BudC

I just went through the on-line W212 owner's manual and didn't see how you can manually downshift the 7G transmission. I'm going to replace my W211 with a W212 and I wouldn't want to come down the Grapevine without some control of speed other than brakes.

Is it possible to control the transmission the way you can with the W211? If so, how?

I'm assuming only the AMG version has paddle shifters.

220S

The AMG is the only one with full manual shifting (meaning you HAVE to shift the gears.) The non-AMG has paddle shifters with the sport model (at least my previous E350 did) and you can down shift yourself. But it will up shift when necessary on its own. You can also tap the center gear shift lever to the left (and hold for a second) to get into the optimum gear. Although I'm pretty sure all the non-AMG W212s no longer have a center console shifter and it's on the steering column now.

A caveat: all the above pertains to the 2009 E350 I used to own. Also the car should shift down when going downhill and letting off the gas (my AMG does.....) if not, you can adapt the tranny to behave that way after a few miles and a few gear changes.


EDIT: it's on page 121 in your manual. (I have a .pdf copy on my computer.)

One-touch gearshifting
With the automatic transmission in drive
position D, you can limit or extend the gear
range using the steering wheel gearshift
control.

Arrie

I have 2011 W212 ith sports package. It has paddle shifters on steering wheel.

How the manual mode in this car works is that when you drive and use the left paddle to shift down it sets the high gear that transmission will shift to, i.e. you make your 7 speed tranny a 6 sppeed, 5 speed or lower. It will, however, shift higher if you are in danger of revving the engine up higher than is safe for it. I actually find this very good protection for the engine.

There is no actual manual mode like I understand AMG has. You can slow the car down by lowereng the gear from the left paddle. I just use the cruise control as I use CC almost at all the time. When you lower speed setting the car will actually apply brakes to slow it down if you make big enough setting change, i.e. move the lever down twice for 10 mph speed setting reduction for example. If you do smaller steps it does not need the brakes.

ngerstman

All of the 212 e's have paddle shifters on the steering wheel whether a sport or a luxury version, 350's or 550's. They work absolutely great, easy to use and very effective for down shifting. I don't think that there is a full manual mode per say, although maybe you could use the paddle shifters to go all the way down to 1st gear and then manually up shift. Regards. Ned.

BudC

Thanks Ned and to everyone else. I went back and looked at the manual again and found that I had missed something.

I'm going to order a 2012 in May and I'm looking forward to it. We have an '08 that's been terrific but like the upgrade from our '04 to our '08, I think the upgrade to the W212 will be worth the expense.

WGB

AFAIK E350, E550 and AMG have paddle shifters.

Not sure about High end diesels.

All others have the 211 type console mounted shifter but as these are probably not sold in the US it will not be an issue - not sure if they have buttons or shifters or what.

In my E550 all you have to do is hit that left hand paddle and it will drop two or more gears depending on the speed and revert to as near to manual control as it gets in this setup.

Bill

ngerstman

If you are going to wait until May, you might as well wait for the 2012 model year which may have the next generation engine, a direct injection 6 with 308 hp and better fuel economy. Regards. Ned.

WGB

Or a 4.7 litre twin turbo which is supposed to be a wall of torque.

Bill

mg-E550

Shfting using paddle shifters is very slow. It could be so much better. Probably is the thing i dislike most about the car.

Tjdehya

Yea, its as slow as your fingers move!!!

BudC

That's why I'm waiting until May to order it I'm not sure how much better the new CGI engines are but I assume they've been sorted out since they've been available in Europe for a while.

I ordered our '08 in May and it was built the second week of production in June.

Thanks again for the Info. Bud

BudC

Or I could get a 1.8 liter turbo charged four E250 I think I'll stick to the V6.

Bud