Rincewind

-I know the touchshift trans wasnt an option until the 00 model, but is it safe to be upshifting and downshifting from 3-4-5 on our cars that dont have it?

-although I'd never personally do it, but how do you do burnouts on an auto benz? I watched some vid from dtmpower.net where an amg c32 owner did a burnout (how?!)

-lastly, will revving your engine in neutral with your foot on the brake safe for the engine? I know it was an issue with some other cars.

dont homer pic me plz!

davis449

As far as I know it's not a problem reving your engine in neutral. I do know it's not a good idea to do it in park. I asked a question like your recently about shifting and auto trans and I was told it was ok as long as you know how to drive a standard properly, stuff like exceeding the redline, etc. The transmission may "delay" when you shift an auto, but that's the tranny protecting itself. It will delay so it doesn't screw up.

Rincewind

yea i know when to downshift properly so it wont go into redline. sometimes when i hang onto 3rd gear really long and try to shift up into 4th the delay scares me cuz im so close to redline i actually gotta take my foot off the gas till it shifts heh

tpliquid

sometimes when i race i 4get to shift up. so it just redlines and redlines and redlines then i change gear

Rincewind

erm lol

thats not good for the car i take it

GDawgC220

So it is safe to manually move it from 2 to 3 to 4 or vice versa as long as you don't let redline?

On my car, i've tried to start it with the shift lever in 2 and it won't shift out of first? It just holds it till I move it till 3 and then it shifts two gears, i'm guessing out of first into second then into third.

If I have it in D, does it start out in first or second gear...hmm.

Rincewind

i dont mess with 2-1

from what i can tell you cant control it and its pure automatic

3, 4, and 5 however i can manipulate and the car will respond accordingly

Rincewind

if you have it in overdrive or "d" mode. and you are in the "s" setting for standard/sport you will get off on first gear

if you are in the "w" setting for winter you will get off on second gear

GDawgC220

Mine only has D -- 3 -- 2, no w or s...keeping in mind it's a '94

So I guess I can leave it in three to get the most out of the gear then upshift into D, or D to 3 to downshift...?

Rincewind

i was just going to post about that since i saw you had a c220

the older w202 only has 4 gears and the even older ones do not have the W or S option.

how does your shifter look? mine is grooved so that 1-2 are in their own spot and requires you to press down on the brake to shift into it.

while the 3-4-5 (d) is in its own spot and you can independantly shift from each of them sequentially.

if im driving around in D (overdrive 5th) it will shift for me automatically into the highest gear when i accel from a stop. sometimes in 4th-5th when im going 40 lol. its a very smooth accel and i use it alot when driving ppl around in a civilized manner.

if im in 3rd and accel from a stop, it will shift 1-2 automatically, but it will NOT shift any higher than 3rd, meaning i can hold onto the gear as long as i want up until redline. same goes for 4th, 5th.

Rincewind

going from 3 to 4 seems like you dont have alot of control : /
but i could be wrong i never felt how it is

3 for me is ideal for 0-50
4 is 50-80
5 is for well, highway :P

it would be nice if 1-2 could be manipulated so i could have more control around corners and city driving, but well, these cars were made for the autobahn where its all high speeds. tats where the car shines, all the torque is up there and the shifting control

Rincewind

i heard the touchshift wasnt that great. it would shift automatically for you sometims regardless of what gear you were in. not as responsive as manual trans either

Rincewind

this was a pix for someone on teh board when they askd to see my mats, but if you look where my shifter is, there are grooved spots for where my shifter moves. 1 and 2 has their own spots and can only be accessed if you press down on the brake to shift into it. 3-4-5(d) have their own spot which can shift sequentially up or down at any time w/o having to press down on anything. its fairly nice control for when your going between 30-150mph.

KurumaGOD

Hey mine has no w/s option and it seems like a 4-speed to me...and its a 1996...DUH

GDawgC220

Mine has a spot or notch for D, 3 and 2. While I'm driving, I don't have to step on the brake to get it into 2 or 3. And yes, when it is in D, it goes to the highest gear. When the engine and is warmed up, it shifts into 4th gear when I hit 26mph...that normal?

But, I can have it in the 3 position and it will shift the first two gears and then hold it in 3rd gear till I shift it into D, then it will upshift into 4th because sometimes, 4th gear at 26mph is just no power to accelerate, so I hold 3rd for longer for more power so to speak.

Rincewind

if your in D (overdrive) it will shift to the highest gear that it feels it wants to automatically...

mine will go up to 5th around 40-50 sometimes

could be very well normal if you feel it going to 4th at 26mph

GDawgC220

Yea, the extra gear would be nice Usually I'd hafta hold the gear longer to get better acceleration out of 3rd b4 letting it drop into 4th.

i'ma post up some pics for ya today, rincewind....finally got some nice weather

Rincewind

have you tried downshifting in a lower gear when you want some quick speed for passing

does that work with yours? it does for mine but just curious for the older model

GDawgC220

I have tried shifting from D to 3, but then sometimes I get a jolt kind of, but it does making passing easier. Or, I just use kickdown.

is there any harm to the tranny if I manually go from D to 3 for more power?

merclover

very delicate thing to deal with that way. specially with german automatic transmissions.
my mother owned a red automatic 1985 bmw 320i coupe. beautiful car (a rocket too). but when we took it for a spin to the mountains, we decided to go sporty with it, down shifting and upshifting constantly from 4th to third in order to save on brake pads so it was fun while it lasted. an hour later white smoke was coming out of the end of the car. what happened is that the trans. fluid had heated up so much that it had lost its lubricating properties and so the tranny warped completely. that was a painful 3000€ down the drain.
in manual cars the box is much more tough and has less mobile parts than the auto tranny so, you can downshift and upshift and double clutch it and stall it (anything really) as much as ya like. but the auto tranny just does not let you.
its designed for comfortable and easy driving.

of course im not saying that you CANT downshift. but just do it very occasionally (for the fun of it). dont do it like we did at every curve

so the eternal question is...
if ya wanna go sporty why do u have an auto transmission!?!

Rincewind

cuz there is no manual trans in america for the w202

merclover

what?!?!?!?!?
NO MAN TRANNY????
hows that????