kb798

my friend has a C320 with the sport package i believe, and ihtink it is a 2001 model. i've done a search on mbworld and on yahoo...but i guess either i haven't searched hard enough or the answers aren't there?

but my quesitons are newbie so please forgive me :o i'm new to the german industry lol

1)is the C320 rwd, awd, or fwd?
2)my friend drives an automatic, and where the "D" location is on the lever, there is a + and a - sign. i know that it is supposed to be like a tiptronic, steptronic, sportshift,etc type of transmission, but everytime i move the lever to the left or right there is no response coming from the engine. am i supposed to drive the car a certain way in order to downshift on command? i honestly have no idea. how do i use the + and the - ?

thanks in advance and please don't laugh at the newbieness of the post

FrankW

Too bad, I really want to laugh at the first question....muhahahahahahahahahahahaha. ok...back to the Q: All MB sedans are rwd.

+ is for up shifts. the transmission will shift early if you tap the + in D. - is for down shift. tap it once to shift down one gear. Hold down - and the transmission will shift to the lowest possible gear at speed. That also goes for +, if you are in 3rd you can hold down + to quickly shift back to D, so that you don't have to tap it twice.

btw, if you're not familar with German cars, what are u familar with? just curious.

MB-BOB

It functions as Frank has explained it.

You need to have your friend show you how it works. Then, maybe s/he will let you play with it. If your friend finds that it is not working properly, s/he will need to take it to the shop for warranty repair.

This shows you how often drivers use this feature...(ie, almost never)

Lynn

Except for the ones that aren't.:p

ViKTORiOUS

are the c-coupe's RWD as well??

FrankW

YES, the C-coupe is RWD.

all the MB's sedans and coupes sold in the US are RWD except the ML and the G are AWD.

The A-class, V-class, and the new Vano, i believe they are FWD. (correct me if i'm wrong about this)

Drew_ML

Heh, that's not entirely true. The C, E, and S-class can be had with 4-matic permanent AWD.

FrankW

yeah, that too. forgot about the options. I was thinking for their BASE forms. btw wasn't the G-class have 2wd cars in Europe?

kb798

hmm well she doesn't know how to operate it. all this time i've been just tapping it to the left and right, and no respose. so i'm supposed to hold it down? and...it doesn't matter what speed and at what rpm i am driving at right?

and frankW, i personally drive a prelude manual, and in all the other steptronic, sportshift, tiptronic etc cars i've driven like the rsx, 350z, eclipse, etc they've all responded everytime i moved the level to the + and the -. i guess it's either a german thing where there's a certain "technique" or there's something wrong with the engine.

thanks for all ur help~

FrankW

try tap - twice because sometimes the transmission is still in 4th and if you only tap it once, it's not going to do anything. 4th and 5th gear is not different in feel for C320/240. You have to feel the car shifts with your butt-dyno and then you can know which gear you are currently in.

steve s

haha...butt-dyna...i like that

kb798

so if i'm crusing at any speed higher than 1st gear like let's say 45 mph, if i tap the level to the (-) sign, then i should feel/hear the transmission downshift to say...2nd gear without mashing the gas pedal? b/c if i floor it at 45, it's going to automatcially downshift, but what i'm confused if i don't mash the gas, then it should downshift if i press hte level to the (-) then.

sorry if sound ignorant lol.

thanks in advance

FrankW

a better way is to cruise at 50 mph in D. You'll definitely be in 5th. And then tap - to downshift to 4th and so on.

also the speedo display will show the gear that you are in.

kb798

ok so w/o WOT it should work. if not, then i guess it might behoove her to take the car into the dealer for a check up. all right thanks