M4 Likely To Be The Last Ever BMW Available With A Manual
Despite being an extremely niche option in many markets, BMW will indeed be offering a manual transmission with the next M4. Praise be.
When asked by Road and Track if the replacement for the F82 M4 will be available with stick, BMW development board boss Klaus Frohlich confirmed the good news. “I think it should survive in the next generation of M4…so my promise is, yes, there will be a manual in the successor to M4,” he said.
What’s more, it’s likely a future M4 will be the last BMW to have a manual ‘box. “I think, in the overall portfolio, manuals will disappear. But I think M4 should be the fortress of manual. So the last manual transmission which will die, it should die in an M4, as late as possible,” he said.
Low demand is the biggest hurdle facing powerful BMW manuals. Munich isn’t able to invest in developing a new manual to take the kind of high torque outputs associated with its pokier models, and “No transmission partner will do that [develop a manual] with us,” Frohlich notes.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
As much fun as it is to row gears, flappy paddles will always be faster.
I guess if you’re a hardcore trackday guy, then yeah. But nothing beats rev matching a car around a twisty country road.
As much fun as it is to set lap records? Manual shifters will always be more fun.
faster is not always better. Ask a very frustrated woman
hahahaha
Im happy to sacrifice the potential 5-10 seconds gain on a long commute to be able to shift myself.
Sad
I don’t care tbh
Same, paddles are better anyways
Fast and Furious is especially sad about this
Why? They probably don’t feature cars anymore unless it comes to crashing them
They should at least do a special edition that is manual in all of their M cars. Especially the M2,M3, and M4
They should get nascar blueprints to develop those manuals at a lower cost, perhaps
I do love BMW’s silly smooth 8-speed auto, but this is a bit of a shame.
Noooooooo. Come on. everyone knows cars are a hella lot more fun with a stick
I sense a lot of heel-toe and rev matching downshifts alongside of a epic engine’s exhaust note :)
the current m4 sounds horrible though