Originally Posted by
drcollie
Yes, they use a first generation SMG (Sequential Manual Gearbox) called the F1 in the 599 and 612, as well as the 355 and 430's. And BMW used these in their ///M cars as did Aston Martin. They confuse a lot of people who buy this class of car, as they look like an automatic and even have P R N D on the buttons, but they're not. People drive them like they are an automatic transmission then burn up the clutch to the tune of $ 10K for a replacement in under 20K miles. An SMG trans is an automated clutch, not an automated transmission. There is no torque convertor - its a manual transmission with no clutch pedal. Where owners get into trouble with these is when they creep the car, either in traffic or going in and out of parking lots, or slow cruises at Cars N Coffee. The computer is slipping the clutch like a madman, and the wear on the friction disc accelerates through the roof on them. If you ever own an SMG car, remember that!
Because its an automated clutch, the shifts are hard and abrupt, there is no torque convertor to smooth them out. They're fine if you are 'on the gas' but for just a casual drive you will notice each time it shifts, its abrupt. Ferrari brought only 33 of the 599's with a proper three-pedal manual transmission into the USA and they were largely panned as the clutch has a high engagement point. However, at the Amelia Island Auction in 2015 one of those 33 came up and two knuckleheads with more money than brains bid the car to over $ 600,000 (it was a 2007). So now the three pedal 599's command $ 600K while you can get the one like in the photo with the F1 trans for around $ 150K as a 2007 model.
As you can tell, I have a keen interest in 599's and have come really close to buying one, but the cost of the clutch, shocks and other items on the car keep me into Porsches.
Newer Ferraris, Astons and the like have a much better transmission, but the King of all these hyper-automatics is still the PDK trans that Porsche offers. Lightening fast, smooth and near perfect. I'm still a 3-pedal guy, though.