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... well, a minivan with the underpinnings of a Mercedes SUV.
Just brought this beauty home; 5.5 hours, including mountain passes, averaged 65-70 mph. Engine braking automatically kicks in when braking, which made things effortless on downhill sections. Probably weighed around 5500 lbs. Super stable, the only sign of trailer sway came from 20+ mph crosswinds. Averaged just over 13 mpg when cruising on flat land.
2006 R500 with airmatic suspension, using a modified OEM hitch. Two complaints: braking isn't as good as I would like as this one has the 330 mm front rotors with the 330 mm solid rear rotors, and a transmission issue during hill climbs.
For the braking, I am planning to upgrade to R63/ML63 brakes, which should be more than sufficient to stop this. Even the 350 or 375 mm front rotors with the 330 mm vented rears from the GL class would be much better, but I figured I may as well go all the way.
As for the transmission issue, it refuses to downshift on long hill climbs, even with the gas pushed all the way down, and the manual button shift doesn't work either. I have to lock it into an appropriate gear before the climb starts. Anyone know anything about this? I presume it is the transmission overheating. I plan on getting the Weistec transmission pan to help with this.
I have found a couple of X164 threads that describe this behavior, so I'm pretty sure it has to do with transmission temps. It locks it into a gear until it cools down.
So I took a look at my radiator setup and it does not have the additional transmission cooler. Looks like that will be something I will be retrofitting in the near future. If that's still not enough to help, I'll be getting the Weistec pan with an additional cooler.
03-21-2022, 01:42 PM
