ive seen i think 1500 wheel go through a v160

 

With a quad plate clutch. Take that Viper and Corvette guys.

 

I think you misunderstood him, he was in favor of the Getrag...hence why he bashed the SMG in the next line. But nice info nevertheless.

 

I think you will find better information on M3Forum.net then here. Almost everyone in the E46 M3 section has the car and can offer advice based on what they have encountered first hand. Most of the guys posting here do not have the car. You hear horror stories about the SMG on forums because it is a place to talk about problems, not very often does someone start a thread and say there SMG has been flawless. I have an E46 M3 and the SMG has treated me well so far without any issues- knock on wood.

 

I've got an 02 that is a pretty fun car. I went with the 6spd after driving an SMG. I found that it was hard to drive the SMG smoothly around town, unless you were hammering on it all the time. I think it is meant to be more of a race environment transmission personally.

Paid 17k for mine with 75k miles on it. Full records, new the previous owner, SSR wheels, all the grills/emblems blacked out.