AMG493

I drove the car hard today and tried to use the speedshift as if I was driving a manual transmission car. I came away unimpressed with the experience for a couple of reasons:

1. Without the tactile feel of a gearshift lever in the familiar "H pattern" I found that I was constantly taking my eyes off the road to look at the readout to see what gear I was in. This constant shifting of the eyes was very disconcerting and on twisty roads somewhat dangerous. In a manual transmission, you "feel" what gear you are in without taking your eyes off the road. Speedshift is clumsy in this respect, although it is not unique in that others like BMW's SMG will also share this trait.

2. The buttons require sequential shifting, for example to downshift from 5th to 3rd requires 2 distinct taps on the button, versus a much simpler throw into gear on a manual. You cannot skip a gear quickly....

3. The positions of the buttons at 3 and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel are awkward to reach when your hands are gripping the wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions. I found that my hands were sliding back and forth to reach the buttons.

As BlueSL has stated, I think the best way to drive this car is to keep it in drive and let the tranny select for you. It takes some of the fun out of driving, but this car really is not made to aggressively shift and select gears in my opinion.

evanichka

1 i wholeheartedly agree

2 i kind of agree, but the problem i have is when shifting down while braking. sometimes i shift a split second after the car decides to shift down which results in shifting down two gears very quickly, resulting in an unwanted jerk.

3 you can use the shift knob on your right to shift your gears as well right? you dont have to use the paddle shifts (unless the paddles shift faster but in manual mode i assume both the knob and paddle should shift at the same speed... never drove the car hard so i don't know)

AMG493

Evanichka,

Agree that you can use the console mounted gear shift lever, I was just trying to make a point that the location of the buttons is not optimal in my opinion. I was trying to focus on just driving using the speedshift buttons only. I guess speedshift is like anything new, more time is needed with it in order for it to become second nature.

More and more manufacturers are going to the F1 type transmissions, e.g. the new E60 M5 is doing away with the 6 speed manual in favor of an SMG only transmission, so I suppose we will have to get used to the new way to change gears when not in "automatic mode".

I forgot to add that while driving on Highway 35 in the Bay Area I came up on a Corvette (newer one Z06??) and a Carrera 4S. We had a lot of fun, I passed the 4S like he was standing still at one point, pissed him off good. It is amazing how fast the SL55 goes from 60 to 100, I was in 3rd and just blipped the throttle to get around him. The Corvette was a different story, I had to turn off at Hwy 84 before getting a chance to pass him. Next time.......

Xeon

maybe designers should use the "H" layout of the traditional gearbox, and apply sppedshift or smg !

jco-amg

You should not be relying on stick position to know which gear you are in ...for one thing...if you are driving hard the idea is to keep both hands on the wheel as much as possible. You should be able keep track of gears by enigine speed/sound and vehicle speed...takes practice but is essential to high performance driving...

going up and down sequentialy is much safer than an H box...if you have ever hit 1st instead of third down shifting at 120mph
or for that matter hit second instead on 4th upshifting you know what i mean!! the drive train will probably not survive and you will be lucky if you do!

most race cars these days have sequential boxes... you cannot rely on stick position for gearing...but must rely on your own senses and the digital display...similar to the SL

FInality

1) I'll agree with 100%
2) The 7 speed tranny should fix that problem but your right, I dont really see too much of a problem though.
3) Your hands are NOW supposed to be at 9 and 3, the old 10, 2 rules where during the times of no air bags. Hence why all F1/SMG cars have the paddles at the center point rather than higher up.

AMG493

jco-amg,

On a track where your focus is 110% on the driving task I can see your point, but on a public road where I am just having some fun and listening to music with the top down, I can't tell exactly what gear I am in. Taking my eyes off the road to look at the damn readout on the tach seems less safe to me than having one hand on a gear shift lever. (Especially given the light effort required to handle the wheel, but that is another nit I have with the car.)

Finality,

Do you have the AMG steering wheel on your car? On mine, the wheel has a "fatter grip point" at 10 and 2, I can only assume the designers want me to grab the wheel at these locations. My problem is my hands/fingers aren't as big (or as mischevious) as Kobe Bryant's, so I need to slide my hand down to reach the buttons.

IngenereAMG

I have had my SL55 for about a year now. I think that I have driven it in the auto mode once.

The best technique that I have found with this car is to shift on the steering wheel....left foot brake and drive it like a big (heavy) go-kart. With this technique you can trail brake effectively and balance the car on brake or throtttle. It is really quite brilliant and rewarding...in a different way that my Fcars and Indy car.

Since the transmision is adaptable to driving style and I am pretty hard it shifts just like a manual box. I have driven 55's that have been mainly driven in the auto mode and they shift slower than mine.

BTW...driven correctly it is possible to smoke vettes, Pcars, Fcars, etc at the track...I know this first hand.

Keep the car in the manual mode and teach it to be a better sports car!

Have fun!