Shorter throw, positive stops(the real tranny saver), and quick re-centering to prevent missing 3rd gear. Actually B&M and Hurst were the worst aftermarket shifters I've ever used. I never had either of them on any of my cars but I've driven other peoples' car with them. Steeda and Pro 5.0 were the best for a long time. I haven't driven a car with a MGW yet but I've heard that they're even better than Pro 5.0 and Steeda. I'll see when I get mine.I sometimes wonder how beneficial the lower half of a shifter really is. I had a stock shifter, hurst,and b&m all laying here and tried to find the differences between them and honestly they had the same throw. The main differences was how the center themselves when in neutral the hurst and b&m were quicker to re center than stock. When I picked up my 83 I slapped the shorter handle from the b&m on the stock shifter and it diddnt feel as sloppy as before. Just some food for thought