Adaptive Transmission

23318 Views 29 Replies 9 Participants Last post by 1BaDS430, Aug 4, 2015

divindra

Discussion Starter · Apr 7, 2009

I had my Benz for about a month almost 2 months. I have heard about the adaptive transmission. My questions are What really is the Adaptive transmissions purpose? What is it for and what does it do? Should i disconnect the battery to reset the transmission for the way i drive? How will the way i drive affect the way it adapts? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in Advance

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Nickolas

· #2 · Apr 7, 2009

divindra said:
How will the way i drive affect the way it adapts?

If you are fond of relaxed driving, the transmission shifts gears early (at lower RPMs) and tends to use higher gears. This increases driving comfort, helps to save gas and motor resource.

If you love quick starts, rough braking, changing lanes, frequent overtakes, and so on - the transmission holds lower gears for longer periods and tends to switch into lower gear with a slight touch of accelerator pedal, allowing engine to work in higher revs to provide more power. This is good for passionate driving, but it affects gas consumption and motor resource.

It takes 10-20 minutes of driving for the transmission to adjust to your driving habits.

divindra

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 7, 2009

Nickolas said:
If you are fond of relaxed driving, the transmission shifts gears early (at lower RPMs) and tends to use higher gears. This increases driving comfort, helps to save gas and motor resource.

If you love quick starts, rough braking, changing lanes, frequent overtakes, and so on - the transmission holds lower gears for longer periods and tends to switch into lower gear with a slight touch of accelerator pedal, allowing engine to work in higher revs to provide more power. This is good for passionate driving, but it affects gas consumption and motor resource.

It takes 10-20 minutes of driving for the transmission to adjust to your driving habits.

Thanks. But the thing is that sommetimes i like to drive in commfort and sometimes I like to use the 302 hp. If it was to adapt to me driving comfortably would that take away from the acceleration? And about how much difference between the gas difference. Is it just a matter of .5 gallons or like 4 or 5 gallons difference?

Gammaess

· #4 · Apr 7, 2009

Nickolas said:
If you are fond of relaxed driving, the transmission shifts gears early (at lower RPMs) and tends to use higher gears. This increases driving comfort, helps to save gas and motor resource.

If you love quick starts, rough braking, changing lanes, frequent overtakes, and so on - the transmission holds lower gears for longer periods and tends to switch into lower gear with a slight touch of accelerator pedal, allowing engine to work in higher revs to provide more power. This is good for passionate driving, but it affects gas consumption and motor resource.

It takes 10-20 minutes of driving for the transmission to adjust to your driving habits.

One thing to remember!!! see the guys in here who complain about the w220's. you drive it hard as it was not meant to be it will break and the repairs will be costly! The power they gave you is to pass and so that the engine runs without effort at highway speeds and also to be smooth and quiet while accel. This vehicle was ment for comfort,quiet and class. I do not think the tranny has a memory? I think the active tranny responds to your foot and replies back to all it's components for as smooth a reponse as possible. Let me know if I am wrong? I drive mine very very easy and it will still kick down when needed. As it has always done.

Nickolas

· #5 · Apr 7, 2009

divindra said:
Thanks. But the thing is that sommetimes i like to drive in commfort and sometimes I like to use the 302 hp. If it was to adapt to me driving comfortably would that take away from the acceleration? And about how much difference between the gas difference. Is it just a matter of .5 gallons or like 4 or 5 gallons difference?

If the transmission has adapted to comfort driving, it will need some time to re-adjust to sporty driving.
Have you ever noticed, that if you push the car after driving an hour or so on the highway, the car accelerates kind of reluctantly? Ofcourse, it does switch into kickdown mode, but just after a moment of hesitation - and even in kickdown, it does not spin the engine to the very top. And as soon as you ease the pressure on the pedal, the transmission switches back into high gear.

In average, I get 18 mpg (I'm a relaxed driver), when force the car, I get somewhere about 12 mpg.
BTW, when I speak of "forced driving" I mean something like this:
YouTube - Races in Moscow
YouTube - Russian Street Racing, Really Crazy.

(The videos are not mine, found them on u-tube)

Nickolas

· #6 · Apr 7, 2009

Gammaess said:
One thing to remember!!! see the guys in here who complain about the w220's. you drive it hard as it was not meant to be it will break and the repairs will be costly! The power they gave you is to pass and so that the engine runs without effort at highway speeds and also to be smooth and quiet while accel. This vehicle was ment for comfort,quiet and class. I do not think the tranny has a memory? I think the active tranny responds to your foot and replies back to all it's components for as smooth a reponse as possible. Let me know if I am wrong? I drive mine very very easy and it will still kick down when needed. As it has always done.

That's right - the S-class is not a race car. It is a comfortable cruiser, capable of running at high speeds (120+ mph) for hours - that is what the powerful engine designed for.

The transmission does have its memory - it remembers the "driving style". A couple of kickdowns during the trip do not totally re-adapt the transmission - the other thing if you always drive fast (like in the links above). If you try really fast driving for a while, you will notice that the character of your car has changed dramatically (it will be more of BMW-style).

I also suspect that the Airmatic suspension is an adaptive thing, because after fast driving the car does not feel like a floating barge any more - the ride becomes stiffer, the car can corner at higher speeds.

Gammaess

· #7 · Apr 8, 2009

Thanks! is this the only vehicle that does this? I have had allot of different cars and never heard of such a thing. Thought that this was just a Hoax and as I never really experienced that before. If anyone has more to offer on this?

Nickolas

· #8 · Apr 8, 2009

I think any modern luxury car is equipped with adaptive transmittion - it has been designed years ago...

DrJfrmLA

· #9 · Apr 8, 2009

Nickolas is right so far as I know. Our Lexus LS430 has an adaptive transmission as do nearly all Toyota vehicles. My indie has a Tundra pickup and he says he unhooks the battery about every other wash and that resets the transmission to factory defaults which stiffens the shifting up from his relaxed adaptation. I'm not sure the MB transmissions reset like that, but I've got a vague memory that they do (from another thread). All MB transmissions are adaptive, as are the ones in practically all new"ish" cars. I think if you have more than 5 speeds in the box, it probably adapts.

Gammaess

· #10 · Apr 8, 2009

Thanks again, I just thought the adaptive tranny was a total suspension, steering and tranny team response, not a memory lock for habits. so when i am on the highway travelling for a few hours the tranny learns the way i am driving. And then I get off the hihway the suspension,braking and steering will stay the same for city? and how long does it stay that way? and I have to disconnect battery for default mode? Then why have W+S mode also firm ride adjustment and ESP? I have modified cars with chips and through computers software reformatted the ECM. but never seen an intellegent all around mapping system? no need for fuel and timing management systems. Just drive to max and then pull up to starting line. Sorry guys for the run on, but I am old school with allot of exotic's under my belt and have a real hard time with this one.

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DrJfrmLA

· #11 · Apr 8, 2009

Gammaess, I don't believe the suspension, steering and braking adapt. I could be wrong about that, but I've never seen a thread about it and I don't remember anything in the manual to that effect. I think the W&S switch (or C&S on my car) toggles the transmission to start in second rather than first gear for slick conditions (although you would think traction control would control wheel spin) or for additional comfort on take-off. The suspension setting is what it is, so I doubt it has an adaptive feature. I've had occasion to drive my car hard for periods and I've never noticed that the suspension stiffened, the steering got quicker, or the brakes adjusted. I don't know of any way to reset to default mode unless it is a battery disconnect. There is probably some way to turn the wheel, waggle the mirrors, close your left eye, and spit into the console that would do it, but I don't know the drill.

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chibenz

· #12 · Apr 9, 2009

Guys try this it helped me and I felt the difference instantly..I copied the whole process from w210..

Climate controll off,doors closed,radio off.Turn key to on position(not start) just to the position that all the lights are lit up on the dash.Press your foot to the gas pedal to the floor.(the reason you don't want it running)Hold for 10-20 seconds,turn key off with foot still on the floor,now slowly lift off the pedal and sit for two minutes before removing the key and exiting the car.Then when tempted go for a ride:thumbsup:
This procedure will set the factory shift points and rpm in the TCM to crisp settings.The harder you drive the car the less noticeable the change,but most people with a v8 will really get a charge out of the instant tune up.,a v6 will feel like chirping the tires.

divindra

Discussion Starter · #13 · Apr 9, 2009

chibenz said:
Guys try this it helped me and I felt the difference instantly..I copied the whole process from w210..

Not really sure what you mean by the harder you drive the less noticeable. And the charge what do you mean? Are you basically saying that the car will perform better? How so?

chibenz

· #14 · Apr 9, 2009

It means when you drive aggressively the car will adapt to aggressive style of driving and when you go easy the car will shift gears in higher rpms..Where as factory settings change gears in early rpms..

Gammaess

· #15 · Apr 9, 2009

This is becoming a very interesting thread that has been hijacked. If you want quicker shifts then use tiptronic and if you want stiffer susp. just hit the sport mode on dash.
When you drive on the highway the vehicle does lower and stiffen. but goes back to normal. in the corners all vehicles will be different depending on tires i.e. profile and pressure. accelleration the variables will be so different depending on outside air temp,the music you are playing and the mood of the driver. I will test this today and see if the ignition tune up works and the hard drive mode works. Hope I do not get a ticket or break my car.

Gammaess

· #16 · Apr 9, 2009

DrJfrmLA said:
Gammaess, I don't believe the suspension, steering and braking adapt. I could be wrong about that, but I've never seen a thread about it and I don't remember anything in the manual to that effect. I think the W&S switch (or C&S on my car) toggles the transmission to start in second rather than first gear for slick conditions (although you would think traction control would control wheel spin) or for additional comfort on take-off. The suspension setting is what it is, so I doubt it has an adaptive feature. I've had occasion to drive my car hard for periods and I've never noticed that the suspension stiffened, the steering got quicker, or the brakes adjusted. I don't know of any way to reset to default mode unless it is a battery disconnect. There is probably some way to turn the wheel, waggle the mirrors, close your left eye, and spit into the console that would do it, but I don't know the drill.

Agree with you, But need more feedback on adaptive Tranny! Why would MB put all these goodies for you to press if the ecm is so smart? just put on switch with three positions Highway,city and sport.

Gammaess

· #17 · Apr 9, 2009

Okay! just got back from a two hour drive with my next door neighbour who is an unbias car nut! I just tried to break my MB for this LOL. ATC works like a charm. drove nice for 20mins to get the feel, and watched the rpms of slow accel. and down shifting. Then punched it for 10min. the shifting points did change for awhile after going back to driving soft. then about 10mins went back to normal comfy mode. Stopped the car turn off the ignition for 15min. started and try to punch it right away it lagged then took off. stopped after 5 hard minutes. then punched it again wow what a difference no lag! rocket! I feel like I have to service my vehicle now. lol. The suspension stayed soft and floaty the whole time. I should have taken the ESP off. would like to try that but I would think something would bust in the rear. Tried at the last part of the drive hardest suspension setting and tiptronic shifting on a nice twisty back road what a fun car it was so responsive, but almost lost it because of the stock tire roll in the front end. So bottom line I am a believer of ATC! and can see why the hype of turning such a comfy vehicle into a performance driver. I will be writing for help this week from all the damage done in two hours. My neighbour thought my vette and bimmer was fun. two very different go fast money pits. He now actually is pro S and will not knock the old man car anymore!

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divindra

Discussion Starter · #18 · Apr 9, 2009

Gammaess said:
Okay! just got back from a two hour drive with my next door neighbour who is an unbias car nut! I just tried to break my MB for this LOL. ATC works like a charm. drove nice for 20mins to get the feel, and watched the rpms of slow accel. and down shifting. Then punched it for 10min. the shifting points did change for awhile after going back to driving soft. then about 10mins went back to normal comfy mode. Stopped the car turn off the ignition for 15min. started and try to punch it right away it lagged then took off. stopped after 5 hard minutes. then punched it again wow what a difference no lag! rocket! I feel like I have to service my vehicle now. lol. The suspension stayed soft and floaty the whole time. I should have taken the ESP off. would like to try that but I would think something would bust in the rear. Tried at the last part of the drive hardest suspension setting and tiptronic shifting on a nice twisty back road what a fun car it was so responsive, but almost lost it because of the stock tire roll in the front end. So bottom line I am a believer of ATC! and can see why the hype of turning such a comfy vehicle into a performance driver. I will be writing for help this week from all the damage done in two hours. My neighbour thought my vette and bimmer was fun. two very different go fast money pits. He now actually is pro S and will not knock the old man car anymore!

Ok so What youre saying is that the cars tranny adapted it self without reseting? Because i noticed a lag in the car sometimes after we drove comfortably and my dad would try to punch it on red lights. But i thought to fix that tranny i would have to disconnect the battery to reset it.. What your car sound like it did was adapt to the previous ride.After the hard minutes and you turned it off and back on it adapted to the hard drive?

Gammaess

· #19 · Apr 9, 2009

Yes, I did not have to reset it, I could not believe it until when I turned the car off for 15min. then turned it back on then went to punch it and it lagged. drove it just a short distance hard on and of the throttle. just stopped the car on a back road for a second then punched the throttle! No lag this time. I am a very hard driver on my other cars. usually at the track and with no one else in the vehicle with me. I really worked this car the hardest today it has seen. right down to smelling the breaks. Do not do this to your vehicle because you will end up fixing it! Buy a stang or a vette pound for pound cheapest horse P and dyi-er you can get. I am sure I have hurt my Benz today

chibenz

· #20 · Apr 9, 2009 (Edited)

Divindra and gammaess read this post about post graduate education of 722.xx type transmission. I referred to this post in my above comment.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210-e-class/1387073-post-graduate-education-your-22-6x.html

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