aerodragon

hi,
i was wondering if someone can outline 'the best way' to use the 'touch shift' mode.

I was used to drive manual and I tried to use the touch shift mode once, however I was unable to do the shifting smoothly.


also, when should I use the 'W' mode on the transmission?


thanks

ffejalink

The W is for winter, which makes the car start in second gear, for slippery surfaces. As far as the best way to use touch shift, I never do. Mine stays in auto majority of the time. I see many of those items as somewhat gimicky, but that's just me. Many times the auto can acheive better performance tahn using the manual feature, albet the difference isn't very noticable for the average drive (ie, not track testing).

aerodragon

thanks for the input..

when you referred to 'starts at the 2nd gear', how does this work?

jpb5151

The car starts moving, forward & reverse, in second gear. Try it, you should notice a difference. Much smoother.

The only time I use the shift is when having to accelerate quickly. The auto tranny will take up to 4 seconds (for me, anyway) before downshifting, but I can make it happen in less than 1.

Upshifting? Doesn't do a thing for me, auto mode's pretty much just as good.

mctwin2kman

In W mode the transmission starts in second gear instead of first gear to put less tourque to the rear wheels therefore reducing the chances of wheel spin in adverse weather conditions. It also uses a second reverse gear to achieve the same thing in reverse. And yes there are two reverse gears in a 5 speed auto MB tranny.

Keyser_Soze

Yea also...like when you goin about 90~100 it comes handy....when i got mine...right after i broke it in i drove from Austin to Houston..i found a freakin Red 911 with a radar and followed the thing for almost 80 miles!!! he was going 80 to sometimes 115 ....if you have it in Auto...it kicks in overdrive...but if you put in manual...you can hold it in 4 and you be revin about 4000~5000 instead of 3000...you got much more torque and power when you need it

R4ND0M_AX3

I often use the touchshift to downshift and use engine braking while in traffic of to prepare for accelleration out of a corner.

I still wish it had a gear choice option rather than a gear range.

I think W mode also alters shift points and maybe even how the throttle responds to pedal input. Great for snow.

aerodragon

guys,
sorry for being illiterate...

but what is meant by 'acceleration out of corner'?

also,
could you explain it better in this case:

The only time I use the shift is when having to accelerate quickly. The auto tranny will take up to 4 seconds (for me, anyway) before downshifting, but I can make it happen in less than 1.

jpb5151

OK. Usually I just tool along smoothly, but now and then I need to punch it and MOVE. When I punch the accelerator, the car goes out of gear, the engine winds up, and everything stays just like that for up to 4 seconds before the car gets itself downshifted.

This 4 seconds of high revs and NO GO just annoys the ***** out of me. Because of this, I just slam into lower gear with the shifter when I want to move. If the tranny's too fscking stupid to figure out what to do, I'll do it myself.

... sorry, you've probably noticed that this is mildly irritating to me ...

moomeh

'acceleration out of a corner", means when you are turning or on a winding path, you downshift to get that extra torque so that when you are through the turn or winding path, you can accelerate faster. without downshifting, thus you are still in a higher gear, the car is sluggish in accelerating.


i downshift and upshift all the time. in traffic, in turns, etc. upshifting and downshifting should take 1 sec. i don't know why you get 4 secs.

moomeh

oh, that 4 secs. i don't bother with that anymore. i use the shifter

C230 Sport Coup

I'm reading this thread...
And what is the question?
How to use the click shift? Is this a trick question?
OK, left to downshift (I use 3 on twisty roads, with the occasional
DS to 2 in a tight corner) and right to upshift
(like on the freeway to D. unless like someone mentioned I want to pass someone, in which case either downshift or floor it, since the switch on the floor will cause it to DS for you) .

What am I missing here?
There is no making it work any way different than the way it works other than getting used to counting the clicks without looking at the dash.

I HAVE noticed that after shifting for myself a LOT, the tranny seems to be doing its adaptive thing, and when I'm in drive, it seems to even downshift itself more than it used to...

I'd sure like to know more about the algorithm they used for the adaptive tranny....adaptive to WHAT?

seahunter

Still trying to figure out this TouchShift myself. I guess practice makes perfect.

jrustrick

I only really use this when I anticipate the need for a downshift - e.g. setting up for a corner, or downshifting in anticipation of an overaking maneouver. Other than that, it's fair useless as it just reduces the range of gears available as opposed to a manual holding mode (unless you have the steering shift wheel buttons that gives you a manual mode in addition to D and W).

dgwee

I use Touchshift when the transmission doesn't do what I want it to do automatically, e.g., When it upshifts too soon when I want to hold a lower gear, or down shifting too slowly when I want to use engine braking.

I also use it in town to prevent it from shifting to 4th or 5th gear depending on the prevailing road speed/condition.

patrick_y

It's very important that when you get out of a corner (for example when getting onto the freeway) to be in the right gear for proper acceleration. Say you're going 45 mph down Main Street in 5th gear and you see the freeway entrance, it's one of those cloverleaf things. Downshift manually using the touchshift (go to the left) into 2nd or 3rd as your speed decreases and you enter the cloverleaf at around 25-35 mph (no need to push it). The car is still in 2nd or 3rd gear. Now you've got to enter the freeway, accelerate as much as you need to and don't forget to upshift manually or else the car will stay in 2nd or 3rd gear all the way to the redline before upshifting automatically.

If you had not downshifted prior to entering the turn, then your car would likely have held to 4th gear. Acceleration in those gears is somewhat insufficient if you're trying to merge onto a freeway since the rpms are so low you're not in the proper horsepower and torque range. Thus, it is more adviseable to shift into 2nd or 3rd.

The best automatic transmission in my experience that does this for you is the Porsche 911 Tiptronic transmission. It does this for you automatically, somehow it knows.

Also, it is very important to know that you should not shift gears in mid turn unless you have to. Shifting in mid corner creates greater wear and tear and downshifting causes even the possibility of a small engined car (Even a C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan without modifications and 245/40R17 tires in good condition) to spin or lose traction on the rear tires. Thus, enter the turn, brake, and downshift as you brake (this isn't any major wear and tear if you do it at the right RPM levels), get into the turn in 2nd or 3rd of your choosing, get out of the turn, accelerate, then upshift.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Patrick Yuan
05 C230K SS Blk/blk, sunroof package, lighting package, entertainment package, and 5AT

Anybody in the SF Bay Area who wants to sell their stock C Class rims with useable tires? I'm looking specifically for the 5 spoke (or 5 double spoke AMG) 17 inch staggered sets. I drive a 2005 C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan.