towing with a mercedes 2012 c220cdi saloon

[Alanalmoff]

new to towing caravans, towed 5th wheels in the past but with a decent trucks, when towing on open roads at around 55-60 mph, in the c220 saloon,is it best to keep it on auto or drop down a gear or two as the engine seems to be just ticking over comparattivly, also do you reccomend eco or sports mode? off to Spain in a few weeks,

 

[ProfJohnL]

Check your cars hand book to see if there is any advice regarding towing, and follow it, otherwise any warranties may be invalidated.

If there is no mention of it then i suspect either mode should be acceptable, but you might find one to be more comfortable than the other.

Good luck

 

[otherclive]

Mines not a MB but I tend to leave it in normal auto when towing. But on windy roads I will select sports mode. Also being DSG with clutches if in slow traffic I put it into manual otherwise the torque is so high that the gearbox keeps changing up and then pulling a lower revs than I like. Need to protect DSG clutches and DMF too. In manual mode I can drop it into first gear when pulling away otherwise it selects second then up to third.

In summary I let it do the work for me except where I feel some driver input helps the car, or me.

 

[Anseo]

I would leave it in economy mode unless circumstances dictated otherwise, sport mode is effectively dropping a gear anyway.

Economy mode serves well most of the time but sport mode is engaged if I need a little extra thrust to get me out of a situation.