The MOST Important Mod for BMW E46 M3 w/ SMG Transmission | CSL Tuned Vs Non Tuned Direct Comparison 

Nice breakdown man! I love the SMG truthfully. For context, I have old manual BMWs, a modern manual BMW, and DCT as well. But the SMG is the one I enjoy the most because it requires you to have such a close connection to the car. The CSL tune rocks but I chose to go back to the standard SMG map because I like rev-matching on my own and timing out exactly when/how to lift on upshifts. The CSL tune is really nice for stop signs and such so I miss that part lol!

great to hear people loving smg's. they get so much hate but its mainly from people who havent taken the time to learn it properly. my pump failed, i fixed it. wasnt that hard. its a pretty simple system. chucked a new pump in, bled it with inpa. all good. i have the csl map on mine. i dont let off when shifting up. just hold that foot to the floor and bang through the gears. It might be worth trying a reset on your non csl car. roll at about 30mph flick to neutral and hold both paddles in for a few seconds. i think it reset the bite point. i do that with my car every few months. especially if you had a new clutch...

So glad I found this channel, keep it up

Great content. I have booked my 2003 E46 M3 convertible in for SMG flush and the CSL tune applied to the SMG.

That black m3 looks fantastic. I always loved those wheels for that car . Great content .

love me some 46 content 🤝 great vid as always josh

The SMG cars are great value imo.. Maybe one day i will be able to sell my 330ci and buy one. Good video

TTFS FTW! Taking it back for sure. I have a custom dyno tune on my car from him from over a decade and she still pulls strong as day 1.

For $200, worth a try before diving into a manual swap. Maybe SMG will be the more collectible spec one day in the future.

I had a 2006 with 140,000km and sold it for $18k Australian in 2019. It was in mint condition.. but I felt generous as I had money at the time.... then snapped my achilles tendon, had surgery lost my job then COVID hit Melbourne. Since then life sucks hah fk me. I miss that car. I used to just turn it on in the garage at night to hear the engine to make me feel relaxed then go to bed. Such a weapon. As it's Australian/Euro it is better plus had all maintenance history. I had replaced all wearing parts, upgraded brakes and a few others. It had never seen rain... I also had sold my 1993 Nissan GTR V-Spec II for $20k Aud as I was in Canada studying and needed the money. I had imported it was a 5 star immaculate rating. I now drive a mazda 3 2007 with 200k. FML

Both are lovely cars. ❤❤

Love the vid! CSL SMG tune makes a world of a difference. I believe that if all smg owners tuned their transmissions that there would be a lot less push for swaps. BUT, your car with the stock smg is definitely not working correctly if it’s always searching/blinking between shifts. Maybe a clutch bite reset is in order? Not sure of the actual name but I think there’s a soft reset where you pull both paddles for a certain amount of time while driving to reset the bite. This in addition to the smg adaptation, which I’m sure you already did, should fix that. 👍🏼

Very Cool...

Great video, and a Plainfield guy.

New subscriber!!!!🤝

I had my mint low Mile m3 coded with csl smg software year ago I love it. Worth saying not only do you get better gear changes but it adds in an extra stage of traction control as per the csl. So rather than just fully on or off there’s a midway stage you get different symbol on dash when pressing then traction button. Dunno if you knew this. Maybe not all tuners add it

Man that convertible actually looks good could be the angle but it looks nicer than the coupe.

Are you blipping the throttle when downshifting on non-tuned. I've driven my m3 for a couple years and when you blip the throttle before downshifting each gear like you would a manual, it gives a quicker downshift and proper response. A lot of people treat the smg like its an automatic or dct so they expect the car to do all the work. its just a manual transmission with a hydraulic controlled clutch, so things you would normally do in a manual you'd do on smg. When you downshift the car waits for user input (throttle blip) once it realizes that its not getting a user input the computer assist and does itself. Hence the delay and soggy downshift. The csl tune good makes the car respond more like a dct especially with its self blipping downshifts. It might make things move faster, but I feel a lot of people get the csl tune because they don't fully understand how to use smg to its maximum potential(or just want better downshifts). Smg leaves some work for the driver to do, unlike modern cars where computers control most of what's going on.

Amazing video yet again couldnt agree more i think the smg makes the e46 m3 what it is i find it adds to the charector of the car and also noticed you done the rev light calibration so they match with the oil temp instead of the coolant temp how bmw thought that was a good idea with coolant temp i dont know

The gas light being on in your coupe the whole vid was making me nervous lmaoo

Great video! I've had 2 SMG cars over the last 6 years, but never tried the tune. I've built good muscle memory for rev-matching on the downshifts, so that's never sold me on the tune. The up shifts seem pretty nice (especially @16:28), but do you see any improvement in slow or stop-n-go, especially in Sport? I can't use sport unless I'm launching or already in 2nd.

You are right on the if it works well then why swap it, I didn’t know that they actually had tunes for smg cars

I've thought about getting the tune but I drive my SMG like a manual anyways. let off gas when shifting and rev matching myself when going down. I don't think ill ever convert it to manual I am a SMG fanboy at this point lmao. plus my left knee sucks for manual.

Sounds great, were dashboard lights caused by app modification?

Bro you gotta help with my E34 530. I’m trying to get this alternator out and replace it but I’m stuck and bmw engineering isn’t logical at all😭😂

first, damn those 46s are so sweet

yall know you can flat foot theese, also now im thinking mine came with the csl tune because it always rev matched for me when i would drive normal. Is there any way i can Check?

Where can I get this CSL tune sofware. I have a 2002 E46 M3.. Thanks in advance

That black e46 M3 still for sale?

Never better than manual but not bad at all with tune. BMW should do a recall just to tune the SMG on every model, that way, people will apretiated more.

How much does the tune typically cost from a shop?

I swapped my smg for manual and completely regret it.

Your non csl smg car seems slow in the shifts.

Honestly, either this is an US spec thing or something is wrong with the car. I have the first SMGII version, ECE spec though and it does shift at least as quick as you tuned one and rev matches as well! Never seen one without rev matching in Europe anyway… 🙄 This is not a CSL thing…

best mod is never buying an smg m3 in the first place lmao they're horrible just buy a manual or if you cant drive one and are too scared buy an automatic. smg is pointless and its horrible