tw2

Might be a stupid question. On the CLK55 you have to select manual mode to be able to use the gear switches on the steering wheel.

The E63 I drove you can change up/down a gear which ever mode you are in and it will go back to auto again if you hold the right paddle or leave it for a while.

Does the E55 work like this? Or can it be adjusted/tuned to work like this. I know that if you put a 05/06 CLK55 TCU into a 03/04 it magically gains this ability.

MAN55LE

When I hit the paddles on the steering wheel, I can manually go to that gear in any mode....

RAWE55

^^^ what he said, you can change gears in any mode with E55. Can be a pain in the *** when you accidently hit the shifter on the steering wheel making a turn at speed and it down gears into a lower gear. Done this before.. Plant your foot and pretend like you know what your doing leaving sideways and smoking up the street. Less embarassing

E55Freak

or you can just hit the right paddle until it goes back to "D."

HeissRod

As everyone else has said, you can downshift with no problem. The problem is upshifting in S mode. If the car determines that the amount of gas you are giving it means that it thinks you should hold the gear longer, then it can ignore your upshift input and it will upshift when it thinks you need to.

chiromikey

'03's can only use the paddles in M mode. '04 and up can use the paddles in S and M.

tw2

Thanks everyone, this definitely answers my question. Definitely looking at an 04 then. It is very annoying having to go S to C to M then 4th to 3rd to 2nd for my favorite corner or roundabout and then back to S again.

Driving in M mode everywhere gets a bit tiring and kind of makes it pointless having an auto but on the other hand the TCU does not know what a roundabout is.

chiromikey

Keep in mind that you can still downshift in S mode using the gear shift lever, just not the paddles. I wouldn't let that stop me from buying a good '03 if I found one.

tw2

That is true but if it is like the CLK then you hit it left and it goes to 4th initially regardless of what gear you might have been in before. I do find it helpful in manual mode going around sharp corners when you have no idea where the steering wheel button is.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Correct

Whats_AMG

I can change gears from paddles or shifter in any mode C,M or S in my 2004.

Can Drive 55

Ditto on my 05.

tw2

Just out of interest I am guessing there is no way of adding this ability to the 03's?

Crissus

Im interested aswell.. maybe through a update/Tune of the TCU?

ben73

Thread dig

I have an 05 and as chiromikey wrote above, you can knock it down a gear with the buttons or the shifter while in C, S or M.

Is there anything I change in STAR to make it like an 03 so the buttons and sideways movement of the shifter only work in M mode?

THANKS.

tw2

I forgot about this thread. It is definitely helpful. I just wish it let you upshift to a higher gear as well as a lower gear. Sometime the TCU feels like you have to get to 3000rpm despite very light acceleration.