I found this blurb on the MBUSA site, it was in reference to the W163 ML.

Shift optimized gear feature added for MY02 to allow driver to find optimized performance gear by holding lever to left or right to down/upshift to best possible gear.

Does anybody know when/if this feature became available for the W208? I was driving my brother's 208 55 the other day and thought that it had this feature, but, it didn't seem to work?!? I *thought* it was adapted to the 208/210 in 01?

 

W208's didn't get this feature.

It was marketed as "Speedshift" on the AMG models, the most recent one I recall was the SLK55. I think the C55 may have this feature as well.

The CLK55 (W208) had the faster AMG shift programming, but not the Speedshift feature.

 

Thanks for the info. I see that you have an 01 W208 320. I posted this on the clk55 board as well. Someone with an 02 W208 55 has this feature. My sister who has an 02 W208 320 seems to have this feature as well. I guess I might have read wrong? Maybe it was adapted in 02 and not 01 as I thought.

 

Let me make my answer more clear: If I hold the lever to the left while decelerating, the transmission computer selects the lowest appropriate gear.

If I hold it to the right, it will just cycle all the way into "D".

SpeedShift was first available on the MY2002 SLK32 and C32, and subsequently made available on MY 2003 (W209) CLK55

The W208 CLK55 was equipped with an electronic 5-speed "Touch Shift" automatic transmission, sourced from the V12. It uses AMG programming.

 

Thanks. I understand the difference between speedshift and the "optimized" touch shift. My old 00 210 55, didn't have the optimized feature and would drop just one gear. I thought the feature started for the 208/210s in 01. So, I was thinking 1) there is something wrong with my brother's 01 208 55, 2) It didn't take effect until MY02. Sounds like it might be MY02 across the board for all models.

 

hmm we have an MY00 S430 and it does that same thing where if you hold it to the left, it'll go down as low as it can

 

My 01 430 is equipped with it.