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My June 18 W213 now has 3,000 KMs on the clock and so far I am pretty pleased but I am seeing some oddities which I cannot explain but some of you might be able to shed light on. Before I describe the oddities and ask questions, please note that I leave my house at 6:40am every weekday drive 40kms to work (no traffic). I also leave the office at 5:00pm when there is usually traffic and take the same route home (90% highway)
- Does the Engine Auto Stop/Start setting influence whether Gliding Mode is turned on or not. I have seen Gliding Mode with Auto Stop/Start at the on and off positions whilst in E driving mode. I had previously read somewhere that the Auto Stop/Start was also a switch for Gliding mode - not sure if that is true.
- When the car in in E mode, the Gliding mode on some days never gets turned on at all but on other days, it does. As mentioned above, I drive the same route each day at the same speeds ( 70 to 100 km/hour ) with a very gentle foot. Why is this ? same route, same speeds, dry weather, same temps ( 25 Deg C ) and no traffic.
- On the way home from the office, Gliding Mode nearly always engages when the road is ~ 15 meters clear ahead regardless of the incline or even light traffic ahead. What baffles me is the road conditions on the way to work are close to perfect for gliding but the car only engages 40% of the time where I would expect it to whereas on the way home, it engages closer to 80% of the time where I would expect it to.
- When I turn off the Auto Start/Stop hoping it disables Gliding mode at some sections on the way home, it does indeed turn off Gliding mode.
This is a bit baffling.
Oddities aside, I am seeing great economy from my W213 - petrol. It's matching the economy of my wife's car which has a smaller engine and 50% less HP and 25% less weight.
My guess here is the OP is referencing a mode on these cars such that at high speed vehicle maneuvers where the driver has now lifted his foot off of the gas pedal (say, exiting a highway at an off ramp), that the engine disconnects itself from the drivetrain and thus the vehicle can glide on its own. For European models the new inline 6 model has the same features as the A8 that I'm aware of, which means the engine's on/off system will direct the engine to turn off.
So say you're driving at 50mph exiting a highway, it'll recognize you're doing that, the engine will shut off, the transmission will then switch to coasting mode....etc.
That's my guess. I bet you the OP is not from the US as even with Audi, that feature is turned off here in the new 2019 models until the car comes to almost a complete stop.
This is going to be really dumb question, but what is Gliding Mode? I've never heard the term.
We have ’Glide’ mode when economy setting is selected. On motorways or other roads where active acceleration is not required it deselects the drive train and allows the engine to idle thus supposedly saving fuel.
In my ‘braking in’ period it seems to be doing it a lot.
We have ’Glide’ mode when economy setting is selected. On motorways or other roads where active acceleration is not required it deselects the drive train and allows the engine to idle thus supposedly saving fuel.
In my ‘braking in’ period it seems to be doing it a lot.
Thanks for the clarification. Yes, this is a feature in the My19 S class as well.
Well how 'bout that? I don't use economy. I've been in comfort since day 1 and am anxiously waiting to hit the magical 1K miles so I can see what Sport and Sport+ are like.
I normally do drive in the economy mode and have used glide mode a lot. The car glides fantastic and will go for quite a ways before you have to get back on the gas on the gas if you have enough speed. But yes turning off eco mode will turn off gliding mode as will having another car in front of you that is closer than 3 or 4 car lengths or so. Also it can be fairly random when it works just as the start stop feature is fairly random, sometimes the engine will shut down when you stop other times not.
it's called "cruising" - it's displayed when active (where you'd otherwise see in which gear you are)
Still confusing. Below is an article link that calls the function "sailing". Under certain conditions the engine RPM drops to idle and the engine and transmission are disengaged. Can't happen if you turn Eco Stop/Start off, or are in Sport or Sport+. There are a couple YouTube vids (search "Mercedes glide mode") showing this in CLS, where they call it sailing, and GLC, where it's gliding. Hope that clears it up...
I think all the terms are interchangeable. In the UK (just double checked my manual) it is ‘Glide Mode’ and that is what is reflected on the dash when active - it shows ‘Glide’.
It does exist! 6k miles and it was my first time driving in ECO mode. Pretty cool feature and it does go on at random times for me. I pretty much confirmed it myself the “requirements” for it to go on prior to actually reading the manual. Im in the US ‘18 E300
He can't be in the US, as he has an E250, which is not sold in the US. So maybe his car has a feature like this, which we don't have here.
Correct - An E250 built in Germany exported to Asia. Below is a picture of what I see on my display.
I will ask MB tech when I pop in for the first service as there are obvious more factors being considered when the car decides to put the car in "gliding mode". Speed, road incline, traffic, working temp, driving style are definitely not the only factors and my Auto Stop/Start button has no effect as gliding mode activates regardless of what the setting is when I am driving in "E" mode. There may be a software or sensor glitch or it might just be normal - whatever the explaination is, I am curious as the apparent randomness baffles me.
Correct - An E250 built in Germany exported to Asia. Below is a picture of what I see on my display.
I will ask MB tech when I pop in for the first service as there are obvious more factors being considered when the car decides to put the car in "gliding mode". Speed, road incline, traffic, working temp, driving style are definitely not the only factors and my Auto Stop/Start button has no effect as gliding mode activates regardless of what the setting is when I am driving in "E" mode. There may be a software or sensor glitch or it might just be normal - whatever the explaination is, I am curious as the apparent randomness baffles me.
Gliding mode does not engage with cruise control. You can only glide when manually working the throttle. Any time you are in economy mode and there is a downhill area it will engage as soon as you take your foot off the accelerator since it only activates if there is no load on the drivetrain. Thats it.
I absolutely love Gliding Mode. It's part of what helps me get 40MPG (US) out of my 2018 E.
Things I've noticed:
1) The car's engine needs to be fully warmed up
2) The battery needs to be fully charged
3) The first time I engage it seems to be ~45mph or higher
4) Distronic/Cruise control won't ever use it.
5) If you pull up the Vehicle Data screen on the entertainment screen (has steering degrees & gas/brake pedal positions), it'll do a fancy animation on the car when you're in gliding mode.
6) It likes to see a clear, intentional let off the gas. Gently throttling back doesn't seem to trigger it.
Last edited by BeachBunny; Jan 18, 2020 at 09:16 PM.
2019 E 450, 2016 E350 4matic (retired), 2018 Ford Edge Sport, 2008 Porsche Boxster
When I use cruise control, I have the fully "autonomous" - Driver Assistance package (see below) , and take my foot off the gas in ECO mode my glide mode does engage:
If am above the set limit: for example I have set the limit at 70 and I am going 75 and take my foot off the gas, glide mode engages until I reach 70: and
For example going down hill: this often happens as I travel in Vermont in the mountains.
It is pretty cool to watch the gear indicator go from "9" to green" D" and the RPM's drop from 1800 to 750 RPM. Glide mode, as indicated above, does not work in comfort mode.
Point 6 is critical for me, gently easing up on the accelerator doesn't work, you need to have power on and then release the pedal,
Easing off works for me. But you need to be completely off. Of course this could be engine dependent as my experience is with the V-8. The sailboat icon is very cool.
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