3rd gear instantaneously - and the acceleration on this car is utterly savage... Also put the shocks in sport - and man - this car corners so flat and so confidently...

I've been out of town for a few days with the family SUV and I can't wait to get back home to drive the M... Any other holiday stories to share?

hmmmmm i am new to dct, so to get it to downshift from 6th to lowest gear floor it and then pull the left lever? do i hold it or just one pull?

[Powerslide]

Originally Posted by racsos

hmmmmm i am new to dct, so to get it to downshift from 6th to lowest gear floor it and then pull the left lever? do i hold it or just one pull?

If you floor the car (push throttle down past detent) and then immediately afterwards flick the left downshift paddle - the car will go straight down to the lowest possible gear without over-reving the engine - so in other words, you could be crusing at 45mph in 7th gear - floor it and a fraction of a second later pull the left gear downshift paddle and you'll go straight down from 7th to 3rd gear without having to sequentially go thru 6th, then 5th, then 4th, then 3rd - (it is in owner's manual too).

TRY IT - TOTALLY AWESOME

[Powerslide]

Oh - and you don't have to hold the gear paddle down - as long as the throttle is all the way to the floor - all you have to do is flick the downshift steering wheel paddle and you'll go all the way down to the lowest possible gear...

[Xtabi]

Originally Posted by Powerslide

Oh - and you don't have to hold the gear paddle down - as long as the throttle is all the way to the floor - all you have to do is flick the downshift steering wheel paddle and you'll go all the way down to the lowest possible gear...

Thanks for the tip!

Anyone know where to find an online owners manual? I am placing my order on Monday. Might as well find something else to read for the next x months while I wait!

[Padfan9]

Originally Posted by Powerslide

On Christmas day - as a present to myself after my kids were playing with their toys and my wife was just chilling at home - I found some wide open roads quite away out of the metropolitan area - low 40's, sunny, great visibility, Continental winter tires, and man... WHAT A CAR!!!

What I particularly love about the MDCT transmission is crusing along at about 40 mph on a straight stretch of road, flooring it and then pulling the left downshift paddle back - go from 6th gear to 3rd gear instantaneously - and the acceleration on this car is utterly savage... Also put the shocks in sport - and man - this car corners so flat and so confidently...

I've been out of town for a few days with the family SUV and I can't wait to get back home to drive the M... Any other holiday stories to share?

That sounds like me on the way too and from work every day!

[Wilsonv]

I took mine down the coast of Australia for a little road trip. Did around 3000km :/

[RickMonet]

Originally Posted by Powerslide

If you floor the car (push throttle down past detent) and then immediately afterwards flick the left downshift paddle - the car will go straight down to the lowest possible gear without over-reving the engine - so in other words, you could be crusing at 45mph in 7th gear - floor it and a fraction of a second later pull the left gear downshift paddle and you'll go straight down from 7th to 3rd gear without having to sequentially go thru 6th, then 5th, then 4th, then 3rd - (it is in owner's manual too).

TRY IT - TOTALLY AWESOME

Sounds cool.

But if you have your foot mashed to the floorboard- you'd better be ready for upshift as you rev to redline mighty fast!

[Powerslide]

Originally Posted by RickMonet

Sounds cool.

But if you have your foot mashed to the floorboard- you'd better be ready for upshift as you rev to redline mighty fast!

Yes - that is true! The E9x had this exact same feature - so when that car was new I hit the limiter a few times. Once I got used to the sound the S65 engine would make between approx. 7,500 and 8,400 rpm's I learned to shift just before redline even if I wasn't looking directly at the tachometer (sometimes I would see the yellow/red shift lights in my peripheral vision, sometimes I wouldn't - but like I said - once my brain "learned the sound" I upshifted pretty consistently between 8200-8400 rpm - and man - I do miss those 8,400 full throttle shifts)!!!

As much as I loved that awesome high-revving sound and feel, what's nice on the F8x is the heads up display makes it easier to keep track of where your RPM's are (and yes - revving the S55 out to 7,600 rpm is pretty fun too - the car really does pull very strong even out to 7,600 - even though the power curve on paper noticeably drops off after 7,300 RPM - the S55 is still making more horsepower and torque at 7,600 rpm that the S65... I'm not criticizing the S65 - I totally loved that engine and comparing NA vs. turbo power delivery is a classic apples to oranges comparison - my experience with the S55 is that people tend to grossly exaggerate the power dropoff on it for the last 300-400 rpm or so).

So - I digress - but yes - the instant downshift and explosive acceleration by going from 7th straight to 3rd or even 6th down to 2nd literally makes you laugh out loud, especially on dry, warm roads where traction is not an issue and you are in MDM or DSC off (I again would not use this feature in the wet, and certainly not with MDM or DSC off in wet or damp conditions)!

[YMB-M3-J2]

i gave mine a thrashing in the terms of some smokey burnouts that led into some nice donuts and drifting... thanks to an empty patch of concrete where a Kmart used to be...

[STooK]

It was over 50 and sunny in nyc for some reason so I dropped the top and went for a cruise...a nice Christmas treat!

The downshift function on the dct sounds fantastic...really makes me want to get a dct next time!

[gearboxtrouble]

Originally Posted by Powerslide

(I again would not use this feature in the wet, and certainly not with MDM or DSC off in wet or damp conditions)!

+1 to that last bit. This car is a very different animal to the e9x. On my drive back from work, I have this on ramp to a highway express lane that has a signal light at the beginning and a 90 degree left. In my e92 m3 in damp conditions, I'd put it in MDM and floor it if there was nobody around. I'd get a light, easily controllable drift at around 30 mph. I tried it in my M4 this past Friday in the wet and put the throttle in Sport Plus and MDM on. I got a massive powerslide and barely held it together. Lesson learned. You treat this one with real respect because it can and will bite your head off if you're stupid.

[WVUDrJay]

My little brother is 21 and 18 years younger than me so he's been reading about the M4 for months. He came over to visit and we went for a good thrashing. He can't drive stick, too bad for him, but he loved the car. He kept saying, "this is unreal!" It was great.

[zosoboogie]

On Christmas Eve about 11:30pm I went hunting for a visual on Santa and the roads were completely empty...it was epic!

[dkhm3]

Originally Posted by Powerslide

If you floor the car (push throttle down past detent) and then immediately afterwards flick the left downshift paddle - the car will go straight down to the lowest possible gear without over-reving the engine - so in other words, you could be crusing at 45mph in 7th gear - floor it and a fraction of a second later pull the left gear downshift paddle and you'll go straight down from 7th to 3rd gear without having to sequentially go thru 6th, then 5th, then 4th, then 3rd - (it is in owner's manual too).

TRY IT - TOTALLY AWESOME

did not know this, thanks!

[chiplee]

Yet another awesome feature of DCT. I assume it has to be in manual to do this, vice auto, since it would kick down when you floored it if it was in auto?