vader1

The transmission is the same ZF eight speed used in just about everything these days just with Alfa programming. I seem to prefer the programming in my 3 series a bit more but there is really nothing wrong with it that I found except for it was pretty lazy for a few miles which would bother me if it was not a "learning" transmission and stayed lazy forever. My Bimmer may feel better to me strictly because the tranny has learned my driving style and shifts accordingly. I would not expect a car right off the lot to do that.

I found the brakes to be just fine, not sure what you did not like about them. They were smooth and nicely progressive and stopped just fine though they were not the strongest stoppers I have ever experienced.

TsukubaCody

Trans just felt very lazy/not smooth. I test drove an S3 afterward and the DSG was just so, so, so much smoother & quicker. The brakes were extremely touchy, I may be used to my Fit/S2000 with very linear pedals, but this caught me off guard a number of times.