Can i shift manually on an automatic w124?

[Oliver Farkas]

The question is in the title.

 

[turbopete]

you can downshift using the gearstick but theres no way to manually upshift in an auto of that era

 

[Oliver Farkas]

you can downshift using the gearstick but theres no way to manually upshift in an auto of that era

Ok. I'm asking cause i just found out that you can manually shift on tiptronic. I want an older merc for my first car but i don't want an automatic. It would give me less driving experience i think. I would want an auto if i can shift manually too.

 

[turbopete]

Ok. I'm asking cause i just found out that you can manually shift on tiptronic. I want an older merc for my first car but i don't want an automatic. It would give me less driving experience i think. I would want an auto if i can shift manually too.

when the 124 was in production NO Mercedes had any form of full manual shift, like the tiptronic type systems, unless it WAS a manual. speaking from personal experience, manual 124s (and 201's for that matter) are relatively common, compared to the later 202's and 210s

 

[silestanix]

To further add, Tiptronic style system only started coming in since the late 90's so no W124 would have it.

 

[Silver 300te]

For added driving experience an extra toe-ing right at the end of the accelerator pedal, and it will downshift to give you extra warp factor. Can get addictive. Not great for fuel consumption.


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[kid-jensen]

The manual control selection on the W124 is a well thought-out system.

In terms of "spirited" driving, it will allow you to hold on to lower gears for plenty of engine breaking and instant throttle response, but without the possibility of engine damage due to over-revving.

Quite honestly, once you've got used to an auto, going back to a manual feels like a load of uneccessary arm-work you could do without. For example, I'd be surprised if you wanted to return to a manual Advance-Retard...

The only area which can be frustrating on most autos is the lack of a forced upshift. But...in my experience of Mercedes, you don't NEED to force an upshift, because the shift points are exactly where they need to be.

On both my old Audis, the auto shift points were completely unsutable for a diesel engine, and if you were in a hurry, the shift point was nearly 2000 revs higher than it should be. Very frustrating!

That's one of the reasons I now drive a Merc..

Go ahead and test-drive a W124, I guarantee you won't find the auto compromised in any way..

 

[d215yq]

The W124 autos I had (4 speed E220) were not the newer "super intelligent" ones that have all sorts of parameters to decide gear - in a W124 the gear is simply determined by pedal position relating to speed. After a few weeks I knew the points it would shift up and down for every speed by intuition so for example if I wanted it to change up early could lift the throttle a second and it would silkily smooth change up. The same could be done with acceleration - knowing the limits as to how far the throttle could go down before changing down so deciding whether it changed down or not.

The only things I hated about it was it held on to gears longer when cold resulting in me not being able to control it as above and jerkier up changes and also the silly "position 2" on the selector which then limited it to 1st when you came to a stop instead of 2nd.

Other than those foibles really well engineered and so much easier to control the correct gear and take offs than for example in a W212 I hired and drove 1k miles in which was jerkier and had a lag for starting. The only problem isn't that you won't know how to drive an auto after but you won't want to. I still wish my current one was an auto but I believe the manuals are a lot more fuel efficient and in Spain at least a lot more common

 

[Naraic]

Ok. I'm asking cause i just found out that you can manually shift on tiptronic. I want an older merc for my first car but i don't want an automatic. It would give me less driving experience i think. I would want an auto if i can shift manually too.

Firstly, Mercedes do not have tiptronic.

Secondly for those cars that have a "manual" shift as part of the auto gearbox it is not manual it's just a way of changing gear down or up (if the box is already in a lower gear). But there is no clutch so you are not getting any experience whatsoever of a manual box with a clutch pedal.

 

[turbopete]

Firstly, Mercedes do not have tiptronic.

Secondly for those cars that have a "manual" shift as part of the auto gearbox it is not manual it's just a way of changing gear down or up (if the box is already in a lower gear). But there is no clutch so you are not getting any experience whatsoever of a manual box with a clutch pedal.

ok, so tiptronic is the Porsche brand name for the autos with a 'manual select' option, ie you can override, to an extent, what the auto box is programmed to do with either paddles or moving the gearstick to one side or the other I'm MBs, I believe. the term 'tiptronic' is pretty much generically used now as its the 'original' mainstream system of this type and as a result, the name has stuck (much like most people I know don't go around the house doing their 'vacuum cleaning' they do their hoovering!)

secondly, I agree with the fact that an auto would not give the same experience as a manual. as has been said, theres no clutch and theres no skill involved at all in simply jabbing a stick across or pulling on a flappy paddle (or pressing buttons, as per the Ford Powershift equivalent system).if you want the driving experience, the ONLY option is a manual. no amount of 'clutchless manuals' or 'tiptronic' style autos will ever come close. in fact the flappy paddles only even exist because some marketing guy decided it sounded more impressive that you can shave another 0.2s off the 0-60 time with a flappy paddle box fitted, so those not in the know, fell for it! also you can select ANY gear you like, at ANY road speed (great for snow etc, which was where the auto in my old 210 fell down the most, if I'm honest) whereas with an auto, even with paddles or whatever system, will only allow you to do whats PROGRAMMED into the ecu to be allowed for you to do (so no 4th gear at 25mph to keep traction, for example)

 

[LostKiwi]

There are benefits to flappy paddle boxes. Perhaps the biggest is that it's impossible to miss a gear. Another is your hands are always close to the gear selector making it easy to change gear mid corner if necessary (yes I know that's bad practise but with tightly stacked ratios sometimes it's necessary) and flappy boxes offer the opportunity for far more ratios than a manual box.
There's a reason almost all top motorsport cars use them be it F1 or WRC.

 

[turbopete]

true that there are advantages such as being unable to miss a gear, but that's the point of a manual, to have the challenge, IMO at least. as for changing gear mid corner (or on roundabouts etc) its not exactly a huge deal to do that with a manual on a road car. F1 and rally cars have gone that way mostly to gain fractions of a second, which counts in motorsport, although its a while since ive watched much rallying and they still had the long gearsticks that doubled up as a handbrake for handbrake turns when I last saw them, so that may have changed as they seem to use the handbrake very little nowadays, compared to years ago where sideways was the thing!

 

[d215yq]

true that there are advantages such as being unable to miss a gear, but that's the point of a manual, to have the challenge, IMO at least.

A good 95% of the time I agree with you... with my non-functioning Anti-jerk system and (suspected) shot DMF and worn clutch I've now got 60k miles under my belt of having to only let the clutch out when the revs match the correct speed in gear and very coordinated hill sarts to avoid juddering and/or vibration and in extreme cases bangs from somewhere in the transmission. Adds an extra element to driving; no point trying to be the fastest in a 300D, I've given up trying to maximise fuel economy as I never get less than 50mpg anyway, so might as well focus on trying to be the smoothest/most sympathetic to car.

That said there is that 5% of the time where I'm driving through the city at a busy time trying to navigate 5 lane roads leading into 5 lane roundabouts having to keep 5 abreast in perfect formation at 30mph whilst watching for traffic lights, pedestrians etc and I wish the ****** thing was automatic and I could concentrate 100% on the surroundings/listenign to music, etc.

 

[turbopete]

A good 95% of the time I agree with you... with my non-functioning Anti-jerk system and (suspected) shot DMF and worn clutch I've now got 60k miles under my belt of having to only let the clutch out when the revs match the correct speed in gear and very coordinated hill sarts to avoid juddering and/or vibration and in extreme cases bangs from somewhere in the transmission. Adds an extra element to driving; no point trying to be the fastest in a 300D, I've given up trying to maximise fuel economy as I never get less than 50mpg anyway, so might as well focus on trying to be the smoothest/most sympathetic to car.

That said there is that 5% of the time where I'm driving through the city at a busy time trying to navigate 5 lane roads leading into 5 lane roundabouts having to keep 5 abreast in perfect formation at 30mph whilst watching for traffic lights, pedestrians etc and I wish the ****** thing was automatic and I could concentrate 100% on the surroundings/listenign to music, etc.

ive always said theres a time/place for autos. just not for me, at this time, where I am! having said that, I never really notice I'm changing gear, until I get in an auto and my arm has a mind of its own!!!