The 7G-TRONIC automatic transmission does all the hard work for you by always finding the perfect gear to suit the current situation and your driving style, as well as delivering high pulling and accelerating power to the wheels. A total of seven ratios allows smaller steps between the gears, adding to the smoothness of the GL-Class. And whenever you feel like stepping up the pace somewhat, the kickdown function slips into action: press the accelerator pedal down to its limit and the transmission instantly selects the optimum gear for maximum acceleration. It is even able to skip gears when downshifting for yet sharper acceleration response. Should you wish, you can also change gear manually using the steering-wheel shifter buttons.