Do you rate the 7-g tronic auto box?

[italian job]

I'm thinking of a 320cdi or 280cdi E class to replace my D5 V70. My last auto was a 2005 530D which drove me mad,it was a six speed auto that I found really frustrating,slow witted and often in the wrong gear(I thought)
Ive driven the newer 8 speed auto in various BMW X5's and a disco4 and was actually impressed,quite intuitive. How do you find the 7 speed auto fitted to the Mercedes? I know I can just go and drive a few,and I will,i'm just wondering what your thoughts are especially if you have driven a modern 8 speed auto.

Cheers.

[italian job]

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply It does sound like its worth the effort seeking a couple out to drive and see what I think for myself.

Cheers.

[italian job]

I'd second the comments above. I've had my CLS for 3 weeks now and its a silky smooth gearbox. Don't treat it like a manual and you won't go far wrong :-)
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Nice one....thanks

[italian job]

Thanks very much you two.

[italian job]

Thanks for all the informative replys....autoboxes are never cheap are they? Fluid change always sounds like a good idea,i did it on the 530D even though that's supposed to be sealed for life.

[italian job]

Jobbo said:

I went from a BMW with ZF 6sp to a W204 C350 CDI with 7sp and currently have a BMW again with the ZF 8sp.

While at first the Merc felt like a step backwards from the BMW 6sp, I still have fond memories of it. It felt a bit like a 5sp with an extra 1st and an extra 5th gear for all the use 1st and 7th really were; but it was always possible to tell which gear you were in and (when using the paddles) whether you wanted to drop one or two gears fairly intuitively. Now with the ZF 8sp I struggle to work out whether I need to drop one, two, three, four or possibly five gears. 7 ratios, for me, seems to be the most I can sensibly distinguish without thinking about it.

The Merc also feels more like a traditional auto box in comparison to the ZF 8sp; the 8sp seems to lock up the torque converter at incredibly low rpm in an attempt to be more DSG-like. That's fine but I quite like the ability of a torque converter to increase the revs a bit almost instantly without changing gear.

I wouldn't have any problem swapping back to a Merc with the 7-sp now, even after living with the 8sp ZF for a while. Although that's me; if you are more of a PDK/DSG fan then perhaps you'd not feel the same.

Some really intresting observations thank you,if I can get another year out of my V70 I might be able to stretch to a 350cdi as apposed to a 320 or 280cdi....decisions,decisions.
Its great to ask a question and get so many replys.Cheers everyone.