How do I change gears manually on my 2008 mercedes c class automatic?

[television]

I can kick the ESP in when stating off on a corner, say a left hand one with too much throttle and if the back kicks out the ESP lamp will come on and the power from the engine cut, so it is the force of the kick out or getting it out of line the initiates the ESP.

I strongly suggest that you try a icy car park to see what happens.

I still fail to see how you think you can stop the car sliding if it was in a manual mode, the wheels will beak away dependent on the amount of throttle used in a manual or auto car, or the force of the brakes applied.

You have the C mode where the car can pull away smoother than you could in a manual

 

[geek84]

Hi television

Once again, many thanks for your reply.

What would happen if I was going at (say) 30mph on a slippery road (either a straight road or an uphill/downhill) and the car started slipping? How would the ESP react?

 

[whitenemesis]

Do you have your owner's handbook? It's all explained there.

If not download a copy?

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=75191

 

[television]

ESP is not intended for Snow conditions, the switch is there so that you can turn it off in those conditions, but even when turned off there is still a little that still comes into effect.

The ESP system has a pendulum type switch in the center of the car, if the force of the sliding is great enough, then The ESP will start to work by using the brakes on the wheels required and by reducing the engine output. so once again it is a force thing and not a speed thing

 

[woodley_bob]

Auto box with mind of its own

Interesting thread, this. I have a W211 E class 220 diesel with the 5 speed auto and it took me a long time to figure it out properly after I bought it (at least a year of playing around!)

I believe it's the same box in the W204s as well.

What I've seen is that use of manual overrides on the gearbox doesn't necessarily help smooth driving on slippy roads unless you are careful to check what the car is already doing for you. The manual settings on the gearbox don't particularly help this for the following reasons.

(this is true if you are in either C or S modes)

When you press for D-, the car will generally shift down one gear from its current gear. The problem is that it isn't always very obvious what gear the car is in, particularly since the gearbox changes down when you are braking or even sometimes when you just lift off going down a long hill. This is especially a problem on the 7 speed cars (I've driven an E280CDI a bit, and to be honest I just lost count).

Having manually shifted down into some gear, the indicator will show you what you are now in. You can manually increase the upper limit one gear at a time until you get back to D, or you can press and hold D+ to go back to D - i.e. let the car use any gear.

If you press D- then D+, quickly, the car will lock into the current gear without having time to shift down first. This is sometimes handy on a twisty bit of A road when you want to stop if hunting between 4 and 5.

As with most autos though, the car only decides what gear it really wants to be in when you go back on the throttle. As a result it's better to get braking done before any bend then back on the gas (gently) to let it get into the gear and hold it there.

I believe the Sport models (only) have an additional gearbox "M" mode which puts the car into a fixed gear and leaves it there. I tried it once and never really got on with it.

Having come from a 1987 Range Rover auto this was all a bit of a surprise; I used to have to mess around a lot with the gear level. To be honest I only override now when I want to hold speed on a hill, or to avoid the car hunting between gears on A roads.

Last winter I did have a bit of trouble pulling away on sheet ice because I use the brake to control creep at very low speed. When it's really really slippy, the front wheels lock with rears still turning which loses steering, not nice. I put the handbrake on one or two clicks to control better in that situation. The dashboard goes red but I guess it's ok for a short distance. Better than hitting a wall anyway.

Hope some of that was useful.

 

[dannyracer]

+/- tip

1234 gears will show on dash next to mileage .5th will be auto .

 

[Naraic]

1234 gears will show on dash next to mileage .5th will be auto .

Best to look at the date of the last post...three years ago?

 

[davidsl500]

Best to look at the date of the last post...three years ago?

He's probably got the hang of it by now then !

The correct answer was to buy some winter tyres...