Not that anybody would need this, but if you start in sport mode and go to reverse, you get reverse 1 right? but if you topped out in reverse 1 would the car shift to reverse 2 or would you have to start in comfort mode for this to happen?

 

The car does not shift while driving in reverse. It maintains the gear it started in. The top speed in the lowest reverse gear is a little faster than first gear. That's over 40MPH! I don't know about you but that is freaking fast in that direction!

 

why do you want to shift gears in reverse?

 

the new S class has 2 R gears. why? i do not know.

Mark

 

Almost all MB autos have 2 reverse gears. Been that way for years. The higher gear makes for less tire slippage in poor traction situations.

They could have as many reverse gears as they have planetary gear sets in the transmission. One of the three gears in the set always spins backwards. In the case of the newer model MB 5 speed, there are 4 planetary gear sets.