relinuca

My '09 E350 4Matic has a 5-speed auto trans. The non-4Matics have a 7-speed. Why is that? Did the addition of the front drive system necessitate this change?

(FYI- in the passenger footwell, there's a curious "bump" on the side of the transmission tunnel. I assume this was needed to provide additional floor pan clearance for the front drive shaft.)

Comments, please.

relinuca

PS: The 5-speed performs fine; just a bit slow off the line.

kosmo

i recall reading something about space issues.

801

That is correct. Simply a space issue. 7 speed would not 'fit' onto 4matic vehicles... so they kept the 5 speed for 4matic cars.

starbrite

........and be happy that's the case because the 7 spd is problematic.