I read it in a magazine that the car drops 0.4" when you it is put in "S" aka Sport mode. I'm not 100% sure.
From some unofficial sources I have also read that the car should drop in S-mode even if stationary. I don't find this from the user manual and if I try it on the car in my garage, I don't feel or see the car dropping at all. Perhaps I need to try it again and let enough time for the car to respond.
Anyway, on the W211 Airmatic you can easily detect the car dropping when changing the setting from comfort to sports 1 or 2 (from no indicator lights to one or two of the leds active). This allowed more flexibility for the driver but perhaps MB thought that W221 drivers would anyway let the car decide.
Sport mode does not do anything to the suspension. It changes the transmisson setting only. In sport mode the car starts in first gear; in comfort it starts in second gear. The shift points are also softer in comfort mode. The suspension will lower the car when it reaches 65MPH. The issue of sport and comfort is explained in the owners manuel. I had some confusion about this until I actually read it in a brochure for the 2008 CL.
Sport mode does not do anything to the suspension. It changes the transmisson setting only. In sport mode the car starts in first gear; in comfort it starts in second gear. The shift points are also softer in comfort mode. The suspension will lower the car when it reaches 65MPH. The issue of sport and comfort is explained in the owners manuel. I had some confusion about this until I actually read it in a brochure for the 2008 CL.
An old thread, just wanted to add support for the above (because I was speculating differently long time ago). W221 does not get lower when stationary even in S-mode (at high speed is a different thing).
I actually read there is a difference on the W211 too, US-cars (at least some) should not get lower when stationary while Euro cars definitely do that.
The W211 has a separate button for the suspension which I would prefer to have on the W221 too.
Linear Mode
