American Version vs. Rest of World Version -- Transmission

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Permalink Reply by Martin Boisvert on October 25, 2010 at 3:55pm

I can compare, I have both!

The "classic" +- in my 2005 450, and the PRND in my 2010 451. Honestly, the classic one is the best.

- The mechanical part of the transmission is standard, not automatic. Having a PRND "like" mode is just a nonsense.
- On the classic, the car does'nt move by itself when you release the brake. Like any standard car, it will move only when you'll press the gas pedal. Which in trafic situations is the best.
- You don't need to place the shifter in the +- mode to use the transmission manually: it's always in that state. If you have the automatic option (yes, with the classic shifter, it's an option, not a default behavior), you just have to push a button with your thumb to pass from Auto to manual. Way easyer than sliding the shifter.
- There is no P position on the classic. In fact, the P position on PRND style shifters is just like leaving the car on 1st gear or reverse. The only thing that differ is that if the engine is still running, you could accidentally move the car by pressing the gas pedal. So just pull the hand brake to prevent that...

I think the PRND shifter has been made only to accomodate our habits. We are used to that kind of shifter. A +- shifter might be confusing to some people. Otherwise, I don't see any really good reason to have that type of shifter!

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Permalink Reply by Brabus007 on October 25, 2010 at 10:37pm

Does it cause the 451 to have more clutch ware...???

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Permalink Reply by Tony on November 3, 2010 at 12:18am

I think the word you meant was wear. If you drive the car properly, there would not be any unusual wear on the clutch. If you constantly activate the hill start by taking your foot off the break repeatedly to 'creep' forward in traffic or at stop lights, you may add wear at that point.

To be honest, I think all the debate about the 2 types of trannys is all about nothing. Each is geared to a specific market based on what Mercedes/smart felt would best accommodate drivers in that segment.

I say drive it and love it! If you don't love it sell it!

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Permalink Reply by jackb on November 2, 2010 at 10:55am

The North American transmission setup is OK...provided you know to be in manual shift mode when needing to accelerate quickly from slow speeds. In "automatic" mode, the North American arrangement gets confused and tends to dither when you stand on it in situations where you may have to get out of someone's way fast. Instead of moving, you may find yourself at a virtual standstill until your tranny figures out what to do.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Boisvert on November 2, 2010 at 11:26am

Why someone at smart USA decided that north american people are too stupid to understand how the standard "+-" mode works... I still think it's the easyest and efficient transmission I ever had!

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Permalink Reply by jackb on November 3, 2010 at 1:44pm

Hi GS,

This has nothing to do with the topic of this string, but I am curious as to why you identify yourself in your profile as being in (or from?) The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. That ain't South Korea.......

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