2006 Mercedes SL-Class Owner's Manual - Page 174

Controls in detail Automatic transmission Upshifting Briefly press button 2 on the right side of the steering wheel. The transmission will shift to the next higher gear as permitted by the shift program. This action simultaneously extends the gear range of the transmission when you are driving in the automatic program mode (C or S). Canceling gear range limit Press and hold button 2 on the right side of the steering wheel until D reappears in the right multifunction display. The transmission will shift from the current gear range directly to gear range D. Shifting into optimal gear range Press and hold button 1 on the left side of the steering wheel. The transmission will automatically select the gear range suited for optimal acceleration and deceleration. This will involve shifting down one or more gears. Manual shift program SL 55 AMG and SL 65 AMG In addition to the automatic shift program C or S, your vehicle is equipped with the manual shift program MANUAL. In the MANUAL program mode, system-controlled automatic gearshifting is switched off and you need to change the gears by manually upshifting or downshifting using the steering wheel gearshift buttons to the left and right of the steering wheel ( page 172) or the gear selector lever. 173