I got my E550 about two weeks ago now, and I'm around 500 miles. Probably about 2/3 of those 500 miles have come on the highway, with about half of those 2/3 coming in stop-and-go highway traffic. My driving style is not really aggressive, though I've probably floored it a few times over this period. I have run the car at a sustained 75 mph or so for a few minutes at a time (up to 15 minutes tops) if traffic is clear on the highway.

I'm wondering if I'm being still too aggressive during the break-in period? I've noticed a couple of things that the car seems to be doing recently that it wasn't doing in the first couple hundred miles. In particular, depending on current speed and gear, if I give it a lot of gas, it can take a half or even full second before the car responds. Also, at low speeds, the car seems to buck / kick from time to time -- my W211 does this as well. Not a big deal, just uncomfortable.

Anyway, just wondering if this behavior is normal, and if not, if my car was messed up through no fault of my own, or if I've screwed it up already!

 

there might be a delay in power when you drive in eco mode

 

no, you are fine.

 

You're fine. Both of my W212's I took on a 600 mile round trip the day after I got them.

As for the delay in response, that's just the typical effect of the M-B tranny learning your driving style (usually laid back, regardless of how much you try for otherwise, if you live in a congested area), and calming things down. The tranny buck is both something that the 7G does during the early stages, while it's learning your driving style, and it should go away within the next couple of weeks, at the same time, the 7G has always had some bucking problems, even though the newest iterations are almost perfect.

 

You are fine. There is a bit more travel in the MB accelerator pedals. You will get used to it.

 

Thanks guys. Good to know it's not anything I've done.

K-A: The transmission kick on my W211 was pretty bad, and that was a five speed. I was able to make it go away by changing my driving style -- essentially leaving the throttle open for longer than I would have liked -- but for the first few weeks I had the car I'd get at least a kick or two on every trip. Hopefully it doesn't get that bad on the new car.

 

Isn't there a simple reset procedure for the tranny/engine to bring it back to out-of-factory state? Like turn key to ON (without starting the engine), floor the gas pedal and hold for 5-10 seconds, while holding the pedal turn key OFF or something like that?!?

It is so funny they tell you to be gentle to the car for the break in period and the car learns to this soft driving habit and then when you want to drive more aggressively the car is limb.

Resetting the car and then driving it aggressively for the powertrain "learning period" should fix the issue.

Does anybody know how long this learning period is?

 

Consider that your E class and all of its engines are designed to be Taxi cabs in Morocco, Cairo, Saudi Arabia, and other extremely harsh environments. A Mercedes really does not need to be babied.

 

Agreed. Being in Europe recently has me believing that we in the U.S have it best when it comes to M-B ownership. For one, we get the cars for MUCH cheaper than anywhere else, two, we can enjoy them as prestigious and relatively exclusively-price-appointed automobiles (albeit many people obviously spring for those prices), rather than Taxi-Cabs, which is what they are across seas (albeit, they are still viewed as prestigious across seas, which says a lot about the brand). We get the best durability and quality and rigorous testing that we can ask for.... But we don't have to see it in front of our eyes.

 

and we also have teabag ballbaggers that hunt the streets for AMG posers.........
what a country......