In my opinion, CVT's were nothing but a stop-gap in an era where 6-speed auto's were common and 7-speed units (Mercedes) were the outlier. To me, the big change came when ZF introduced the 8HP. Wonderful transmission: compact, efficient, completely modular. Since then, we've seen the release of more 8, 9, and 10 speed auto's. When you consider the ratio spread, traditional automatic's quickly caught up and matched the "benefits" of the CVT, all while providing the pre-conceived notion of how an "automatic" transmission should feel.
Now, I'm no hater of the CVT in concept. It's proven itself for years in powersports equipment and the like, however I never felt they had a place outside hybrids. In that package, they're totally acceptable. Outside that, they're really just a quirky feature that doesn't provide much benefit. Nissan (Jatco) are one of the best CVT producers, and even those leave something to be desired. What I don't understand is how something so simple can be screwed up so easily. Case in point:
Saturn Vue VT25
Early Nissan/Mopar Jatco JF011E
Subaru TR580/690
None of those were any good. However, the ZF CFT30 proved to be very reliable in the Ford 500. Perfect? No. But better than most. Nissan also stepped up and improved their CVT's since their intro. All that being said, I'll still take a good ol' step-ratio auto.