I love my new C55 but my only concern is that, a couple of days after I got it, the engine stalled when I shift from park to reverse to drive. I brought it back to the dealership and they checked everything and said nothing was wrong, the only thing they could come up with was the fuel in the car and they tested that and it came out okay. It hasn't happened again.


The other thing is that it seems a little slow of the start. I can't tell if they engine is still learning my driving style or if the transmission has an issue. Should I be flooring the pedal to feel the 362hp? Somedays the engine is great espically on the highway but sometime i feel like the transmission doesn't want to shift to the next gear.

Any help would be great!

Compared to my wife's A4 1.8T and other Honda cars I have driven in the past, both the C240 I had and my current C55 have fairly slow "throttle response" when pressing the accelerator lightly. Push the pedal a little more, and the car flies with speed. It's very gradual, and I've gotten use to it. If you're coming from a car with quicker throttle response, you may feel like the car is sluggish off the start. Just learn to press the pedal more to get speed.

I think Mercedes deliberately does this to ensure that most drivers get smooth, non-jerky acceleration from a stop (compared to other brands). Also, make sure you have the transmission in "S" mode. If you're in "C" mode, the car starts in 2nd gear and it feels even more sluggish.

If you want a quicker downshift hold the gear shifter to the left for a second, it will go to optimum gear selection and fly.

I don't know about thee stalling but like two M cars I owned previously, the throttle truly keeps digging with every milimeter you push down. Try it in M mode or S and make sure you are not in C.

Thanks for the help! I try it out!!

I was wondering about that too...Since my C32 is a lease return..it also only has 27k miles on it..and the preivious owners were older..so i'd imagine they didn't work the car often..how long does it usually take for the car to get used to you? I still feel the jerky motions between 1-2.

Many people have claimed the TBA reset has a nice effect for this kind of thing.

I did it and I swear it feels more...linear I guess?...but it's hard to know for sure.

Do you mean 'hold it' or do you mean just flick it over there to down shift one gear?...if it's the former, I've never heard of that and how do you (or the car rather) define 'optimum'.

If it's the latter, I wouldn't call that gear optimum - often I had to go left 2-3 times to get that one

Just curious.

I tried this tonight. I see what you mean. Very cool. Every day I find new things to love about this car

You have to hold it for about a sec or 2

My car seem to adapt my driving style form minute to minute. say if I drive the car very hard for few minutes, the transmission suddenly become more responsive. If I drive in slow going traffic for like 10 mins, the transmission becomes lazy again. Lazy means premature upshift and unwilling to kick down.

Not sure about AMG cars.... but a Porsche technician told me that Cayenne's computer samples the last 6 miles of driving behavior..... if you're agressive, then the car will adjust.... I think AMG should have something like that also.