I have an affinity for high speed autobahn barnstormers. It started when I was a small kid seeing a Mercedes in a wonderful issue of Road & Track (the top speed shoot out with super cars and tuner cars) that sort of looked like the Mercedes my parents drove, except with the magic of AMG it was spitting out numbers like my favorite car then (and ever) - the Countach! It blew me away, I couldn't believe something with four doors could do that and with the exception of the then huge 17" wheels and low profile tires, looked like a run of the mill 300E.

So I became a huge Mercedes and AMG fan. Consequently, I fell in love with the STR as soon as it came out in 2003. The problem with the AMGs and STRs is the lack of a manual transmission. I seldom use my j-gate, mostly because it seems non-responsive and has appallingly delayed reaction and gear shift (if thats what its even doing). Also, moving it down the line I have no idea what "gear" (so to speak) its in and I often skip two bc the movement is so small.

Worst yet, I was in a very large, open and desolate stretch of road yesterday so I stopped the car, turned off traction control, put on sport mode, put the gear lever to the j-gate side, and let it rip. My tires smoked, and my engine was screaming, and I had a smile for a millisecond. When it got in the early redline, I tired to shift to next "gear" but it wouldn't shift, it just kept revving in the cut-off, and so I shifted again and it kept just revving in the cut-off, so I let off the throttle and dropped RPMs before I did damage.

Am I using this j-gate right? Does it take like an hour for it to react to "gear" changes? Any suggestions on how to get the most out of it? I wish Jaguar R cars and AMGs used a good ol' 5 or 6 speed manual transmission, because the M5 just doesn't do it for me.

 

I'm not sure that sounds right but if you really like to tell it when to shift I recall a paddle shift kit / steering wheel option from one of the add-on places - Racing Green or Arden or some such. Very much not cheap, but ....

 

I never understood all of the complaints about the J-gate. In fact, I have much more trouble using other traditional manu-matics than this one. As a frequent user of the J-gate, I have found that there is a certain "feel" to it depending on the speed. That is, I really don't worry which gear it is in, just that the rpm matches the speed I am going (not excessively high unless that is my intent, and not too low if I am maneuvering).

Then again, my car has none of the issues you spoke of for shifting- when I tell it to go 2-3, it does 2-3 in less than a second, I tell it 4-5 it goes; same with downshfting, 5-4 or 4-3, it just goes with little to no hesitation (more on that in a sec). Your problems may be a result of your transmission not having learned your particular driving style. I know that when the dealer reflashes my tranny, it takes quite awhile to get back to where I had it in terms of shift points (the aforementioned hesitation) and speed of kick downs when in full auto.

My advice would be to just drive her hard and teach her how you want to shift. It usually only takes me a few hundred miles to get her back where I like the shift points.

 

This could be it! I had my ECU reflashed after some recent work the other day and it was the first time I tried j-gate in several months!

 

I haven't actually used the other side of my J-gate at all yet, largely because I'm not really clear what it does.

The only other automatic I've ever owned was my old 5 series with a 4-speed ZF tranny. That went 1-2-3-D but putting it in 3 just meant that was the highest gear it would use; it would still auto-shift between 1, 2 & 3 when it felt like it, which was only really useful for very steep hills.

Is the J-gate the same sort of thing or is it more of a steptronic "clutchless manual" type of thing? Sorry if this is an idiotic question but the handbook didn't really explain.

 

It's the same kind, just with more gears.

 

Cheers mate