1995 525i question

[cusker132]

my question regards the transmission..
Next to the normal PRND321 is an A<>M switch
my first guess is automatic manual. but there is no clutch or shifter for manual.
who knows what this is?
also there is an E by the P(ark/RND...) on the dash.. isnt this like the mode of the engine?
can't it be chnged to sport or something?
thanks, this is my fist car and i dun no much.

[sidewinder69]

It's a rather neat feature that basically keeps your car in whatever gear you wish.

Slide the slider towards the M and you get an M appear on your Heads Up Display. Shows up where the E usually is.

Now you are in manual mode, so if you shift the gear selector into 3rd for example your transmission will start off in third and stay in that gear. (Not very economical by any means.)

Also don't try doing that and pull out infront of someone moving quickly since the car will bog down noticeably since it's starting out in a higher gear.

One of the good reasons for using it is if you are on an icy mountain pass and you want to start off in 1st gear and not have the transmission automatically shift into the next gear sending you out of control. You can run that manual in first and scream on the RPM's all day long.

Other than changing the E to an M you can keep it in automatic mode and move down to the 3rd gear on the gear selector. This will put the automatic into sport mode (an S will appear where the M or E is usually) and give you better throttle response (since the tranny is basically already at the kickdown point,) at the sacrifice of fuel economy.

You get all that?

[cusker132]

hey man, thanks for the reply, i sorta forgot i made this post and by now ive pretty much found out on my own...
i put it in 3 yesterday and was like woww. his car actually has decent pickup haha
my only remaining questions are.. is 3 dangerous to drive in(as far as the engine falling apart or anything like that, i would just do it occassionally tomess around)
and the previous owners told me not to go into manual due to a problem they had with it, apparently it got stuck in that mode...
heard of this before? common?

[sidewinder69]

The only dangerous part of driving in S3 is your gas consumption. Or when you're driving on freeways since you'll be revving your engine for no reason.

I always switch from drive into sport 3 for hill decents 'cause I'm lazy and don't like riding the brakes.

Also about it sticking in manual I'm not sure, I've never had it happen to me...yet.