RJC

How’s your experience been in auto and in comfort?

Many dissatisfied S Class owners complaining of harsh up/downshifts.

DesertGolfer

I own an early production 2024 GLS 450 that developed bumpy 4-3 and 3-2 downshifts after the first 3,000 miles. The local M-B service department verified condition and performed the following procedure, which resolved the poor down-shifting:
"...followed IPR instructions in xentry and performed a reset of the values for "deceleration mode". performed a standstill adaptation, cleared codes."

EWL5

There's also this but it shouldn't impact MY24 or newer:
https://mbworld.org/forums/gls-class...gle-450-a.html

AKSwift

I hadn't thought much of it, but kickdown basically gives everyone in the car whiplash, the downshifts are worse than when I tried to teach my wife how to drive stick - I will bring it up at the next service. Not looking forward to the first B Service...

chassis

MB boxes don’t shift smoothly. Well documented on this site for 7G and 9G.

MB is long overdue to get out the transmission business and let the pros at ZF and Aisin do the job.

RJC

I was afraid to ask but glad I did.

Went through two brand new at the time S Coupes (one with 7G, the other 9G) and both had issues. The 7G was THE worst shifting auto box I've ever experienced, and the dealer went through numerous readaptations, megatronic replacement, calls to Germany, tech specialists flown in etc. all to no avail. The 9G was smooth shifting for the short time I had it, but it had a driveline vibration at idle that could never be located (the previous one with the 7G had 0 vibrations at idle/couldn't even tell it was running).

I was planning on buying a '25 for the HH and will test one this weekend but I'll be damned if I'm spending $111,000.00 on a GLS450 or $132,000.00 for a GLS 580 with a rough shifting transmission. I'll report back after testing, but even if it shifts smoothly then, God only knows what it will be like in a month or so...ugh

YES, MB needs to get out of the transmission business immediately and have ZF produce them. MB, are you listening????

SW20S

I had a GLS450 loaner for a week that had like 27,000 miles on it, and it shifted fine FWIW

superswiss

I am somewhat puzzled why some people have issues with the Mercedes transmissions. I personally own an AMG 63 model with the 9-speed MCT which given that it is tuned for performance and uses a clutch instead of a torque converter, it has a certain rawness to it, which is desired in a performance car, but over the last 5+ years I've driven numerous regular Mercedes-Benz loaners with the normal 9G, some of them for several weeks at a time from the C Class to the S Class and they all shifted smoothly. One would think given that loaners are driven by many different people that the transmission adaptation gets confused between the many driving styles, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I've also driven many rental cars with other torque converter automatics such as BMWs and others with the ZF8 etc. To be honest, the least refined one I recently drove was the ZF 9HP in a friend's Chrysler Pacifica. I didn't gel with that transmission for some reason. They also own a Jeep Cherokee that I've driven before and the automatic transmission in that one also leaves a lot to wish for. Don't know what Jeep puts in the Cherokee, though.

I do wonder how people drive and if they leave the car in Comfort mode during the break-in period as you are supposed to, so that the transmission properly establishes the base adaptation. It does seem that many people these days start to use Sport and Sport+ before the car has gone through proper break-in. Jerky shifts most often traces back to incomplete adaptation cycles. Resetting the adaptations doesn't help if you then don't go through the full break-in period again to let it properly adapt this time.

Admittedly, I can barely stand driving a regular ICE Mercedes-Benz in Comfort mode. The throttle response is so utter garbage that I have to put them in Sport/Sport+ just to drive normally. In contrast, I didn't find this to be the case with BMWs. They just drive properly out of the box, but regular Mercedes-Benz cars are just so sluggish in Comfort mode. After having had several EQS loaners recently, I understand why people like them. They have a proper throttle response and no transmission at all that may hesitate to downshift in the name of fuel economy. Perhaps it's time for you guys to go electric if you enjoy the luxury, smooth driving experience. Can't beat an EV when it comes to smooth driving.

SW20S

I also have had no issues.

I have had two Pacificas with that ZF transmission and it is a terrible transmission. Horrible. Our new one is the Hybrid with the CVT and not having that ZP 9 speed just completely transforms the vehicle.

I also use sport engine tuning all the time. Its the 2nd gear start in comfort.

superswiss

Forgot about the 2nd gear start in Comfort mode for a moment. You are absolutely right. It's the worst part of a Mercedes. Even AMGs used to do this with the previous 7-speed MCT. It completely ruined driving the car in Comfort mode. I'm so glad AMG saw the light and made the 9-speed always start in 1st in every mode. Mercedes seems to map the Comfort mode so that the passenger's Champaign flute doesn't topple over driving off at a stop light. If that's not how you drive then you either have to constantly drive in Sport mode, defeating the purpose of having multiple drive modes, or look elsewhere.

RJC

The ZF 8 speed in every one the BMW's I've owned has been very smooth under all conditions. We drive in comfort, but the MB issues have been harsh (sometimes exceedingly so) up/downshifts at times as reported by many others. The 8 speed in our 24 Grand Wagoneer has also been flawless with ~7500 miles on the clock. The 8 speed was flawless in our Audi Q7. Both our Jaguar XKRs 6 speeds were flawless as well. I could go on...

SW20S

The ZF 8 Speed is excellent. The point is though that even ZF can design a crappy transmission, which their 9 speed is

superswiss

Also the point is that the transmission by itself is not necessarily the problem, but how the car manufacturer chooses to tune it. The thing about Mercedes-Benz is that they are largely tuned as what I like to call chauffeur cars. It's what made them super popular as taxi cabs back home in Germany and Europe as a whole. I've pointed this out before. They are super nice to be driven around in, but have a shortage of driver's car DNA. BMWs on the other hand even their non M and non M Sport models are tuned much more sporty than the equivalent Mercedes-Benz. After all, BMW invented the sports sedan. Some people like this pampered luxury feel of a Mercedes-Benz. Fundamentally, there's nothing wrong with it, but you have to drive it in that way.

You really notice this when you step up to AMGs. AMGs are some of the most contrasting performance models to their base models they are based on. A BMW M isn't as much of a departure from a regular BMW, because the latter already offers a level of sportiness. AMGs do maintain some of the Mercedes-Benz wafting, particularly cruising along on the highways in Comfort mode, but they are starkly different in their response when just driving. The Audi performance models are similar to BMW in that they don't stray as far from the regular models, so the Audi RS models tend to be some of the softest performance models, and are more daily driving friendly than AMGs, but if you spend time on the Audi forums you'll notice that lots of owners complain about how sluggish the throttle response is in D/Auto and many end up driving them in S/Dynamic most of the time. I don't have experience with the other models you list, but for example a Porsche Macan, Cayenne, Panamera even in their base trims also just drives more sporty out of the box. My point is Mercedes-Benz cars are meant to be driven in a more relaxed way. If you do that, then the transmission does its job. Whenever I drive an MB loaner I have to completely change my driving style. Even my wife who is not into cars notices it and has commented on it.

SW20S

Very true, that 9 speed though is lousy in everything its in. Honda had it in the Odyssey in lower trims and then their own 10 speed in the Elite and Touring and the 10 was so much better, they actually dropped the ZF unit and just put their own 10 speed in all trims.

EWL5

Mercedes won't be losing a grip on that AARP demographic any time soon!

superswiss

That's true. The Mercedes-Benz brand has long struggled to attract younger buyers. They've had some success with the A, B and CLA Class and the W203 C Class Sports Coupe was supposed to bring a younger clientele to the brand, and acquiring AMG in 1999 brought some excitement to the group.

RJC

I’m not so sure about that … we dislike harsh shifting vehicles.

Crito

I'm pretty sure the G wagen is only for rich kids. Nobody over 50 wants to do tank turns and G roars.

And I love the old school ZF8 in my Jaaag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZF_8HP_transmission

RJC

I'm tired of making/listening to rationalizations of products (especially high level one's) that don't deliver and/or are highly inconsistent in their operation. If Rolex as an example, had ~50% of their customers say their brand-new watch is mostly inaccurate in keeping time, people wouldn't buy, or pay the high-level premium for them (aside from perhaps the precious metal content), let alone making/accepting excuses blaming the wearer. There are too many complaints about MB transmissions here (for years) and people can make all the excuses/rationalizations they want but it is what it is. Seems like just as many have/had problems than don't, and I for one don't like those #'s/odds; no one should, especially MB.

superswiss

On forums like this you mostly read complaints. The people who don't have issues don't come here and post how they don't have issues with their transmission, car etc. It's the nature of the beast.

RJC

I disagree, nearly just as many gloat over there's as complain especially when new.

superswiss

Relative to the universe of MB owners, the membership here is a relatively small group, and it's a lot of the usual suspects that are posting about issues. We have far more members that only read threads and never post. So, it's an even smaller group that is reporting transmission issues. Based on probability theory we pretty much know that this is only affecting a small group. Especially considering that owners such as me who have driven many different Mercedes models have yet to encounter one that shifts harshly. When an issue only affects a small group, one has to start looking for things that are unique to that group. I'm not trying to blame you or make excuses. I'm an engineer and whenever I'm faced with a bug that only affects a few users I have to find what's unique about them. Could be that they are doing something wrong, but could also be something else unique to them. Your car could simply be a lemon, was built on a bad day or got a part from a bad badge.

SW20S

If I am reading your posts right you do not yet own this vehicle, you are still shopping right? Simple solution would be to cross the GLS off your list and just buy something else instead of ranting and raving?

mikapen

I've been thinking about the transmission adaptations for a while now, and I just posted this in the GLE 167 forum:

"And in my opinion, the only problem with downshifting is that the car's algorithm remembers that time you were aggressive, and retains that rev-matching-downshifting pattern longer than it might.

Once you floor it, it seems to wanna be a sporty transmission for an hour instead of 5 minutes."

I'm going in for my 40,000 mile checkup next week and a lot to talk with my shop about this. I started noticing rough downshifting about 4 or 5 months ago, and it seemed more related to my habits than the transmission. I guess. Maybe.
I really think it remembers "foot to the floor" and prioritizes it too long.

W205C43PFL

You mean the "Forced adaptation"? https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ng-w222-6.html