I noticed yesterday that the 3500 mile '06 C230 was downshifting quite harshly into I suspect second gear.

When downshifting into second (for example slowing down at a light) it would jolt the car, not the typical
downshift where you feel just slight resistance as it shifts.

This happened maybe 5-6 times, then apparently went away as the car warmed up/I continued to drive. It
did not do it on the return trip after 8 hours of sitting.

Anyone else see this in the 7 speed C230's yet? Is the honeymoon over for me and the C230?

Thanks.

-Eric

 

With out knowing you're precise expirence (hardness of downshift, when it occurs, etc.), hard downshifting is a characteristic of MB transmissions-or so I've been told by dealers. It's not uncommon for people to think that something is broken when the tranny is functioning as designed. However, with a new vehicle, you don't want to worry and you certainly need to have it looked at.
Good luck.
BTW, tell us what the techs tell you about it.

 

It's enough of an issue that it's made it into the automotive press; I've seen references to the harsh shifing in MB reviews. My own experience with two cars having the 7-speed, has been that it happens occassionally (at a rough guess, on the order of 1 out of every 200+ downshifts, and almost always when coasting in heavy traffic). The harsh shifting has always "gone away", and the behavior of the trannies the rest of the time is stellar. Even with the odd hard shift, I'd still rate the 7-speed at least 9 on a scale of 1-10 for customer happiness.

I'm pretty sure there are instances out there where people have had cars where this issue doesn't "go away", and that leads to a prolonged session of back-and-forth with the dealer. Hopefully your situation won't turn out that way. From the low volume of serious complaints, I'd suspect that most 7-speed owners either don't have the issue or are comfortable treating it as a rare and minor annoyance.

 

hello 'no_mo_bmw', I was really interested to find out what happend at the dealer .. any updates?

 

The update is the car has not done it since that one morning. I drove it to work and back Friday and
about 150 miles this weekend and it shifted smooth as silk....like a MBZ!

-Eric

 

Then don't worry about it. Drive it as though nothing ever happened. No sense looking for trouble. If it's there, it'll show itself again. Happy Benz'n.