Well, I have had the RE SSK in my car for about two weeks now. During that time, I have been able to scrutinize my shifter and observe many differences of the such.

First, lets start with the install. The shifter was personally installed by the Ben Liaw himself, and it took him a mere 15 minutes to do so. Thanks again Ben

**Initial Impressions** When I first put the car in reverse, I could have sworn I was in 1st gear. That long throw from neutral center over all the way then up to R was gone. Then, I drove back to RogueFest and decided to have some fun with shifting. My first impression was a bit of a shock as shifting had become so much shorter. It almost felt wrong, as if I was not fully engaged in the gear.

Normally when I shifted with the stock shifter, the throws were just that: a shift employed the services of almost every muscle on the right side of my body. A very tedious task to say the least. But I was a bit dissappointed when after the kit was put in, I still was moving my whole arm to shift. Why that was, I will say later.

So, after RogueFest, I had a nice 6 hour drive back to Pittsburgh, where I had plenty of time to test those 3rd 4th and 5th gear shifts. You manual people know how cumbersome that shift to 5th gear is. It is as if you are lunging to the glove compartment to get into gear. The throw from 3rd to 4th is a easy shift, but quite long. But with the SSK in and working, the throws became far more enjoyable.

I have been talking about upshifting, but what about downshifting? Well, downshifting happens a lot quicker as well. Before I said that the new throws were not wrist flicks, and this is the reason why. I had become so accustomed to shifting with so much effort that I never tried to simply flick my wrist to shift. It was out of habit that I was still using my body to shift even with the kit in. I then experimented tried just flicking my wrist to shift, and what do you know, it worked .

If you are one of those people that slam the clutch pedal all the way down when you shift, be ready to have to wait for the RPMs to fall to catch up with your shift. A clutch stop would compliment the SSK immensely.

So back in Pittsburgh, I drive in the city and around town, shifting often. The short throw becomes something you get used to, and almost now a short throw. That's a good thing. So I almost forgot that I had a SSK kit in until I drove my friend's E46 with stock setup. Boy what a difference.

Something else. At first, it almost felt like I needed just a tiny bit more effort to get the shifter into gear, but if you are shifting with just a flick of your wrist, the shift is easy and quite smooth. It is not as smooth as stock, but pretty close, and a lot smoother than another kit that I had driven with.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the RE kit. It's a great deal for the 323/325/M3s for only $165 (I think?) but even the $250 price tag for the 328/330s is well worth it.

This being the first product that I have put on from RE, and having spoken to Mark and Ben personally regarding their products, I can say this. Often times, we strive to get certain mods for our car that are a bit too extreme for our daily driving habits. Huge 15 inch brakes and race shifters are a bit excessive for our cars, no matter how hard it is for us to admit it. The kit is definitely civil enough to drive everyday but a significant improvement over stock.

So, I am happy. And I totally encourage anyone who is interested in getting a SSK to drop Ben Liaw an email ben@rogueengineering.com and inquire about a kit.