I love the car BUT, have the down shift problem. What make it worse is I live up on a mountain & going down hill when car is cold make the problem worse. Taken it back to BM service twice. First time reprogramed or replaced the flash mem, second time replaced the valve body. Since then it shifts down less harsh but still noticeable. They say it must learn how I drive ! If the trans is so sophisticated then it should just ask me and I would tell it to shift easer !
Two weeks ago on trip to Palm Springs the radio went out. The control center was OK but no sound. They said that the power amp need to be refreshed what ever that means. My last mb was a C230 compressor which had 166k miles and we loved it, beginning to think I should have kept the C230.
I am now wondering if this will end up with a giant recall or it the trans will really learn over time and not have noticeable down shift? Is MB the only manufacture that is using the G7 transmission ?

 

Too bad you are having those problems, but I can't say that I am surprised. I am a vehicle test engineer for a DaimlerChrysler company and frequently drive prototype vehicles with new auto trannys - Ugh they really suck sometime. Its a real trick and takes TONS of miles and hours to correctly program a new transmission for a new car and engine - particularly one with 7 gears. 7 gears? I mean really, the C350 with 270hp doesn't need 7 gears. Seems like MB pushed the G7 out the door a little too early. My C350 SS should be arriving in March but I ordered the 6spd manual... Awesome in that car. I test drove the G7 and knew I didn't like it after 4 miles.

Anyway, hopefully you can get that tranny sorted and start enjoying the car more.

-Jeff

 

teach it faster by shifting the gears yourself. when i got my car, transmission would shift really low, barely giving the car to accelerate properly and really the ride was twitchy. to i started to shift to 'teach' the car when to shift.

note: try not to change keys. at least in the 2002 models, if you change keys, the tranmission would shift between two different shifting programs. also, although some might say it does not take long for the transmission to learn, i had to shift -/+ around a lot for two weeks before i got any good results. hopefully this works in a 7 speed as well.

 

I had many of the same issues at first with my C350. They did a re-flash and fixed a faulty module, and found it was 1 quart low on fluid. How it got past the Pre-Delivery Inspection one quart low makes me wonder, but now it runs okay, but still not how I would like. It seems VERY sensitive to fluid levels so make sure they have that right.

When I'm trying to "drive" the car (as opposed to just riding it in to work in traffic) I have to use the manual shifting, no other way. The issue I have with the manual mode is it won't hold the gear, when it gets too close to redline it will make the upshift instead of bouncing off the rev limiter and holding the gear which is an issue for me I'd really like to see changed.

I'm really hoping some of the chip manufacturers are trying to hack this tranny as well, my wish list:

1) Be able to turn off Learning mode

2) Be able to chose several modes, e.g. Cruising, Semi-sporty, full-sport. The C/S switch doesn't count...

And most importantly

3) Make the manual mode a true manual mode, i.e. it won't change gears unless you physically move the lever. Just give me that and I'd be fine. Anyone listening out there?

If I could do it again I'd get the 6-spd manual, this car would absolutely rock with that tranny.

- Eric