Am I expecting too much from an auto?

[1975andyt]

I own a 2003 E270cdi, 1 former owner, fsh and only 55K. When I bought the car I had the glycol test done which was clear but as a precaution after reading all the horror stories on the forum I had the atf changed and a new radiator fitted.

I have owned around 70 cars since I passed my test 20 years ago, this is my first Merc and my first auto. Its a cracking car and looks like it cost considerably more than it did - the only real niggle I have is the auto box - in my humble opinion it seems to change down gears too soon when pulling away slowly in traffic sometimes resulting in the car droning, its fine under modest or hard acceleration. I must stress that the car doesn't judder, jump, vibrate or any of the other glycol related issues that others have documented, it just has a slight drone for a second or 2 when driving it like a chauffer.

Am I being too fussy about a 10 year old Merc?

 

[Major774]

Have you left the gearbox in C mode?

 

[1975andyt]

My auto has W & S settings, it seems the same when either is selected at low speeds (it is different under hard acceleration just not slow)

 

[Stratman]

W (Winter) mode will start in 2nd gear and change up early, all in the cause of avoiding wheelspin on icy roads. If you engage kickdown from a standing start it will use 1st gear.

S (Summer) starts in 1st gear and changes up a bit later compared to W.

One good thing about these boxes is they adapt to your driving style. If you drive like Miss Daisy it will change up very early with smooth changes. If you drive like you stole it, it will hang on to the lower gears much longer with harder changes in between. It takes a little while to adapt, so this may be what you're experiencing.

 

[jaymanek]

the droning is caused by the torque convertor issue...

 

[1975andyt]

I can put up with the droning (I think) at low revs as other than this issue, its spot on for a relatively cheap 10 year old car. Is the torque convertor likely to cause any future problems............or am I asking how long is a piece of string?

 

[E55BOF]

W210 or W211?

 

[1975andyt]

W211