ATSOBE

What you recommend at 1000 i turned today, should i switch to S on the drive . Or should I wait till 1500 mile to switch it to S. I been driving it in on C like the manual recommends till the first 1000 miles. If i wait an extra 500 mile is that better for the car. can anyone recommend.

Moneymike

whats teh difference?

lx Raven xl

keep it on comfort for atleast 1000miles . My dealer told me not to use it until 1500km. I do not really know whats the difference between S or C. but apprently something happens to the dynamics of the car when you switch to sports.

Krytech

I just ordered mine yesterday. The service guy I was talking to did mention keeping it in Comfort mode until at least 1000 - 1500mi. I like to baby new cars until 1500+miles so that would be my 2c. For those that don't already know, the concern is the Sport mode tells the trany to shift quicker and more aggressively and it puts a little extra load on the trany even if you're not driving it hard.

S420merc

I am planing to have the Oil CHanged after 1200 miles of C driving before i really step on it. If you plan to keep the car for a long period of time and are not leasing i say Change oil at 1000 then use S sometime but dont really beat on the car still for a few more hundred miles.

ttroy26

I picked up my car in Sindelfingen Germany on a European Delivery program. When I got my C 350 they said is was ready to drive on the AutoBahn. When I drove out of the factory the car had 13 miles on it and the transmission was set to (s) mode. (Which was set by the factory) I drove about 1200 miles with the car.

Driving through the Alps of Autria which really had a demand on the motor for the sharp turns and inclines the the alpine passes had. I had a lot of fun with the driving experience and the great performance. I asked, while I was at the factory, if there was a special way I should drive the car during the "break in period". They said no; the car is ready to be driven. Plus, over then next thousand miles or so you will see performance increases and better fuel economy.

So I now wait for my car to be delieverd to me here in Pennsylvania. I dropped it off in Munich Germany on October 16th. I hope to take delievery soon!

peabers

Oh how I wish I could have taken advantage of the European Delivery... my dealer said that they could not offer a build slot until Jan 08 for ED, so I had to settle for local delivery.

S = sport. Higher shift points (more revs), launches the car in first gear, lower gear for reverse.

According to the manual, keep it in C for the first 1000mi/1500km, then slowly increase vehicle speeds and revs (presumably means you can also go to S mode).

err

I slammed on the gas pedal right after my car reaches 1001 miles

Felt so good. Its like the feeling of being out from a prison ...

Don't wait. Slam on it NOW!

QQQ

From the title I thought you are thinking of switching from a C class to a S class.

BlackMercBenz

Omg... Lol.. this had me crackin up!

delirium

picked my car up from the dealer w/ 12 miles on it, it was also in S mode.

MBTex

OK, there is some confusion on this....some people need to check their OM's.

C = Control mode...not Comfort mode. This is to be used for smooth shifting in bad weather (to prevent loss of Control) or long drives without much acceleration needed (if you are so inclined). It is possible to downshift quickly in Control Mode by "slamming" the car.

S = Standard mode...not Sport mode. This is to be used most of the time in normal driving.

You should drive the first 1000 miles in Control mode if you want to break in your engine properly. This is simply so that your engine will not be have suddenly extreme revving issues that are possible if you get too aggressive in Standard Mode.

However, it is ok to drive in Standard Mode at anytime in the car so long as you don't overly tax the engine until it is properly broken in.

mylos

'S' stands for Sport and 'C' for Comfort.
You can check it out at http://www4.mercedes-benz.com/e/cars...2F.html#N17DFB

ryanrohaley

Definitely some confusion on this one. When I picked up my car over the weekend, I specifically asked about this since I knew there was some confusion that I read on the forums. They even told me that S was Standard and that you should just leave it in C for the first 1000mi. Obviously the OM says something different...

MBTex

OK, based on my previous post and the online OM posted above I decided to double check my OM and ask the dealer. Apparently there is confusion even in MB on this one as they were of the belief that S = Standard and C = Control on many models, and my OM also says this. Apparently that isn't the same for everyone.

Regardless of what it is called, the characteristics of the modes remain the same though.

peabers

When my car was delivered, it was set to S mode. Since I was watching the revs (keeping it under 3000rpm), I am not worried about leaving it on that setting.

QQQ

Back when W203 was launched the switch has S and W instead of S and C, with S stands for standard and W for winter. W is same as C, i.e. you start in 2nd gear and the reverse is also in 2nd gear. Some time in 2003 or 2004 (I forgot when) MB changed the W to C, fearing potential lwasuits that someone relies on W mode for winter driving and crashes the car.

Essentially the W and C are the same thing... nowhere in the W203 manual was it mentioned that one should break-in the car in W mode.

I doubt if MB stick to the S and W nomenclature today people would use W mode to break-in their W204.

Blk04cobra1

Im just curious, how many of you who test drove the car prior to purchase? Also, did you guys think about this when you were test driving it? I know that the majority of people who test drive always slam the gas at least once to see what kind of pick up the car has, some test drive the crap out of cars (not saying that's OK and ive actually stopped one guy in the middle of our test drive b/c of the way he was driving). Anyways, my point really is, drive it the way you're going to be driving it from the beginning...Ive yet to see a car come back with issues b/c the guy didnt properly break-in the motor. Enjoy the car, that's what you bought it for.

ttroy26

peabers

KiwiRobbie

I've thrashed the **** outta all my cars right from the get go and never had any problems mechanically in any of them, running a car in might have been the thing to do a few decades ago but I don't believe it's a issue today. I'm firm believer in treating them the same from day one as you will treat them with 100,000km's on the clock.