DavidM

Hello,

I was wondering, if there is any way how to tell in which gear the car is with AT. If there is any indicator on instrument cluster or elswhere. I was not able to find it on pictures and it could be handy when in touch shift mode.

I am about to get my C 280 4M next month, I was looking at interactive manual and there was no such thing.

Thanks in advance for replies.

D.

Petje

No, there's no gear indicator... so you can't see i wich gear you are

AMGTTV8

that's not exactly accurate either...when in D the car will not display the gear that it is currently using.

however, if you drive using the manu-matic mode, the car will show which gear you have selected and which one you are currently using until you shift all the way up to 7th gear, back into D.

Hope that's what you were looking for!

AkaSigFreak

That's correct!

dmatre

Are you certain about this?

In the W203, the manu-matic only lets you select the maximum gear - not necessarily displaying the ACTUAL gear you're in.

Example: (5speed auto). Knock the tranny down two gears (5 to 3). '3' is displayed in the indicator. Come to a stop. The indicator still shows 3, but you're actually in 1. Now start to accelerate. The tranny will shift 1, 2, 3 - but the display is always showing '3'.

Hopefully, MB fixed this deficiency in the 204 - but somehow I doubt it.

AMGTTV8

it's not a deficiency...in this particular case, the car shows "3" because that is the highest gear you want the car to shift to, and the car acknowledges that by keeping "3" displayed in COMAND.

Chris

dmatre

I have to disagree with you somewhat. I know that MB's are made to cruise, but I would rather see which gear I'm actually in, then have the ability to go up/down from there; rather than be able to set the maximum and then wonder where I actually am below the level set.

If I select '4', then slow for a corner and am now in '3', but I want to drop a gear to accelerate quicker: I then have to shift down 2 clicks (4-3, 3-2) to get 2nd. It's not intuititive at all. If the car is in 3rd, one click down from 3rd should be 2nd - not 3rd. It's hard to figure out what the transmission group was thinking when they came up with this idea of limiting the max. gear rather than actually controlling which gear you're in.

(and the OP asked if there was a way to show which gear he's actually in, rather than which is the maximum gear the car might get to; and it seems there is not)

AMGTTV8

well it sounds like you don't know how to get what you want when it's already on the car.

if you are desiring that your car automatically downshifts to the lowest gear (2n-d gear that you were referring to in corners) then you need to change your habit of 5-4-3-2 and relearn the proper method of achieving what you want which is holding the stick to the left for 1 sec instead of just nudging it over. same principle with the upshift as well. instead of upshifting gear to gear, simply hold the lever to the right and all will be done for you.

AMGTTV8

If you want the car to go to the lowest gear immediately, and all you have to do is hold the lever to the left for 1 sec, why would it even matter if you weren't able to see which gear # it was in any event?

Does seeing whether you are in 2nd or 3rd help you go faster around a corner?

I'd like to think that it's based on feel, not on which gear can take which speed.

dmatre

You are correct if you want to go to the LOWEST gear possible - but why not simply allow the driver to select which gear, instead of a choice LOWEST or HIGHEST?

At most speeds, it is possible for the car to run in 3 or 4 gears, depending on throttle position, etc. To go to the lowest means lots of boy-racer sounds, to simply go down 1 gear gives more acceleration without running at high rpms.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Benz. I've had mine 6+ years, and >108k miles - but the transmission has always been a sore point. Especially after driving the wife's old Passat with Tip-tronic, and my friends 3-series with their SportStick.

schvamf

I actually like the fact that if I'm stopped, but know there's a turn ahead and don't want the trans to shift beyond 3rd gear I tap to the left and then to the right until it says 3.

AMGTTV8

yeah me too...or even when you have a short stint and just want to end up in the 3-4k rpm range of 2nd

AMGTTV8

I dont know man...looks like you are being complacent. I drive like an a$$ hole and sounds to me like you are trying to achieve the same thing. Therefore, I can infer that for that type of driving, you would do what I do, which is constantly shift, never letting the car really control the gears, so I only have 1 gear to step down from in any event if i want to do what you are describing, which i do often..

just an inference, not fact, but more than likely.

let this one go, it's a null point and doesn't bother the normal driver. can you imagine if every time you touched the stick to the left the thing would automatically get in the lowest gear? 90% of our clients would ***** from the delta in transmission deceleration, or that "jerk" or "clank" that we all refer to.

guess what, they had to choose, and i think they chose the lesser of two evils from a service perspective.

for that remainder of 10%, they outfitted the cars with the capability to downshift in the lowest gear by holding the lever to left. Adapt to how the car was built, you won't have a problem..If you want a custom built car to all your specifications and desires, get $20 mill and start developing.

in the mean time, i'm happy with my lease payment and the car that sits in my garage.

let's be realistic, this is an entry level C-class, not a clk bs.

dmatre

I see your point, but EVERY other auto-stick on the market works the same - shift up goes up one gear (from the gear that the car is presently in), shift down goes down one gear.

Can you imagine if they applied this same logic to the steering or brakes????

Rick Hunter

I'm with dmatre on this one.

If there is an option to have manual shifts on an automatic (like we do in our cars), then I would EXPECT that the system would shift to whatever gear I want (with prevention of overrevs, of course). Of course, MB didn't go this direction. Manual mode in our W204s is more "automatic" than "manual," since the system still shifts automatically up to the highest gear you've determined. IMHO, bad decision. But then again... you could say that if anyone wanted a "manual" system then they should have gotten a Manual Transmission.

Personally, I only use the manual mode if I need a surge of power and cannot wait for the slow TCU to downshift for me. It works OK in this case. I do wish that kickdown would be faster so that I wouldn't need to bother with the manual downshift.

raceway

i agree some of you guys the gear select on MB is some how not intuitive at all.

In many cases, say, now it's 3k+ rpm and going uphill, it will often upshift and rpm drops to 2.5k, which I dont like coz I need some more torque. I would like to keep the current gear from upshifting. To do this, I have to downshift once and then upshift once to get it.

I would prefer when I pull the lever to the left, then it holds current gear, then when I pull once more, it downshifts.

AMGTTV8

problem is, they didn't include the manual mode on the c, when its available on the slk w/ sport package... kind of ****ty

len56

is this actually how the W204 works (sport paddles)? or are you still talking about the W203?

AMGTTV8

both...they work the same just different number of gears depending on year

len56

damnit... D:

it's complicated and strange... I want to just select what gear I want, like a manual... D:

this is a major turn off for me.

RLE

Why is this a deficiency? Once you learn the car, the "problem" evaporates. Further, looking at the tach will give you a clue.

FrankW

I have the solutions everyone!

BUY SOMETHING CALLED C63 AMG!!!! at least it doesn't up-shift at redline.

FrankW

there's something called "heavier throttle input" by your right foot.

duboisi

In Malaysia, we get paddle shift as standard for V6 model. There is a "M" manual button next to gear shift and "C/S" switch at the dash. But the paddle shift is kind of boring as the lag using paddle shift is worst than lag in "C" mode.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21176250@N03/3506897357/

raceway

I know. But most of time i just want to cruise at a higher rpm, not to overtake.