About Josh Fields Expertise I can answer questions related to the BMW e30. These are the cars produced from 1984-1991 (1992 for convertable) in the United states. I am more fluent with the six cylinder models, although few things changed for the 4 cylinder cars. I know most of the problematic areas of these cars, and have found ways to fix them.
Experience I have owned six different E30's over the last 10 years. I do all my own work, and know about ever nut and bolt on these cars.
Question hello. i have a january '87 325, 2.69L automatic 4 door. the transmission is getting a little jumpy. by that i mean it does switch gears so easy anymore. it only has 85000km on it. anyway i am wondering if there is a newer model that uses a similar block at trans set up w/ shiftronic. my wife wants auto but i like a little more hands on. a newer shiftronic trans would solve it all. i mean at least the tranny prob.
Answer Jordon,
That bodystyle BMW was made for a long time. For over ten years it remained unchanged. So by the time the next generation 3-series was unveiled technology had grown by lightyears. BMW did not start with steptronic/shiftronic transmissions until about 2000-2001. So you would have to retrofit a late model transmission into a much less complicated package. That's just to get the transmission in. You need some sort of adapter to make the tranny fit to the back of your engine as well, and would likely need to be custom made.
To be honest steptronic transmissions are not the best (in my oppinion). They are just an automatic that will shift when you push a lever. And then they dont shift how you would want them to. If I had to recommend an option I would tell you to stick with a Manual transmission. Manual's dont break, the only thing that happens is the clutch wears (every 150,000 miles). So you can guarantee no transmission problems, and the only expense is the clutch ($300). Automatics have the clutches INSIDE the transmission, and require the whole tranny to be disassembled to fix. No matter how you drive it, the Automatic WILL break... no matter what. To fix and automatic it costs north of $1000.
In summary, there is no practical way to retrofit a steptronic tranny into the car without alot of money, mechanical know-how, and time.
Good luck,
Josh
