W212 4matic - Same across all years given the later models get a later 7-Gtronic+?
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Joined: May 2006
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From: Virginia
W212 M276 DELA 30 ; W211 M113k, W126 M117, W126 OM617, W211 OM642 ; R107 M117 X2, Sierra 1500 LZ0
W212 4matic - Same across all years given the later models get a later 7-Gtronic+?
My father has a 2011 E350 4Matic and I own a 2015 E400 4Matic. We recently had quite the ice storm that gave us about 5-6 inches of heavy snow and ice almost two weeks ago, most of which is still a frozen solid mess. He managed to get his E350 completely stuck at the bottom of my not-so-steep back driveway. We disabled ESC, which I've found gives up too early, but it made no difference. He has decent Michelin all seasons, although I cannot remember which. I ended up using my truck to pull him up the driveway after 4-5 days. Even after getting him near the top and parked on a relatively level sheet of ice, he was still unable to move and I had to reattach the tow straps and bring him to bare asphalt.
I was quite surprised, as I owned my E400 when I lived on a much steeper driveway and never had any issues. I also drove it down to the bottom of my driveway and back up while his was still stuck, although it was a few days later after things had compressed down a bit. My E400 has always worn Continental DWS all seasons, as do all of my cars (not my truck obviously).
I recall when doing research before buying my E400 that the 2012 and later models received the 7-Gtronic+ iterations of the 7-speed. I thought I had read it got a later iteration of the 4matic as well, but I can't seem to dig that information up now.
So I'm perplexed as to how the two nearly identical vehicles could perform so differently. I suspected his tires, but they look fine and they seem to be a decent all-season. So I'm wondering if anyone knows if the 7Gtronic+ transmission iteration also included a later version of 4Matic. I see they marketed something called "4Matic+", but I'm unclear if it ever made its way into the W212.
Thanks!
I was quite surprised, as I owned my E400 when I lived on a much steeper driveway and never had any issues. I also drove it down to the bottom of my driveway and back up while his was still stuck, although it was a few days later after things had compressed down a bit. My E400 has always worn Continental DWS all seasons, as do all of my cars (not my truck obviously).
I recall when doing research before buying my E400 that the 2012 and later models received the 7-Gtronic+ iterations of the 7-speed. I thought I had read it got a later iteration of the 4matic as well, but I can't seem to dig that information up now.
So I'm perplexed as to how the two nearly identical vehicles could perform so differently. I suspected his tires, but they look fine and they seem to be a decent all-season. So I'm wondering if anyone knows if the 7Gtronic+ transmission iteration also included a later version of 4Matic. I see they marketed something called "4Matic+", but I'm unclear if it ever made its way into the W212.
Thanks!
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My father has a 2011 E350 4Matic and I own a 2015 E400 4Matic. We recently had quite the ice storm that gave us about 5-6 inches of heavy snow and ice almost two weeks ago, most of which is still a frozen solid mess. He managed to get his E350 completely stuck at the bottom of my not-so-steep back driveway. We disabled ESC, which I've found gives up too early, but it made no difference. He has decent Michelin all seasons, although I cannot remember which. I ended up using my truck to pull him up the driveway after 4-5 days. Even after getting him near the top and parked on a relatively level sheet of ice, he was still unable to move and I had to reattach the tow straps and bring him to bare asphalt.
I was quite surprised, as I owned my E400 when I lived on a much steeper driveway and never had any issues. I also drove it down to the bottom of my driveway and back up while his was still stuck, although it was a few days later after things had compressed down a bit. My E400 has always worn Continental DWS all seasons, as do all of my cars (not my truck obviously).
I recall when doing research before buying my E400 that the 2012 and later models received the 7-Gtronic+ iterations of the 7-speed. I thought I had read it got a later iteration of the 4matic as well, but I can't seem to dig that information up now.
So I'm perplexed as to how the two nearly identical vehicles could perform so differently. I suspected his tires, but they look fine and they seem to be a decent all-season. So I'm wondering if anyone knows if the 7Gtronic+ transmission iteration also included a later version of 4Matic. I see they marketed something called "4Matic+", but I'm unclear if it ever made its way into the W212.
Thanks!
I was quite surprised, as I owned my E400 when I lived on a much steeper driveway and never had any issues. I also drove it down to the bottom of my driveway and back up while his was still stuck, although it was a few days later after things had compressed down a bit. My E400 has always worn Continental DWS all seasons, as do all of my cars (not my truck obviously).
I recall when doing research before buying my E400 that the 2012 and later models received the 7-Gtronic+ iterations of the 7-speed. I thought I had read it got a later iteration of the 4matic as well, but I can't seem to dig that information up now.
So I'm perplexed as to how the two nearly identical vehicles could perform so differently. I suspected his tires, but they look fine and they seem to be a decent all-season. So I'm wondering if anyone knows if the 7Gtronic+ transmission iteration also included a later version of 4Matic. I see they marketed something called "4Matic+", but I'm unclear if it ever made its way into the W212.
Thanks!
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,319
Likes: 251
From: Virginia
W212 M276 DELA 30 ; W211 M113k, W126 M117, W126 OM617, W211 OM642 ; R107 M117 X2, Sierra 1500 LZ0
You are lost. Both cars have 4matic. One is a 2011 with the earlier 7-gtronic, the other is a 2015 with later 7-grtonric plus. This post was a question about whether or not the 4matic systems between the two versions were different. Thank you for your contribution.
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From: Baltimore County, MD
'13 s212 63 p30. '06 LX470
if you were looking to see if the difference in performance is due to the difference in transmission, I don’t think that’s the issue considering my example of good snow performance is with a rear wheel drive car. And no, I don’t mean tires and red to safely drive around all the time, but in reference to getting stuck. You tried disabling traction control, so there’s not really much else that would disable forward momentum from an electronic standpoint, especially if you were able to see the tire/s spinning
Tires. Tires Tires
4x0=0
this is the old saying to say that four-wheel-drive doesn’t help if the tires aren’t proper. You say the tires look good, but that does not mean they perform well. Perhaps you can share the tire model to see if others have success in the snow or ice with that model. what I can say is I’ve been driving DWS06+ since their previous model and they perform very well in the snow even with a rear wheel drive car, as an all season.
Tires. Tires Tires
4x0=0
this is the old saying to say that four-wheel-drive doesn’t help if the tires aren’t proper. You say the tires look good, but that does not mean they perform well. Perhaps you can share the tire model to see if others have success in the snow or ice with that model. what I can say is I’ve been driving DWS06+ since their previous model and they perform very well in the snow even with a rear wheel drive car, as an all season.
Last edited by Baltistyle; Jan 19, 2025 at 04:21 AM.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,319
Likes: 251
From: Virginia
W212 M276 DELA 30 ; W211 M113k, W126 M117, W126 OM617, W211 OM642 ; R107 M117 X2, Sierra 1500 LZ0
Yup, if all else is equal it has to be his tires. I was just trying to determine if all else was equal.
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19 GLA45, 86 560SL, former: 14 E550 4Matic, 09 E350 4Matic, 83 240D manual, 78 450SLC, 81 500SLC
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Joined: Mar 2024
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From: Chicago
19 GLA45, 86 560SL, former: 14 E550 4Matic, 09 E350 4Matic, 83 240D manual, 78 450SLC, 81 500SLC
