E350 4-matic transmission
I wil say that my 2010 E350 had a slower "feel" to it, while my 2011 feels snappier than my 2010 or 2006 E350's, and the tranny/motor/pedal combo responds very quickly and aggressively for this car. I dunno if it's luck of the draw, or if the Tranny just learns your driving after awhile.
Also have to remember this car is 600lbs heavier,with only a slightly bigger motor,,with the front wheels going as well.
I was in the city and had to park my E350 in a tight spot. It's late, dark, cold, and raining. First I had to get out of the car and manually fold the side mirrors (no power option). Next I had to do a series of tight 3-point turns to get into position. Twice I had to get out of the car to check how much space I had between my rear bumper and the fence (because there are no indicators on the back-up camera). On top of all this, everytime I went from R to D I had to worry about the acceleration delay and the car surging if I didn't feather the accelerator.
Big PITA.

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My car is 2010 E 350 4M, it used to be slow but now its better after driving for 2 years and updating ECU and TCU software. I usually wait for the tranny to completely engage when going R to D and D to R and its not that slow.
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With both cars, the problem did not appear untill several mos. after purchase. It is an intermittent and unpredictable problem. The transmission up shifts to quickly to high gear and doesnt shift back down to low gear when decelirating. When I step on gas pedal there is no response untill I keep depressing and then it drops in too low of a gear, almost red lining. It will go from 7 to 4 and no in between. When I am able to get it into 6 or 5 it doesnt wind out. Instead it will go right back into 7. This is extremely frustrating and and makes for an unpeasureable drive.
It can also pose a danger when trying to turn against traffic.
I have made many complaints to MB with no resolve. Instead they tell me the usual, " no fault codes come up and it is driving to spec." Pure nonsense! The onboard computer does not tell everything. More likely this is a problem that they can not undertand or fix and are reluctant to admit it. Instead I get the usual run around with, " we have to verify it " . They will never verify it because they would have to recall all E350's. I have already been in contact with a law firm that may be interested in pursuing a class action suite.
He tells me they all are like this, and after reading this thread I can believe it. This seems to be one of those things that MB will claim is "characteristic" and so nothing is to be corrected. I am not sure if the delay could be in some way sped up or not but I agree it's annoying.
Not sure MB intends to do anything about this...
But I share the sentiment on this post....
However, neither the 2014 E250BT that I test drove nor my new 2015 E250BT have these delays in operation. The latest version of the 7 spd AT seems to be much improved, both faster and smoother, shifting up or down in gears.
The dealer I have seems to be very good, they re -flashed the drivetrain program which also included slightly raising the idle speed which I had also commented upon as being too low. Bear in mind that as the idle speed is raised the transmission pump also increases fluid volume slightly. This slight increase is all it took for an improvement in the P D R selection speed. The reflash also seemed to improve the "learn" characteristics of the unit. I'm very pleased with the results as I find them to be an improvement overall. Idle speed is not excessive at about 650 rpm, feels just right.



