I know the w203 was ordered with less than 3% being manuals...I have no stats on the w204...but the new w205 WILL NOT have a 6-Speed State Side??? Anyone know? Does MBUSA not see this as a viable product for our Starbucks drinking, make up doing, texting driving society?

MY11 was the last C-Class to have a MT. Can't imagine they'd go there again.

It's over. The lazy and the stupid have won.

Same with Audi, and BMW isn't very far behind.

It's a pity. W205 has a nice new MT

Guess I'll just have to keep adding to my w203 and enjoy the clutch! Oh well...no better car than one that is paid for!

Yep. The A3 doesn't come in a stick anymore

Go ahead rub it in

In case you reconsider and would be interested in a pristine, low mileage 09 manual trans, let me know and I can send details and photos.

Speaking of it, is there any indication whether they will at least have a usable manual mode for the A/T?

This is a great question. I was so disappointed in it in my W203 and W204. Why the hell haven't they gone to dual clutch auto-manual (whatever it's being called!) transmissions?

Edit: So, the W205 does indeed seem to have a dual clutch transmission (7G-DCT). http://techcenter.mercedes-benz.com/...ct/detail.html This means that, if they engineers didn't bumble it up, manual shifting should work beautifully. I'm not holding my breath though! Outside of that though, this should be an amazing transmission which is more efficient than a manual.

Hey I would settle for what BMW does with their GM transmissions. I recently drove a CLA and the gear selection was essentially random, sometimes listening to the paddles, sometimes not, sometimes resetting quickly, sometimes not. As a matter of fact the Honda V6 I drove next did it right. It's really a shame.

No it does not. The MB DCT is only for A,B, CLA, and GLA. aka FWD platform.

Thanks for clarifying. Just saw that. I'm surprised. Seems like a glaring omission in an otherwise very advanced car. But then again, I think every car manufacturer needs to move to DCT transmissions, so I'm probably being harsh.

That's curious, since the Accord (at least in the US) doesn't have a DCT. It *does* have a CVT (w/ the 4-cyl engines)....


The DCT in the CLA and similar cars haven't gotten very good reviews thus far, in terms of shift quality (like most DCTs, I imagine). I'm sure it'll be great in another 2 generations....

I wasn't talking a dual clutch. The Accord takes what you say with the shifters and sticks to it, like a BMW. The CLA was completely random in overwriting you, or not, or maybe. Sometimes.

MB has never allowed you to have complete control over gears, presumably to preserve the transmission from operator error.

My prob w/ the MB transmission (regular auto) is that it isn't nearly as smooth as the ZF one. Fortunately, MB is apparently transitioning to ZF transmissions when they move to the 9 speed.... Never really understood why MB felt the need to develop one in-house....

I don't want complete control. What BMW and Honda are doing is perfectly fine.

Incorrect. The new 9 speed was developed in-house by MB. I will pretty much be exactly the same as the outgoing 7 speed with two extra gears.

Hmmm.... Read in a few places on-line that MB was considering using the ZF transmission. But this would seem to imply that that's not the case (2nd paragraph):

http://blog.caranddriver.com/the-con...dlight-expert/

Apparently MB *is* purchasing manuals from ZF.

This article would also seem to strongly imply that the 9-speed *isn't* the exact same as the outgoing transmission + 2 more cogs....:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2014...-9gtronic.html

Correct, they will not be using a ZF transmission, they will be using their own in-house transmission.
Obviously the new 9 speed will have some upgrades. I didn't mean that the 9 speed was literally going to be the old 7 + 2 more. I just meant that it wont be vastly different from the current 7 speed.

Thanks for the link to that detailed 9 speed article btw. I will read it all when I have more time.

Er, my point in posting the link to the article about the 9-speed transmission is that it *does* sounds vastly different (although I lack sufficient technical knowledge to decipher most of what it's talking about, so it could all just be marketing-speak).

such a shame, this is the reason I will not hand them my business. no stick no sale.

I'm in the UK and wanted a manual. Although it's possible to get one, you can't spec anything with it :/ It's so bad you can't even have electric seats.

I can only guess being so new they haven't made, programmed or tested the computer for that configuration yet.