[Keca10]

Originally Posted by PLF69

I see BMW's DCT as a relic of the the S65/S85 era, when motorsports division wasn't as watched by the accountants.

S85 used a different relic…. The SMG III.

I am sad that DCT is gone but I get why they did it. DCT was a way to differentiate vs other brands and make the experience extra special but it was costly and investments couldn’t be spread across non-M cars. Same as the special NA engines they used to develop. Most importantly… they are still offering a manual.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by Patton250

There’s a pretty good video of their engineers describing the difference between the two and why they choose the ZF. It beat out the DCT in the end in their eyes. I agree with them. In my personal opinion the DCT is fun for like 15 minutes. Then it sucks after that. I mean unless you’re only going to drive this car once in a while and only for fun than the DCT makes sense. Well actually it still doesn’t make sense over the ZF but you get my point. :-)

In the end of course it’s subjective. I would not have bought my G80 if it came with a DCT. I likely would’ve went with the E63 or M5.

That's funny. Only reason for them going with the 8AT is cost cutting.

There's a reason why the vast majority of high-end sport/super/hyper cars use DCT. The DCT was a key differentiator ///M cars offered over their direct competitors.

[Montaver]

They used the 8AT instead of the DCT because the DCT wouldn't mate to the 4WD system. They could of developed it obviously, but that would cost money. They could also use the same X-drive system developed for the M5. Albert Biermann famously quit when the bean counters decided they had to use the 8AT on the F90 M5.

They could of just stuck with a RWD version and repackaged the existing M-DCT gearbox, but I guess marketing and the internet love talking about 0-60 times. Marketing/finance and not engineers have been making the big decisions at M division for a while now.