The steering, over which doubt hangs with this generation of M3, remains a little short of feedback, but feels less uncertain around the straight-ahead than in the fixed-roof car. (Autocar photo) » More Photos

Many of these configuration options we’ve already seen in the manual M3. You can alter the characteristics of the Servotronic steering (two modes), the optional electronic dampers (three modes), the dynamic stability control (three modes) and the throttle map (three modes), and you can decide whether to have the gearshift LEDs, which arc across the top of the rev counter, on or off. With M DCT there are another 10 modes – 11 if you count launch control. So there’s a lot to discover, and that will be one of the pleasures of this car if you have it for a long time, and an intriguing challenge if your exposure is brief. And once you’ve discovered your favorite setting, you can bundle them into the car’s memory and collectively select them by pressing a little “M” button on the steering wheel. M DCT offers so many choices that it’s well worth playing with these in isolation from the all the other settings.

M DCT is slightly quicker than regular manual. Lots of gearbox and chassis settings to play with. (Autocar photo) » More Photos

There are two fundamental modes: drive and sport. In this case, sport means manual; you trigger gears either via the stubby gear selector or – more likely – by tapping a pair of very classy paddles tucked behind the wheel. They’re surprisingly small but turn out to be eminently pluckable. In drive, the transmission selects gears itself, as you’d expect, but the little button aft of the transmission selector, called Drivelogic, enables you to alter its strategy.

There are five Drivelogic settings, with comfort at one extreme and sport at the other; the more dynamic ones prompt the ’box to hang onto to each ratio for longer, speed up the rate at which it swaps them, and make it more willing to downshift when you tread on the accelerator. In comfort it has the engine slur the changes with some subtle throttle ministrations, while in the full-on sport mode the brain deploys delicious little blips on downshifts and mild thumps heading up the ’box.

And the changes themselves, you’ll be relieved to hear if you’ve had experience with BMW’s SMG gearboxes, are a whole lot more civilized. In the comfort setting – the first three of the five – most shifts are virtually seamless. Opt for settings four or five and hard-throttle upshifts are accompanied by a bit of a thump, as if the gears are engaging. What you’re actually feeling, however, is a torque surge caused by the inertia in the drivetrain adjusting to the higher gearing of the next ratio, which requires that it spin more slowly. In the less aggressive Drivelogic settings this is smoothed away with a momentary reduction in the engine’s torque output, but for the sportiest setting that inertia is allowed unabated passage to the wheels because it makes the car fractionally faster.

The upshot is a lightly seismic tremor through the car that adds to the excitement – or adds an element of crudity, depending on your point of view. Playing around with Drivelogic diminishes the power tremors but also reduces the race-car ferocity of the M3’s downshift blips.