[Zero71]

Maybe everyone's already aware of this, but I wasn't, so I thought I'd share anyway.

The shift mode applied by the gear stick is different to that saved with the M1/M2 buttons. The shift mode applied by the flappy paddles seems to be linked to what was saved with the M1/M2 buttons.

The car basically remembers whatever setting you last applied via the gear stick. So if you push the stick to the right to flip from D to manual S mode, and set the aggression to S3, it will always switch to S3 whenever you push the stick to the right, regardless of what is set on the M1/M2 buttons.

This is pretty cool. I now have M1 set to Sport Engine, Sport Suspension, D2 gears, Comfort steering. M2 is set to Sport Plus Engine, Sport Suspension, D2 gears. Both behave pretty well in auto this way and give some flexibility to driving mood. When the desire for full on aggression takes me, I just need to push the stick over to the right to get S3 manual gears. It's almost 3 modes rather than 2. Interestingly, shifting to manual via the paddle shifters keeps the aggression as per the the programme, so S2 from D2.

If this is all basic stuff, sorry for wasting a post, but it was new and interesting to me!

[BMWZ4]

Definitely not basic stuff, I agree. I've had the vehicle for roughly 4 months and I'm still experimenting with the different gear settings. Too many permutations/combinations! Thanks for posting.

[Wills2]

That's been a feature on M cars for years whether MDCT or the new ZF8 versions, makes sense as the m1/m2 are presets, manually selecting different shift settings on the lever shouldn't change those, when going from D to S via the lever always defaults to the last chosen setting you selected via the shift setting button.

[Zero71]

Originally Posted by Wills2

That's been a feature on M cars for years whether MDCT or the new ZF8 versions, makes sense as the m1/m2 are presets, manually selecting different shift settings on the lever shouldn't change those, when going from D to S via the lever always defaults to the last chosen setting you selected via the shift setting button.

I just assumed that shift the lever from D to S would implement what was saved in the enabled preset. I’m glad it takes whatever was last set on the lever though. Makes all the difference, previously I had either Sport on M1 and bonkers on M2. Now I can have variations of engine performance, without going aggressive on gears unless the mood takes me. First M car so nothing to compare it to. I much prefer these settings to what was available in my 430i which always felt like a compromise.

[M4SW]

Thanks for this. Just tried it. Good to know.