Max.H

I checked out an 05 e55. I noticed that after nailing the throttle at about 40mph in auto mode the car obviously downshifts and takes off with great urgency. But I noticed that it wanted to stay in that lower gear after I let off for awhile. Is this normal? I had to lightly give it gas to shift up the next gear. Is that for spirited driving? Or is something wrong with the tranny or perhaps the tcu needs to be reset?

I know this has probably been covered many times but is there anything in particular I should look out for on an 05 model? The car looks very clean and drives well. How much does an average 100k warranty cost in Ca?

Max.H

anyone?

MB_Forever

Was the car in Sport mode or Comfort mode. If it was Sport mode, then the car will naturally try to stay in the lowest gear possible to optimize power and shift points, but if it was in Comfort mode, then it should've shifted up one gear rather quickly (unless of course you were really driving spiritidly for a while). These cars are equipped with an adaptive transmission. So the more aggressive you drive them, the more aggressive they shift and vise-versa.

Zax63

Ditto. I find that after driving hard, the car stays in "WAR" mode, and holds onto a significantly lower gear for 45 secs or so to see if we are in "have fun" mode or "go back to attempting to get 20mpg" mode. The reverse is also true. The first time you get on the car hard after driving like a grandpa for a while, the car will embarrass you by shifting out at like 4500 RPM for the first shift. As an aside, I suspect this is why the post "first run in with an E63" last week ended the way it did. A prob with these cars is that sometimes they are too smart for their own good, so you have to learn to be in the right tranny mode at the right time, right gear, and do a sneaky ECU reset, which supposedly works better on 55's than on 63's. Good luck with the purchase, and not to sound alarmist, but buy the longest extended warrantee you can find unless you are planning on modding.

iman

I think the E55 is a little too much for Max. I think he needs to start off with a C class.

viperman5

While looking for my E55, I received a quote for around 2600 for an after market warranty. That was 3 years and 75K total miles. These were coming from non-MB dealers.

enzom

Normal. My car does the same thing. It holds the gear.

Timeless

+1...and I asked this question when I got mine also.

I Like Soup

When you say it shifts at around 4500rpm, do you mean not at full throttle? I have never seen my car not shift at redline when I have it floored, no matter what my driving habits have been. Sure, a little slower on the downshift, but after that, it goes like all get out.

scm319

Wow your first post and you're already trying to talk smack a guy who has a genuine question. Real classy bro... Go back to myspace.

Zax63

Yeah, it will shift out early if I have been driving like a grandfather previously. It will shift at redline only if I have been driving hard for a few trips through the tach. I am talking about sport mode, not manual mode. Z

Chargin55

Car will hold gear is sport mode. As for power off line, I went through a set of new tires in 10,000 km. Now I drive c mode mostly just to conserve rubber and minimise S/C heat soak. If I want to light em up I put it into s mode.

Max.H

Thanks for all the replies guys! I just wanted to make sure it was normal. I don't remember if it was in comfort or sport mode. But I did mess with that button.

Talked to a service writer at benz dealer and he mentioned the 05's have the bugs worked out and he doesn't see them come in with any issues. He mentioned that they have never had a replace an engine or tranny on any Amg car.

What are you guy's thoughts on 03's and 04's? What can really go wrong that can be that costly?

Thanks for the great info! Don't worry about iman. He probably woke up with his g string on backwards.

Zax63

What can really go wrong that can be costly? Depends what your definition of costly is. But almost anything that goes wrong is costly on these cars. Handbuilt motors will do that to you. I heard a story about an ML63 that was "totaled" by the insurance company after I believe the woman hit a Turkey and it somehow damaged the engine. I may be confusing my stories, and it might have involved water in the motor, but I'm pretty sure there was turkey involvement. I think a new motor was like 30g's. I'll get more details. But I digress... if you have owned german cars before you should not be in for much a shock, but if you are coming from the world of Japanese products you may want to research service and replacement part costs. I remember 15 years ago I brought a porsche 944 s into the dealer for front brake pads and sensors. 600 bucks later I realized that I might not be able to afford the car long term. Luckily, I flipped it over a short time later. I know the front brakes components are cheaper on the 55 than the 63, but just an idea of cost for you: I had the dealer replace my pads/rotors at 7500 miles under warrantee because of pulsation, and the quote was $2500. Thankfully picked up by MB. Obviously getting work done outside of the dealer by a competent tech will save you a bunch of money, but I'd still spend the money picking up a MB extended warrantee for 3 yrs 100k.

str8ridin

btw, it holds it in gear after spirited driving to ensure smooth, uninterrupted turns on the track.