How many gears should I have ? 9 speed auto

[Worcestershire]

I have a 2017 W213 E220d Estate, it comes with a nine speed auto.
Spec sheet : 421 9-SPEED AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

Something is bugging me, when I drive it only does up to D8 on the instrument cluster, so I told myself the 9 gears are 8 forward (hence D8) and reverse making nine.
But my interest got the better of me and I googled how many forward gears should I have, and it seems to say 9.

Anyone know the honest figure ? Am I missing a gear ?

 

[Ted]

If it has had the emissions update it may not change up to 9th until you are doing over 70mph.

 

[markjay]

It will only go into 9th gear when in Drive (D).

If you use the manual shift limiter, you can only limit it to D8. This is because the so-called 'Manual mode' is in fact a shift limiter, I.e. it's not a true manual transmission as such.

And obviously, it makes no sense to manually limit the transmission to the highest gear (9th)... it's already limited to that by design (when in D), i.e. there's no 10th gear to shift into anyway. So the manual shift limiter only works up to D8.

Try this: with the car in D8, drive it until the engine rev goes up, then shift from manual to D, you'll see the rev drop as the car goes from 8th gear into 9th gear when the shift limit is removed.

(As Ted said, the car may need to be doing more than 70mph to achieve this... so make up your own mind)

 

[Scooby_Doo]

The 9 speed on my C250 wouldn't go to 9 under 70mph (after software update) but you can manually upshift to 9th if you want.

 

[rf065]

The 9 speed on my C250 wouldn't go to 9 under 70mph (after software update) but you can manually upshift to 9th if you want.

True, I can manually shift mine into 9th as low as 62mph.

 

[Worcestershire]

Thank you all, I went on the motorway and it stayed in 8th at 70mph. I then manually upped it to 9 and it stayed there for a minute (M9) then it went back over to D9 and did stay for about 2-3 minutes (on cruise control) but then dropped back into 8th !!!!

At least I now know I am not going mad, but I dont understand why its like this! surely doing 1200rpm in 9th rather than 1500rpm in 8th is better for the tree huggers ??

 

[Skd884]

11.

 

[MeQ]

Learn something new every day… I always assumed the 9 speed in my c class was 8 forward plus reverse

 

[rf065]

Thank you all, I went on the motorway and it stayed in 8th at 70mph. I then manually upped it to 9 and it stayed there for a minute (M9) then it went back over to D9 and did stay for about 2-3 minutes (on cruise control) but then dropped back into 8th !!!!

At least I now know I am not going mad, but I dont understand why its like this! surely doing 1200rpm in 9th rather than 1500rpm in 8th is better for the tree huggers ??

If you drive with a lead foot, it will hang on to gears longer. If you drive with a light throttle, it changes up earlier. No matter how you drive though, it will always want to drop from 9th to 8th at even the slightest suggestion of any incline or pressing the throttle harder.

 

[PolishGeorge85]

It made me smile, I don't think since first car was produced, reverse was counted as a gear. Don't know why. 20 yrs old car with 5gear manual gearbox, always had 5 forward gears and then reverse.

Regarding 9-tronic, there is lots of things happening under the bonnet, while we enjoy ourselves driving. Just like RF065 said, depending how happy/angry driver you are. Your Merc, adapts to it.

Also, and this is main reason why I replied to this.... If you car is doing 70mph on flat motorway, doesn't go to 9th gear. You should start looking for something, that makes ECU think, it's either going uphill or something is slowing/dragging your car.

My first e350 at 94000miles had this issue, it wouldn't go to 7th gear.
I got my current e350 ,had it for few months, and developed similar "issue" not going to 9th.

Both, Not much longer after first symptoms, front wheel bearings failure. Obviously not disasterous failure but still.
Both times, bearings replaced, MPG unbelievably better, gear changes at lower speeds. And happiness of crusing at motorway speed with engine "only just" ticking over.

It worth checking.

 

[MSG2004]

Thank you all, I went on the motorway and it stayed in 8th at 70mph. I then manually upped it to 9 and it stayed there for a minute (M9) then it went back over to D9 and did stay for about 2-3 minutes (on cruise control) but then dropped back into 8th !!!!

At least I now know I am not going mad, but I dont understand why its like this! surely doing 1200rpm in 9th rather than 1500rpm in 8th is better for the tree huggers ??

As above. But I've noted it will go automatically to the 9th gear at a fraction below 70 and stay around there from about 68/59mph as long as car is on a level road.

In the D8 mode on the motorway, I do keep on pressing the flap shit and it does go to 9th as above and may stay there for a few minutes but not more

Since the emissions work on my gle, i felt, rightly or wrongly the car is more sluggish and slightly less mph.

 

[ALFAitalia]

@George85

It made me smile, I don't think since first car was produced, reverse was counted as a gear. Don't know why. 20 yrs old car with 5gear manual gearbox, always had 5 forward gears and then reverse.

And on many older manual boxes the five forward and one reverse would only actually only have 5 gears in total....including reverse as the reverse gear was of the same cog as first just spinning the other way via an intermediate gear called the reverse idler gear.

 

[pembssurf]

My S213 E220d won't shift into 9th until 73mph on flat or downhill. Uphill you'd have to be closer to 80 before it even thinks about it.

 

[Wolfie1]

I think you answered your own question when you asked “how many gears does my 9 speed auto have”

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Reset the transmission and with a light foot let the car accelerate through all the gears , changes thereafter should come quicker and more frequent,not holding on .

If after a few weeks,you feel it's lagging again , reset it again.

9th gear is also tuned into the emissions, engine temperature, dpf , blah blah blah , it's a bit like stop start , it has to meet certain parameters,before it happens.

I've known my E350 and my GLC 350 to engage 9th at speeds of 60/65 mph . When the mood is right . I tend to lift my foot off ever so slightly and it does go to 9th.

My journey to work is now around 5 miles only and it's reluctant to get out of 7th ,due to engine temperature.

 

[markjay]

EDIT

 

[PolishGeorge85]

I think you answered your own question when you asked “how many gears does my 9 speed auto have”

Is it not called rhetorical question....?

 

[PolishGeorge85]

I think you answered your own question when you asked “how many gears does my 9 speed auto have”

Is it not called rhetorical question....?

Sorry, technical problems