I agree. The 1-2 shift is stressful at best. I'm hoping it's just me trying to learn the catch point of the clutch. I installed the clutch stop and it helped, but doesn't solve the seemingly unpredictable catch point, particularly from 1-2. Probably one of the reasons they de-tuned the HP/TQ in the manual version. I've driven a lot of manual cars for a long time but this is my first BMW manual, so I'm hoping I just need to get used to it or it needs to break-in a little. I'm not giving up on it
There will always be the BMW fanboys criticizing any criticism of these cars, but people dropped a lot of money and have a right to question aspects of them. If it hurts your feelings focus your attention on the threads that don't.