Mike: I had the same concerns about my 92 300 SL, particularly in the summer while the AC is in use-- it REALLY drags down the little 6 cyl when starting off..You can shift manually for better performance, or learn to "feather" your accelerator to manage the power flow and shift points. Feel free to drop a note if you want to benchmark 300SL experiences- good luck ! Rollie CQRT@aol.com Arizona