Mercedes-AMG 7 Speed MCT

Ron Resnick

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The Mercedes-AMG 7 speed Speedshift MCT (multi-clutch transmission) transmission is an automatic transmission with a multi-clutch gearbox instead of a torque converter. Instead of a torque converter like conventional automatics the MCT employs a “clutch pack,” which includes multiple clutches placed together and controlled separately. It is not a dual-clutch automatic (such as the transmission in the AMG GT or such as the Porsche PDK transmission) because it has a single input shaft.

Who has a Mercedes-Benz AMG automobile with the Mercedes-AMG 7 Speed MCT? (If you do not actually own a car with this particular transmission please do not post on this thread.)

What has been your experience with this particular transmission? Is it "jerky" or "jolty" or otherwise not smooth from a standing start or when upshifting or downshifting? Is there anything about the relationship between the throttle and the gear exchanges which is not smooth or otherwise problematic?

Do you like this MCT transmission in your car, or would you prefer to have the 7G-Tronic torque converter automatic transmission?

(I appreciate that by its nature a MCT or a DCT tranmission is not going to be as smooth as a torque converter automatic because the torque converter box is fluid-filled and thus naturally will absorb some vibration and drive-train slop and stress and smooth out gearshifts.)
 

Bruce B

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My SL63 is not very slick.... very jerky... especially when cold. In extreme cold, it doesn't even want to shift! At optimal temperature though, it's much better. Slicker than a torque converter, but not as sweet as the newer MCT.

My new '19 GLA45 is MILES ahead. One of the slickest transmissions available.... and I compared it to the PDK. They are about equal.
 

Ron Resnick

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Thank you, Bruce. Which transmission is in the GLA 45?
 

Ron Resnick

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I don’t have any evidence that the new MCTs are any smoother or slicker than the earlier MCTs. What makes you think that the new ones are smoother?
 

Tango

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I don’t have any evidence that the new MCTs are any smoother or slicker than the earlier MCTs. What makes you think that the new ones are smoother?

The SLS trnasmission is also an older version I believe. It is not the quickest but very smooth.

Tang
 

JackD201

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Comparing my W204 C63 AMG's MCT to the DCT on my e92 M3 Coupe, the M3's is both quicker and smoother.
 

Ron Resnick

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Thank you, Jack.

The underlying, and as yet undisclosed, reason I asked that question is because as much as I love the 5.5L biturbo 8 cylinder engine in the SL63 I do not want to sacrifice the daily-driver luxury, comfort, refinement, quietness, smoothness and utterly easily drivability I value in my current 2009 SL550.

The Comfort mode in the SL63 is more like the Sport mode in the SL550.

If the SL63 were my only car then I would not hesitate to opt for its greater sports car capabilities, and I would be unconcerned about accepting less smoothness in transmission function and softness in ride quality in return for its faster and sportier performance envelope. But I am fortunate to have Bellini to fill the role of pure weekend-only ferocious performance sports car.

This is obviously hyperbole but I find the SL550 so smooth and so refined and so easy to drive for hours a day that I often tell Tinka I feel like it drives itself. The SL63, with its rougher and joltier MCT transmission, has a somewhat different personality.
 
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Bruce B

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The underlying, and as yet undisclosed, reason I asked that question is because as much as I love the 5.5L biturbo 8 cylinder engine in the SL63 I do not want to sacrifice the daily-driver luxury, comfort, refinement, quietness, smoothness and utterly easily drivability I value in my current 2009 SL550.

I have a close friend that drives a GT-S every day. I used it for a week when he went out of the country and I'd say the AMG GT-S.. (or even the GT-C) is a much better daily driver than the SL. Now if I were to go on a long trip, the SL would be my go to vehicle!
 

Ron Resnick

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This is interesting, thank you. But I am not following you, and I would appreciate if you could elaborate. To me the comfort you would enjoy on a long trip is the same comfort you would want on a daily driver, no?
 

Bruce B

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This is interesting, thank you. But I am not following you, and I would appreciate if you could elaborate. To me the comfort you would enjoy on a long trip is the same comfort you would want on a daily driver, no?

The SL is a little more comfortable..... especially when I can get a butt massage going down the highway. The GT-S is comfortable, but other things detract it from being a grand tourer. It is much louder and don't know if I can handle the drone of the exhaust for hours on end.... plus, the GT-S is a little harder to get in/out of.
 

Ron Resnick

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That all makes sense. Thank you.
 

JackD201

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Hi Ron

It's very smooth in Comfort mode and I'm just cruising about. In Sport+Manual the whole car gets insane. Well, it's a monster engine on a small sedan chassis so I guess that can be expected. That's why I bought it. LOL! The M3 just handles very well but, or maybe because, it doesn't have anywhere near as much torque. My 11 year old son asked me earlier which of my three "last ofs". (Last NA inline 6 M car, Last NA V8 M3, Last NA 6.3 C) I loved best. I told him they are like my kids (I say that about my carts too!) and like you I love 'em differently but just as much. I told him he's the e46 Manual LOL Light, quick, almost dangerous and surely a handful!
 

Ron Resnick

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I just test drove briefly a low mileage 2017 SL63.

From a standing start in Comfort mode I found none of the jerkiness which I read about online.

While on the highway forcing downshifts in Comfort mode and in Sport+ mode did not reveal any bogging, hesitation or jolting of the drivetrain.

Basically, I was totally unable to make the drivetrain do anything jerky or slippy or unsmooth. Maybe if I had spent longer in the car I would have been able to create the jerky MCT condition I have read about numerous times online.

Yet even my long-time service technician at Mercedes of Beverly Hills confirmed that the MCT can be jolty and jerky and not as smooth as the tourque converter automatic, and that his customers sometimes complain about lack of smoothness with the MCT.

A lifelong friend of mine who used to track his heavily modified Honda S2000 has a C63 with the MCT and even he says it can be jolty and balky and rough sometimes.

The 577 hp engine made the SL63 noticeably faster than my 380 hp SL550. In this short test I felt that Comfort in the SL63 is a harder/tighter ride than is Sport in my 2009 SL550.

So while I no longer have the MCT concern I am not sure I am comfortable with the harsher ride of the SL63 in Comfort mode for a daily, long-distance driver. (Of course I am comparing it to my 2009 car and for all I know the current SL550 in Comfort mode might have a stiffer suspension than the Comfort mode of my car.)

It definitely was extremely interesting to test drive the SL63. I much preferred the SL63 to the M6.

Quantifications like this are silly but nonetheless fun. If I consider my 2009 SL550 to be about 90% luxo-cruiser/GT and 10% sports car then I would consider the 2017 SL63 to be about 30% luxo-cruiser/GT and about 70% sports car.

Other thoughts: I hate the button--operated electric parking brake. I hate the truncated little gear selector lever instead of the normal-sized gear selector in my 2009.

At least MB hasn’t bothered to replace on this discontinued SL generation the physical buttons with a menu-driven touchscreen, or installed that L-shaped mouse controller thing (which I cannot stand) and which populates most of the other MB model lines these days.

Finally, although the current SL body is very slightly less awkward-looking than the really dopey design which replaced my body style in 2010 (with square creases all over and flat front grill and completely fake fish pattern side air vents) I still think the 2007 to 2010 body style is much smoother, prettier and more coherent-looking than the later body styles.


2009 SL550
image1-4.jpeg
 
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Bruce B

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These MCT drivetrains in the AMG’s have been its achilles heal for years. Not until around a couple years ago have they been able to get all the kinks out and finally get it right. It is now on par with the PDK.
 

Ron Resnick

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Interesting, Bruce. That would explain the smooth and docile MCT I experienced today.
 

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