manual or auto

controlling your gearbox


  • Total voters
    58
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

zoros

Active Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2014
Messages
527
Location
N Wales
Car
SL55 AMG
For those with auto box, stick change and paddles, which do you use most and why?

I find that during long stretches, I leave it in auto. She's a bit like a limo. On A roads or around town - paddles and stiffen the suspension. Totally different beast. Handles much more aggressively and sounds like mister angry.
 
Last edited:
I think the box does an acceptable job of selecting a good gear most of the time, but I will pull the paddle rather than use the kick-down if I want to overtake. - On the highway I just engage distronic.

If I ever take it somewhere that I could use the full range in anger, then I might try running it in manual. - Cheap day at Oulton Park for example, or maybe a weekend on the Isle of Man.
 
Gearstick? How quaint.
 
My E class is just in auto the whole time, it's no B road blaster so changing down gears via the gear selector isn't really necessary.

My CLS on the other hand is nice to get more involved with so I will sometimes use the paddles and firm up the suspension.

The SL my other half owns is more wafty than sporty but I use the paddles do drop down a gear to overtake rather than switch I manual.

Paddles are no where near as satisfying as proper gear changes and rev matching etc. The V8 in my CLS makes up for it though!
 
The ML has no manual mode as such, it just has the ability to lock-out the higher gears.

Tap the Steering wheel button again and the next highest gear is locked-out.....and so on...right down to first.

I thought this might be a bit useless and restrictive at first, but it is exactly what you need. Cruise normally in full auto, letting the box select from all 7 speeds, or if you fancy a blast along twisty country lanes, use the steering wheel paddles to make sure you have plenty of engine braking when required. All the control you need really.

And for those at the back, don't laugh, the ML is quite capable around country lane twisties, just too wide for all the brain-dead tossers that insist on comming towards you in the middle of the bloody road!
 
I do use the lockup on the stick to keep it in lower gears on hills. Otherwise it just sits in D. I do put it in neutral at lights tho.
 
I have a C55. I rarely use the manual mode buttons. I have never used the manual stick mode. I even bought some of those paddle shifters but never got round to fitting them. Fortunately, I have another manual car to do all that with :)
 
When I bought it, I 'assumed' it would be there for me if I needed it in a hurry (the gearbox!). So I left it in full auto. Consequently and after many months of much driving on all roads, I felt that my love affair with the car was running out of steam and quickly. So I started thinking about looking for that 'special' car that was still evading me - out there - man and machine as one!!

Until that is, I started experimenting with the paddles and what a difference that makes.
Auto has a delay - you make the choice, there is a pause of a second or less and then she responds but even then it isn't always at the right position on the torque curve for your anticipated manouevre - resulting in egg on face or slightly dodgy overtake or revs too hig / too low etc.
Basically an auto box is a REACTIVE response to driving.

But the paddles put you firmly back in control, YOU choose where you want to be on the torque curve and for how little or how long and when to go for it. It is a PRO-ACTIVE response to driving, admittedly a more aggressive ride coupled with the ABC sport suspension setting but by god she becomes a different beast and a whole LOAD of fun as you visit all corners of the rev range feeling the cars potential and allowing just the right amount of it out at any one moment. The sound, too - different car.
I have actually fallen back in lurve with my 55 and feel comfortable with the fact that it is much more a "supercar" than it can ever be in "LIMO" mode Zzzzzzzzz:bannana:

Looking at the results thus far, could it reflect the fact that the majority of respondents drive saloons or heavy "non" sporting Merc's?
 
Last edited:
Coming from a long list of very fast, manual cars, it's hard to let go of the control so I'm always using the paddles. I'll leave it in Comfort for anything else, but do experiment with Sport+ every now and then. Sport (non +) I never use. I can;t imaging when I'd want it; seems like a halfway house between C & S+ which I don't really need for the driving (weekend only) that I do.
 
Mainly in c unless I want a blast then it's sport + and I'll play with the paddles for downshifting I've used manual a couple times and always forget to change up and subsequently lost a few tussles lol
 
90% auto, but if overtaking or going up a steep hill, will give the Tiptronic shifter a nudge to the left to drop down a gear and that does the trick.
 
Comfort most of the time, Sport+ if I'm having a little fun, Manual only for downshifting and hearing the crackles - the Mercedes gearbox/paddles is far too slow to enjoy driving it whilst using them, you need to anticipate shifting about 2-3 seconds before redline to allow enough time for the computer to recognise a new gear has been asked for and to then change over. Better to just let the computer decide when to shift based on your throttle and breaking position.

Havn't tested the new 63's but even the A45 seemed to not want to do what it was told half the time. Certainly faster, but still a long way off the DSG's that Audi/BMW/VW are now using
 
Comfort most of the time. Drop it down a gear or two using the paddles when descending steep hills.
 
There is a bit of delay in manual and it does occasionally ignore your input but after a day at Castle Coomb I only found it ignore a downshift once coming into a corner.
 
I get the feeling that in this particular instance, most Mercedes drivers are limo drivers and use their vehicles for comfort not speed and agility. Maybe I should post it on the AMG thread?

Oh............I have........what a surprising result so far........
 
At the end of the day there's a lot of ego and false machismo surrounding the shifting of the "Mystery Stick" (manual box) so many blokes don't want to admit that the Mercedes Auto (and some others) do a better job 99% of the time.

IMHO, the other 1% of the time, manual shifting of an auto box just about covers every evantuality.

The slight loss in efficiency lost due to the torque cnverter are more than compensated for by the smoothness of changes. This has a side-benefit of extending the life of all the driveline components, and a lot of the suspension parts too..

Win, win...
 
What's better - my old MR2 turbo manual gear change or my current Merc Auto ?

Answer = neither - both are good at what they do!
 
PaulG, I'd like to take you up on this if I may -

So let's say there is a stretch of A road coming up where you decide it's good for overtaking, you need to minimise the length of time you overtake, so (IF in 'manual') you drop a cog and increase the revs to just on the underside of the steep curve of the torque urve (which for the SL55 is around 2800 revs). She then sits there with the full use of your 500HP under INSTANT demand. You may need to throttle back because of a bend or accelerate if you go for the overtake but you have instant demand available.

You can't do this in 'auto'. You have to sit behind the vehicle at whatever rev range you are in currently, then if you decide to go for it, kick down and get whatever excess revs the engine gives you to get past. In all probability it is too many revs because you need to be sure to get past quickly and so you hit the throttle a little harder than you would normally envisage because you don't know where you are on the torques curve.

I suppose the BIG question is: why do people buy "sports" cars if they don't understand the rev range?

Or don't the majority of AMG care/bother with the torque curve whilst driving on A roads??
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom