venezzia

I have never really understood what the difference between driving in "D" or "4" is... the manual hardly touches the subject.

Do any of you drive in 4 instead of D, and if so, why? Do you notice any difference?

When would you use "4" ??

CLS550

its like the old version of the manual triptronic crap.

1= tops out in 1st gear
2= tops out in 2nd gear
3= tops out in 3rd gear
4= tops out in 4th gears

OldNate

You will get better gas mileage on the freeway if you make sure it is in D. That will allow it to hit the 5th gear and keep the rpms lower. Overall, just leave it on D at all times

fju2112

i have the heaviest e320 as it has awd. the engine is plenty torquey and i'm not lacking power in the car, but i do a lot of suburban/"city" driving with lights & stops. so i will downshift manually when approaching a red light, and then upshift manually in a speed zone of up to 40/45 to 4th gear, letting 2nd gear rev a bit longer to get that extra power out of it. i'll then just leave it in 4th unless i go above 45mph, then i just hit drive. it's just more "fun", there's no real difference and the tranny is smooth either way, but it improves the experience ever so slightly for me...however, when i'm on a highway onramp, i leave it in 4th to get that little biit of extra torque to speed up more quickly and get into the second lane, then when i'm at 60or so i'll put it in D. in massachusetts you gotta act fast when merging onto a highway, so keeping it in 4th helps me out a bt

Musikmann

I leave mine in "D" all the time, and I think that's the way the transmission was designed. If you are driving in snow or ice, switch from "S" to "W" and your transmission will adjust to that accordingly.

I think I did read in my manual that M-B does not recommend manually selecting a lower gear for braking, but don't quote me on this.

Air Marshall Eldritch

I've seen people mention using engine braking to save on pads. I'd rather pay $50 for a new set of pads than $5000 for a new trans.

Hirnbeiss

If your car is never on the highway, or stuck in the land of perpetual traffic (aka New Yorksey), leave it in 4th to get a better warm-up.

Lancelot

Ofcourse my E220 Diesel is nothing compared to the power you guys have available but I always have it in '4' when driving suburban/city and move it into 'D' on country roads and freeway. Selecting 'W' makes the tranny start in 2nd gear and shift at 3500rpm unless kickdown is used...

lkchris

Well, gee, you have a FIVE speed transmission.

Dema

The manual told that 4 is sort of sport mode, more responsive and stays longer on lower gear. Can be also useful at hills.

venezzia

That sounds like a good idea... I will try it in 4th when merging on a freeway onramp and see if I can notice a difference

Well... yahhhh I know there are 5 speeds, but when to use them is my question. I have only driven automatics, and I only use lower gears when I am ascending/descending a steep hill at a lower speed. That's why I was wondering about the 4th gear, because the manual didn't talk about using 4th in that way.

Interesting that it says "sport mode", but hardly anyone here has responded that they use 4th instead of D. Like most people that have posted in this thread, I usually keep it in D. However, I accidentally had it in 4th the other day when I was driving 85 on the freeway and that's why I posted the question, because I didn't really notice any difference.

venezzia

Yeahhhhh.... better gas mileage FTW... haha, our cars basically eat gas!! $50 fill-ups in California are common now