Darba

I just got my c55 a few weeks ago. It is my first automatic car, and to tell you the truth I kind of miss my clutch.
I want to see which settings you guys use your car the most and maybe a few tips on how you put this transmission to its fullest potential.
Modes:
C: does anyone even use this setting?
S: I basically stay on Sport about 85% of the time. It does a nice job on straight roads and drags but I hate how passive the gears get at higher speeds. What am trying to say is that if am not driving very aggressively at over 60mph the tranny will always be in 5 gear, even though 3 gear goes to around 100mph at almost redline. This can be a problem in certain situations, specifically long cornering and when I want to keep my rpm around 4000-6000. The ability to manually change gears while still in Sport setting is nice, but I'll talk about the manual settings below.
M: I like this setting, especially because it won’t change gears unless I tell it to, even at redline. Downshifting is smooth and fast. Double tapping the pedal to go 2 gears down is efficient. It does have its problems though. For example I feel that it takes less time to change gears at 3000rpm than it does at 7000. (Im I crazy?) Also when shifting up at around 3000rpm I can keep the throttle open with no problem but when I try to do it at high rpm the engine will redline (as if I had clutch on and kept the throttle open)

All in all I do like the speedshift transmission; it’s a huge improvement from my mother’s old 525. It still needs work though. Any comments, corrections, tips?

04E500

I generally use Sport mode, the only difference I have found between sport and comfort is that in sport the car downshifts under braking. I am learning to use sport when cornering, finding the optimal time to brake to allow the car to downshift and get back on the throttle through the apex of the corner. Its taking some time to get that sorted out though. It seems to be more effective the more aggressively I use the brakes.

My biggest complaint is the 1-2 shift under full throttle, the tranny really holds the car up, I would think we could get a re-map of the shifting algorithm to improve the fluidity of this shift, it sucks IMO.

Overall I think it works very well for a slushbox. I do use the shift buttons but primarily for downshifting, holding in - to get the best gear selected and punching it and holding + to get back to D. I do use M but not that much, the car pulls so hard when you get it above 4K, fun to hold it in say 3rd and go through a little chicane under throttle. A substantial improvement form the C32 IMO, primarily because of the M mode.

Darba

I agree with you here 1-2 shift does need some work its not very fluid as the rest of the gear changes