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Do you use Touch Shift with your C230K? If so, "how" ?

TimmyC230boy

i do, mostly to slow down. If i'm on freeway and need to take the off ramp i might shift it down to 4th or near my house there is a curve that i can go from 5th to 3rd on mostly that. I don't use it to stop just slow down.

vyse

Does anyone find their touchshift jerky? Especially when in 1st gear? It jerks like crazy. My dealer said it's normal, but somehow I dont' believe him.

The touchshift feels horrible, the car isn't any more responsive in my opinion, and it shifts slow. Noticeable delay in shifting. I wish we had the clutch-less sequential 6-speed they offer in Europe.

MarkL

I recently got an ML320 loaner when my 6-spd C240 was in for "A" service. I decided to give the Touchshift a try, and, as with other similar systems I've tried, I wasn't very impressed. IMO, these "manumatic" systems are hoopla -- really no difference from any other "old" automatic where you can shift down any time you want. The only thing they do that I see is give you an easy way to quickly shift up w/o worrying about skipping a gear or going to neutral. To me, the Touchshift on the ML320 only did what any auto will do, prevent an upshift to a higher gear when a lower gear is manually selected. Big deal.

Silver_Lana

Using touch shift to accelerate faster... since it allows you to hold a gear longer than the pure auto mode does.
Hope that helps.

SoCal240/6

Exactly. Its just a gimmick, you can acheive the same result in any old automatic by just moving the gear lever.

Its funny how so many people believe that it is something more than that, "like an F1 car transmission." LOL.

SoCal240/6

I would not think so.

With an automatic, if you floor it from a standstill, it should redline each gear before shifting, thus giving you the fastest accelerations.

The C does not do that?

If it does, "touch shift" won't help.

BTW, WTF does "live . . . live it or leave it" mean?

Buellwinkle

That's real smart Timmy, because the brake pads are not covered under warranty but the transmission is and you get less dust that way, good thinking. Just don't keep the car past it's warranty.

revstriker

Acutally, if you want to pass another car and you don't want to "floor it", you can use the touch shift to shift down to a lower gear to give you more power at the speed that you are travelling to overtake someone. You can do this by flooring it in D, but this may give you too much power. Of course, you are correct in that the older autos could do the same thing.

Other than this, I personally do not find much use for the touch shift.

SoCal240/6

Umm, but if you want to pass a car and just give it more gas, but not floor it, doesn't it downshift a gear or two by itself???

You don't need to "floor it" to get it to downshift automatically when you want to accelerate.

vyse

To my recollection and experiences, the car doesn't downshift by itself to get more power if I gas it. The downshifting to past someone is probably the only use for touchshift, but it's not very useful anyways.

Silver_Lana

Take it literally....
It is something someone once said to me that makes a lot of sense. Live your life or let it waste away... your choice.

jswedberg

I'm not sure if "normal" (e.g. non-C32) transmissions do this, but I can hold the lever to the left for a second, and it will automatically downshift to the optimal acceleration gear.

I can do this in anticipation of my acceleration, rather than just flooring it and waiting a second or two while the car goes "boooo - WAAAA".

Also, if you set it into 1 at a stop, then accelerate, it will go to redline in every gear. It does not necessarily do that if you just leave it in drive.

Of course, the oldest reason for the shift on an automatic is for engine-braking on those long downhill runs.

I admit I use mine purely for entertainment and don't really need it.

SoCal240/6

Cruise on the highway at 60 mph. Push the gas pedal halfway down. If your car does not automatically downshift, something is wrong with it.

SoCal240/6

Umm, then don't you mean to say "Life . . . live it or leave it"?

That would make some sense, I guess. (But not really. How do you "leave" your life? By killing yourself? So the option is to live your life or kill youself? That doesn't make sense).

Perhaps better would be "Life . . . live it or lose it." That might make sense, you should live your life or you end up wasting it (i.e., metaphorically, "losing" it) away.

But I just don't understand what "Live . . . live it or leave it" means.

PoonerElRay

The above is the best answer to the question. Well written!
When I am in 5th gear (overdrive) on the highway, and I want to accelerate even more to pass cars, it's hard to get much power in that gear so I use touch shift to downshift to 4th gear to give me instant power.

The same goes for if you are in 4th and want to drop to 3rd for power.

Touch shift, IMO, works great in downshifting to achieve power but doesn't serve much purpose in upshifting.

BlackC230Coupe

i have tried that a cupple times but when i downshift, the car basicly jerks and revs high isent that bad to do?
Is it ok to down shift to slow the car down in an auto since u feel that jerk?

also i thought in the owners manual it sad the transmision is not covered by the limited warrenty is that true?

PoonerElRay

You feel that jerking motion because you didn't downshift at the right rpm to match the lower gear's rpm. If you are in 4th, gas up more to up the rpm and then downshift, you'll feel that there's no jerking motion and the transition is smooth sounding. It's fun when you do it correctly.

230benzboy

I thought it would be fun but I never use it.

Silver_Lana

This sounds to me much like your "cabriolet" issue... the person reading it didnt understand the intent of the comment and thus took it the wrong way. I could also argue that "Life... live it or loose it" would have the same interpretation as what you assumed i was refering to, i.e. kill yourself.
The only way i am for suicide is if you will your Mercedes to me..

P.S. Sorry for hijacking your thread. *steps down from soapbox*

revstriker

The car will downshift if you give it enough gas. However, sometimes I just want to pull ahead by going a little faster. If I just give it a little more gas, it is not enough to downshift, and I don't get the "torque" that I desire. If I give it too much gas, it may drop to a lower gear at a higher RPM which may cause me to accelerate too quickly. By using the touchshift, I can manually select the next lower gear, and get the "pull" that I desire. I'm not talking about racing here, just the need for a little more power in passing.

--Thanks.

BlackC230Coupe

oh dont get me wrong i can drive the car using the touch shift perfectly without any jerking at all. But what some people are saying about using it to slow them down is different. If i am driving and downshift to slow down i will feel a big jerk. But if i drive and downshift at the right time it will just drop one gear but not slow me down at all. So if people say they use it to slow down u have to feel that jerking or else its not really doing much. But if u wanna feel that jerk (dont ask why) maybe to slow u down is that bad? i am guessing it is.

PoonerElRay

Yes, I think the manual says something about NOT to use the transmission to brake or slow down the car because damages caused by this action are not covered by the MB limited warranty.

preyx

Are you fsking serious?!?! I do that all the time in order to use my brakes less and cut down on the dust! What kind of damage could it cause? Clutch wear? Damn those MB guys are picky...

I guess this is a sign I should swap over to Porterfield brake pads...

MarkL

I think it mentions avoiding this during the break-in period. They don't want you to rev the engine too quickly or too high.