I've had an SMG (Xworks current car) and am currently driving a 335d, have to say the SMG is far superior to the auto box in manual mode. I only drove the SMG in auto mode a few times, its rubbish! But imo, driving an smg in auto defeats the whole purpose of the tech!

They take a bit of getting used to coming from a manual, little differences and timing changes right so they are smooth, but if you the kind of person that like to give your car the beans, there are savage!