Stomlo

Hi guys, this boils down to who is the chump, the gearbox or Stomlo..

I was stuck in traffic the other day, so I think to myself, “I wonder if I can drive the rest of the way in 4th gear only, to see how much torque we have”. So I get into manual shift mode, see 4th on the OBC and carry on. At first I was amazed at how easy the car was pulling off. Only later I realised that was because the car was really pulling off in 1st, even though the OBC was still indicating 4th gear engaged. On listening, sure enough, the car was changing up on low acceleration, but the OBC still indicated 4th.

So my question. Can the gearbox be made to manually pull off in 3rd or 4th, or will the ECU automatically select the easiest gear to pull off in? If the latter is true, why does the OBC show 4th?

Thanks for your input.

Harry Madan

The car will not start off in 4th gear. the OBC only shows the 4 gear because that is where u had it set to, when u drive and reach the desirable speed for the 4th the car will not shift out of 4th until it read lines and after that point it will **** to 5th gear knows as D.
The hight gear ur car can star off the line is in 2dn gear and the only way to do that is to start in the "W" mode know as winter, but in the 2004 and newer car it is know as the "C" mode (comfort).
The car gears down on its own to the ideal gear if u don't manual gear it down. when u use the Speed-shift set-up all u are really doing is telling the car not to shift out of the gear unit it hits the red-line. this allows the car to maximize the torque out put during the drive.
the speed-shift is more refined in the new amg like the C55 and newer. where they have a real manual button which does not let the car shift gears until u tell it to. and even with that system u can not start off in the 4th gear, the highest gear u can star off is the 2nd gear.

FrankW

you are only selecting the highest gear the transmission will go. It's not manually stuck in 4th only.

anytime you stop or slow down the transmission will downshift.

the speedshift in the C55 really isn't that great as many would think. It does give you the option of changing gear only when you tell it to, but the lag is more appearant then in the sport mode. you pretty much have to time it at least 2-300rpm before where you want it to shift when you press the button.

I drove my friend's C55 and another friend's S4 Auto and surprisingly when in the manual mode the S4 has less lag when you press the button.

Stomlo

Ahh, makes sense. Thanks guys - all cleared up.

steve_bris

I had a C something Kompressor as a courtesy car the other day , and the best thing about the car was the fact that when you tapped the gear level to go down a gear, it actually went down a gear from the gear you were in ..... instead of just to 4th like in the C32.

Is ther any chance the 03 TCU update fixes this ?

Stomlo

For the 32, just hold the gearlever to the left for 2 secs and the gearbox will kickdown into the optimal overtaking gear - usually second.

03c32AMG

If you push and hold the selector to the left for 3 seconds, the transmission will automatically select the best gear for downshift. You may want to read your manual to see what this transmission is really capable of.

steve_bris

Yeh I know about holding it across ... .its was just really good to be able to tap it once and it finds the right gear..... apart from that one thing, having the Komp made me appreciate how good the C32 is compared to a normal C

Harry Madan

f u want the car to shift right away, just tap it 2-3times and it will drop the gear. and u wont have to hold it for a few seconds. just tap a few times and it will do the same thing