[jphughan]

I originally thought I'd go DCT because it's what the designers intended and I thought its smoothness would feel more appropriate/in-character for a 5 Series, but then I went and drove my wife's Mini Cooper S which has a slushbox with paddle shifters. Yes I know a slushbox isn't as quick as DCT, but that's not relevant for casual driving; I wanted to see whether just being able to control the gear changes was enough, and whether doing so via paddles was an adequate substitute mechanism.

In two words, hell no, on both counts. Pulling paddles was nowhere near as engaging or rewarding as driving my 6MT, and confirmed that it's not just about being able to control gear changes. In fact it was so boring and painful that I think I would end up just using D mode except during spirited driving, which IMHO would ruin the M5 experience altogether. I guess I probably already knew that the experiment was doomed considering every other time I've driven my wife's Mini or had a loaner BMW with paddles, I've never thought to bother with them. Yes, when driving 6MT while off my game, I occasionally get irritated when the car lurches because I didn't match the shift properly, and stop and go traffic can be frustrating, but the flip side is that when I nail perfectly smooth upshifts and downshifts, I get a nice sense of accomplishment. And somehow moving one finger to change gears just isn't nearly as rewarding as lifting off throttle, moving hand to shifter, clutching in, shifting (and blipping if necessary), clutching out, and adding throttle again. Wow, typing it all out like that, you really see how much more engaging 6MT is.

After that experiment, I think I would feel robbed of a lot of potential fun if I had an M5 with DCT, and I feel bad for every non-US country where for some reason BMW doesn't make the manual available. I test drove a DCT M3 before ordering my 6MT and it seemed fun enough, but I guess that was more the overall fun of the M3.

So unless the reviews of the 6MT are horrible, I know what I'd get -- loss of smoothness, shifting speed, and "out-of-placeness" be damned. I do go to the track where DCT might be useful, but I doubt I'd take an M5 there very often, and it wouldn't be worth losing the fun of the rest of my driving time. That's why I didn't get the M3 in DCT either even though I track it a fair amount. If I were a buyer who was the target market for the normal 5 Series but just wanted the top of the line model purely because it's top of the line, then yes DCT all the way. But for someone who buys an M car because he/she enjoys actual driving, 6MT or die.