gpursil

Hello,

As I am finalizing my order for my SLK350, I would like to hear the good, the bad and the ugly of the 7G-tronic as I am hesitating.

I come from a manual tranny background and never was much interested in auto tranny because the ones I drove not only were slower than manual but also did not allow me the control I wanted.
In the past couple of years, I started to see some great progress made (SMG by BMW - great but too jerky for me, DSG by Audi- this one is great). It appears that, now, you:
- get better performance with auto than manual (on top of that, let's not kid ourselves, you have to be darn good with a clutch to pull the numbers that the guys on the magazines get with manual tranny)
- on paper at least, are supposed to have as much control than with a manual tranny



I am sure that if you are used to auto tranny, the 7G got to be better than what you used to have. But, I am mostly interested in people who switched from manual to this 7G. I only got 5 minutes with the 7G and did not want to push the car (it was brand new) so I did not get a chance to see what it does well and what it does not.

For instance, how fast do the gears change in manual mode (do you have to wait for it), What is the behavior when you slow down, when you enter a corner fairly fast at already high RPM, what did you miss/enjoy the most after switching a manual tranny to the 7G.

Thanks for your insights.

Greg.

CP1

I want the tranny to shift when I push the button and that doesn't quite happen. The engine will gain an additional 500 RPM before the shift. You have to adjust your shift mind to accommodate that. I also don't like the downshift as I can't figure out how to synchronize the engine speed with the gear change.

SLK55AMG

I have always driven a manual so was keen to see what the SLK350 7G auto was like. I had the 350 on loan for 4 days and gave it a good workout..... the 7G is generally good but did have some problems when driven hard. I found that it would change gear mid corner which tended to unsettle the car..... it was also not very smooth when changing down manually.

The main thing for me is control so I much prefer a manual...... its more fun, more controlable, uses less fuel and generally more satisfying to drive.

EVO Magazine had a review of the SLK55 that slagged off th 7G...... link:

https://mbworld.org/forums/slk-class-r171/85323-actual-road-test-slk55-its-not-all-good-news.html

V8_kompressor

Don't know much! But pros are more than cons! At least it has faster accelerate and better time in 0~60 mph!

q0192837465

I believe the 7G uses less fuel than the manual......that's wut it says on the specs

jono_2000

had it for three months, its fine - does tend to hunt a little bit in town, but its fine outside, the available torque surfs you through town.

when i want more control i use the "s" setting on the manual and lock it in 3rd 4th or 5th to prevent it upshifting. that way you can keep it the zone. unfortunately i think the little bugger changes up anyway when you reach the rev limiter, which is odd, cos my old slk230 didn't, you could lock it in 4th, and the rev limiter would cut in rather than change up.

7g's fine in most circumstances, at the limit you'd probably prefer a manual, but ask yourself how many times you're "at the limit", do you do trackdays, or hill climbs or similar? if so think manual else the advantages of the auto win out.

AC556F

Except that the CURRENT ads (US) for the SLK 350 have the 6-speed manual rated faster than the slushbox. At first everyone howled that the M-B website F'd up, but the new print ads in Car & Driver still have the stick better the 7-G.

Wagger350

Finally tried the S mode today and it was like going from a luxury car to a Ferrari. Serious deifference in aggressiveness of transmission. Gas mileage went from about 12.5/100L to 15/100L though. Does shifting to S change the suspension as well? Almost seemed to feel different??

Patriot0290

I don't have one (yet) so forgive the ignorance . . . How do you get the 7g to S mode?

Patriot
(considering a 7g over a stick)

Silver_Lana

There are two modes - C (Comfort) and S (Sport).

Patriot0290

Ah . . . therein the source of my confusion. The salesman told me C was for 'snow' (I kid you not).

I was test driving in S then, without knowing it, but it figures because as I was driving, I thought to myself 'Boy, this is one peppy automatic.'

Patriot

Tezta

Im still confused with the shift buttons on the steering wheel. How do they work? some people say you can only shift down or shift up. not like the AMG where one button shifts down and the other shifts up.

Julien321

In the 55 AMG the right is up shift only and left is down shift only. In the 350 both work the same, push the front of the button to up shift and press the back to down shift. While they are a neat toy the up shift takes almost a full second. This make them impractical for performance driving. The down shift works well and if you hold down it goes into the lowest gear for the speed. However you are then stuck using them for up shifts unless you press and hold up shift for 2 seconds. Also when using them the D in the display is replaced by the gear number the car is in or the top gear selected (1,2,3,4,5,6, or back to D).

Silver_Lana

There's a bit of truth in that statement.
The C/s notation used to be W/S as in Winter/Summer I belive.
W just like C starts you off in second gear and uses a rather leisurly shift program. It also has a second reverse gear for slippery days in the winter.
S (Summer or Sport) starts you off in first gear and is pretty on the dime when it comes to hauling you from point A to B.