[tuco44]

Originally Posted by KennyPowers

interesting opinion, i too have driven the SMG, step, and DCT (own one) and have a very different experience than you.

SMG - terrible imo, very jerky and unless you drove it very hard, was very rough around town. i owned a 6mt e46 m3 which i thouhgt was a vastly more fun car to own and drive. i will say i didnt have tons of experience in the SMG though

Step - normal automatic imo, smooth and seamless shifts, nothing special either way imo

DCT - even in the 135i, its awesome. lightning fast upshifts and downshifts with zero hesitation in manual mode ever in my experience. much faster reacting than an auto "manual shift" mode car, even in the 335i with steptronic. in my opinion, they cannot even be reasonably compared, DCT is that much better.

I came from owning a lot of manual trans cars, and the DCT is an awesome comprimise. Do i miss the MT, at times, sure. But i would never want to DD one again after owning DCT. I would however, love to pick up a z4m or s2000 as a weekend / track car to get my MT fix.

Bottom line, when considering the 135i and 128i, the DCT would be a huge advantage for the 135i. I have driven a manual 135i with the 6mt, and that car was tons of fun also. But I prefer the DCT version.

I would think that the 6mt would make the 128i plenty of fun to drive around town. Id also believe that the 3.0l 6 cylinder is a much better fit for the lighter 128 as compared to the 328i.

+1