2016 Z4 35I Sdrive DSG trannie P button.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

I have a new '16 Z4 35I Sdrive. DSG 7 with paddles. One thing vexes me and scares me.

If car is in motion at road speed. Say 40 mph. If P button on shifter is pressed by accident or error. What happens?

Does the car stop and explodes? Does the transmission disassembles itself at high speed taking the car with it? Does the Universe implodes? Or is there a safety interlock that prevents transmission from shifting into park when car is in forward motion. I ask becouse the little kid's arms and hands are long and mobile, and when driving I am not always able to keep an eye on kid and traffic. For normal day to day driving about Culver City, the suspension is in COMFORT and DSG is in normal automated mode.

This is my third new BMW in row. Previous two were 2013 135i Cnv M pkg, and one before that was 2011 335iXdrive 4dr sdn. Before that a 1975 530i 4dr sedan. 335, 135i, and Z4 35i Sdrive all have automated 7 spd paddled transmissions.

Thank you
DmitriK

[jts1981]

Maybe the manual should have some info for you. It would make sense that the Parking button would be disabled at speed, but....

[porshah]

Can you try it and let us know? And welcome to the forum!

[t612]

Originally Posted by DmitriKozlowsky

I have a new '16 Z4 35I Sdrive. DSG 7 with paddles. One thing vexes me and scares me.

If car is in motion at road speed. Say 40 mph. If P button on shifter is pressed by accident or error. What happens?

Does the car stop and explodes? Does the transmission disassembles itself at high speed taking the car with it? Does the Universe implodes? Or is there a safety interlock that prevents transmission from shifting into park when car is in forward motion. I ask becouse the little kid's arms and hands are long and mobile, and when driving I am not always able to keep an eye on kid and traffic. For normal day to day driving about Culver City, the suspension is in COMFORT and DSG is in normal automated mode.

This is my third new BMW in row. Previous two were 2013 135i Cnv M pkg, and one before that was 2011 335iXdrive 4dr sdn. Before that a 1975 530i 4dr sedan. 335, 135i, and Z4 35i Sdrive all have automated 7 spd paddled transmissions.

Thank you
DmitriK

Did you previously own a VW? I used to have a GTI and the dual clutch was a "DSG". I used that term for a number of years. BMW dual clutch transmissions are DCT.

Anyway, I have accidentally hit the parking button before and nothing happened. I did this both on my own 650 coupe and a loaner car. I've Googled this and it looks like the button will engage "Park" if less than 5MPH. Like everyone else, I'm not willing to be the subject of this science project.

With that said, the transmission will also engage park when you are in "drive" with the driver's side door opened. Again, not sure if it will go into park if you door opens at speeds faster than 5MPH.

[NoQuarter]

HA!. Did the same thing with loaner 5 series. Pushed the P button just to make sure it behaved the way a normal, sane person would expect, and not a BMW engineer

[DmitriKozlowsky]

Don't I feel like an idiot at village idiot's convention (it takes place in Minsk). I meant to say DCT, meant to think DCT, but for some reason my mind is stuck thinking of dual clutch paddled trannies in BMW as DSG. As in Direct Sequential Gearing with Dual Clutch Transmission. Are VW GTI DSG, BMW DCT, and Porcshe PDK , essentially the same thing?
Mine 35iSdrive Z4 is 2016 "last batch to US" with silver mirror accents on an otherwise dark graphite mettalic body with 19" wheels and Potenza shoes. I am told it has M3 dual clutch transmission , and 340 hp (+5 hp) and aditional 5 pounds of torque.
My former office mate got a 2014 GTI with DSG. Very nice car. My neighbor got 2016 Ford Focus ST (just shy of Euro RS spec he says). Also very quick , solid handling, and great looking car. Both of them hardly broke 35K on their stickers. My former and still favorite 2005 Honda S2K was 32,500 sticker. I lease my BMWs, but essentially my 35iSdrive Z4 is a about as quick, and has similar handling and performance of GTI and FocusST , but at 2.5X the sticker.
But I love my roadsters.
Another, way more 'successfull', office mate , just got 2016 Corvette Z06 LT1 something package. The car is GIGANTIC. So wide. He claims he got 2.9 sec. 0-60 time. His car is about 95K-105K sticker or more, but that is the kind of 0-60 times I see on YT videos and TopGear for hypercars. LaFerrari, Koenigsegg, Aventador SV, something called Venom (which looks like stretched Elise) all feature 3 or sub 3 second 0-60. But those are 1 million + (4.3m for Koenigsegg) super-hypercars. A 100K Corvette doing the same thing is not a bad deal.

Originally Posted by t612

Did you previously own a VW? I used to have a GTI and the dual clutch was a "DSG". I used that term for a number of years. BMW dual clutch transmissions are DCT.

Anyway, I have accidentally hit the parking button before and nothing happened. I did this both on my own 650 coupe and a loaner car. I've Googled this and it looks like the button will engage "Park" if less than 5MPH. Like everyone else, I'm not willing to be the subject of this science project.

With that said, the transmission will also engage park when you are in "drive" with the driver's side door opened. Again, not sure if it will go into park if you door opens at speeds faster than 5MPH.

[robertd33]

nothing happens. i have the DCT in my IS. it won't go in park when it's moving.
edit: i push it all the time because i like to play with things.

[kpgray]

Originally Posted by t612

... I've Googled this and it looks like the button will engage "Park" if less than 5MPH. Like everyone else, I'm not willing to be the subject of this science project....

I agree, I have also hit my button by accident at higher speeds in my F30 and it did nothing. An interesting tidbit...when you are ready to park, you do not need to even touch your "P", you can just hit "Start" to shut engine off and it will automatically go to park. This saves having to to perform two tasks, put in park AND turn off engine. It saves me at least a 1/2 second of time!

[ljkiter]

I always wondered what would happen if I went into reverse going 90+ in 3rd gear.