Starting And Shifting Gears - Mercedes-Benz 380 SL Owner's Manual

Starting and Shifting Gears

Do not store any objects in the
driver's footwell area because they
could become lodged under the
operator's pedals thus rendering
these controls partially or totally
inoperative.
Test service brake after driving off.
■ ; Warm up the engine smoothly. Do
K not place full load on the engine
I f until the operating temperature has
| | | r been reached.
The automatic transmission
facilitates and simplifies the hand­
ling of the vehicle. The individual
gears are shifted automatically de­
pendent upon selector lever
position, vehicle speed and
accelerator position.
Hint
When parking the vehicle or if
working on the vehicle with the
engine running, depress parking
brake pedal and move selector
lever to position " P".
Starting
Shift selector lever to the desired
driving position only when the
engine is idling and the service
brake is applied. Do not release the
44
brake before moving off. The
vehicle may otherwise start creep­
ing when the selector lever is in a
driving position.
Accelerator position
Partial throttle = early upshifting
= normal acceleration
Full throttle = retarded upshifting
= maximum acceleration
Depressing the accelerator beyond
full throttle to kickdown position
means downshifting to the next
lower gear and thus maximum
acceleration. If you ease up on the
accelerator after having attained
the desired speed, the transmission
will shift up again.
Gearshifting is controlled by the
vehicle speed.
Selector Lever Positions
The automatic gear shifting process
can be adapted to specific operat­
ing conditions by means of the
selector lever.
" P" Parking lock.
The parking lock is an
additional safeguard when
parking the vehicle. Engage
only when the car is stationary.
" R" Reverse gear.
Shift reverse gear only with
the vehicle at halt.
" N" Neutral.
No power is transmitted from
the engine to the rear axle.
When the brakes are released,
the vehicle can be moved
freely (pushed, towed or tow-
started). Do not engage " N"
when driving except when the
vehicle is in danger of skidding
(e.g. on icy roads).
See page 50.