No it's an extra only available on certain models, had it on my last B & hated it, I kept catching it on turning & getting 'stuck' first gear without realising it.
I found the ref to the gear 7 in the owners manual provided with the car i have got 3/4 of the way through it so far and am glad i am reading it, full of useful info.
Yes i guess i dont drive fast enough then, round town the distances of the roads where you can get over 50mph are short so you dont normally get to go fast. I am going down to london at the weekend so i will see what i get on the motorway.
Do you guys in Europe with the CVT have the shift buttons on the back of the steering wheel? That would make the CVT a lot better, IMO.
In Belgium the option costs 185 EUR, which can be considered quite cheap (compared to the price of the car and the other options) or quite expensive (considering it consists in adding two small bits of plastic behind the steering wheel).
Anyway I haven't taken the option, because I don't really care about it... In the very exceptional case where I want to use the CVT in manual, there's always the "one-touche gear shifting" by pushing left or right the transmission "stick"...
About 6-speed versus 5-speed:
diesel versions and B200 Turbo have manual 6-speed
petrol versions (except B200 Turbo) have manual 5-speed
I think all the CVT versions are 7 virtual speeds. At least I'm sure of it for diesel versions in Europe...
The B 200 and B 200 T here also has the virtual 7 speed.
Rule number one for maximum fuel efficiency is: don't get a CVT, get a manual! But I would agree that driving in "C" and keeping engine speeds low on acceleration would be best for lowering fuel consumption.
Surprisingly the 'Official' consumption figures supplied by Mercedes actually don't show a lot of difference between the auto & the manual transmission versions :-
B200 (petrol) urban man 30.4 auto 29.7 * extra urban man 47.1 auto 47.1 * combined man 39.2 auto 38.7
B200CDI (diesel) urban man39.2 auto 37.2 * extra urban man 61.4 auto 56.5 * combined man 50.4 auto 47.1
So it is strange that the diesel comes off worse here but this is ofset by that beautiful seamless takeoff from 0-whatever.
Performance is hardly affected either losing only .1 of a second to 62 mph and 3-4 mph on the top speed.
I think it's more of a case of you either love or hate Auto transmission.
N.B. these figures are correct as of M/B latest web site figures
Linear Mode
