Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class Owner's Manual page 148

Press the selector lever briefly to the
left, towards D–.
or
Press the inner section of one of the
buttons on the steering wheel
( page 143).
The automatic transmission shifts to
the next gear down.
Kickdown
You can also use kickdown in manual gear-
shift program M if you wish to achieve
maximum acceleration:
Depress the accelerator pedal beyond
the pressure point.
The automatic transmission shifts to
the next gear down, depending on the
engine speed.
Shift up again as soon as the desired
speed has been reached.
i
If you apply full throttle, the automatic trans-
mission will shift to the next gear up when the
maximum engine speed is reached. This protects
the engine against overspeeding.
If you brake or come to a halt, the automatic
transmission will shift down to a gear from which
you can accelerate or pull away easily.
Manual gearshift program M is deselected if you:
press the program selector switch
( page 141).
S or C appears in the speedometer in this
case.
restart the engine.
The automatic transmission switches to an
automatic gearshift program in this case.
Controls in detail
Automatic transmission*
Steering wheel gearshift buttons*
and the manual gearshift program*
CLK 55 AMG
The CLK 55 AMG can be driven in the auto-
matic or manual gearshift program.
!
Drive the vehicle to warm the engine up
quickly. Do not make use of the engine's full out-
put until its normal operating temperature has
been reached.
Only move the selector lever to R when the vehi-
cle is stationary.
Avoid allowing the drive wheels to spin when
pulling away on slippery road surfaces. You
could otherwise damage the drive train.
Steering wheel gearshift buttons
You can change gear at any time using
either the steering wheel gearshift buttons
or the selector lever.
145