I'm not sure what anyone else thinks about MB's adaptive shift point technology, but my experience has been something of a mixed bag. I'm into my second W210, fisrt being a '97 E320, and my current '98 E430 Sport. Both cars tend to shift from 1st to second very early, ensuring that the engine is never quite on the power curve when you need it to be, especially after crawling through traffic or when not quite fully warmed up. It also never seems to want to downshift unless the accelerator pedal is floored, and that may not be what you're looking for. The default shift pattern seems to be suited for Granny and Gramps.

On the other hand, sometimes it surprizes you and downshifts earlier. When that happens, it seems better coordinated with the power band.

The only option seems to be manually shifting when you need to keep the revs up, but I read somewhere that you can overide the logic by leaving it in 4th gear. Is this right? Is there a software update available to change this to a less docile shift pattern?