CVT Owners, How's Your Experience So Far?

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I've read a lot of questions about CVT durability, and I was wondering what your experience with yours had been so far. Thanks.
 
My dad has a 2004 Civic Hybrid with a CVT trans. The car only has maybe 30,000 miles on it, so I can't really speak for the long term, but his has not had any issues. It is on the factory fluid still and is probably due for a change. It seems to pick ratios based on economy with performance being secondary, but that is to be expected with a car like this I guess. It does get 50 MPG on long trips. Sometimes the car "shudders" when you have to accelerate quickly from a stop (like turning against traffic), but I don't know for sure if the CVT is the cause of that.
 
I have it on my 2007 Civic Hybrid and no problems yet (cross my fingers and knock on wood). Very smooth when accelerating. Almost 19K on the car, so, I can't say anything on durability. What car are you looking at or have with the CVT tranny?
 
ford escape hybrid ('yota driveline). CVT is excellent. It's a gear-based system, no belt or pulleys. Biases the engine & 2 motor/generators against each other through a planetary gearset for different ratios. It's been reliable with no complaints in driveability/performance for the 15k miles we've owned it.
 
I'm going to let the public, who are the manufactures "field engineers" do my testing. The CVT is not yet a proven reliable product in my opinion. I hope it works out as the idea is fundamentally very sound but, then so was the Buick Dynaflow. To date, I have only heard or read about one owner who had 50,000 + miles on a CVT and it was good.
 
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Is this interesting enough to set up a BITOG charity fund to pool some money and get some lab work done on a couple of these CVT's or should we just speculate, guess and [censored] about it?

We could pick a lab and have interested parties pay directly to the lab. This did work with German Castrol which was the web site darling for a while. There might be enough members to fund some different projects like this. Then we could look over the results and dialog about what it all means.
 
I have 62k miles on my Prius, and so far, I like this trans more than any I've had in my 30 year driving history (which includes an assortment of manuals and autos). I find the Toyota HSD CVT to be nearly flawless. But keep in mind it's a unique design, and has zero in common with the more common "cone and chain" CVTs. It's actually got more in common with ancient 3-spd autos and pickup differentials. It's basically a simple planetary gear set. The gas engine (ICE) is connected to the middle ring that carries the planet gears. The big motor-generator (the one that does the bulk of the propelling and generating) is connected to the outer ring. The little MG is connected to the center shaft (and also plays the role of starter motor for the ICE). Mechanically, it's a very simple setup, and it runs beautifully. It reminds me very much of how a jet engine responds (minus the turbine windup lag). Mine has not shown even the slightest hint of any misbehavior. My wife has an 07 Avalon, and I find its 5-spd auto to be crude by comparison. Once you've driven a good CVT, shifting gears seems so ... primitive.
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The tranny in my 2008 Altima is CVT. Hope it lasts forever! So far so good, it works as it should. No shift shock, and for a 2.5 4cyl, the car hauls tail!

P.S. I will be purchasing an extended warranty with my "economic stimulus package" this year. Just in case something happens. Can't say the CVT is tried and true yet.
 
Originally Posted By: FiremarshalRob
The tranny in my 2008 Altima is CVT. Hope it lasts forever! So far so good, it works as it should. No shift shock, and for a 2.5 4cyl, the car hauls tail!

P.S. I will be purchasing an extended warranty with my "economic stimulus package" this year. Just in case something happens. Can't say the CVT is tried and true yet.

This is off-topic, but do not purchase the extended warranty from the dealer. You can buy the Genuine Nissan extended warranty online for about $1000 for the highest plan.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: FiremarshalRob
The tranny in my 2008 Altima is CVT. Hope it lasts forever! So far so good, it works as it should. No shift shock, and for a 2.5 4cyl, the car hauls tail!

P.S. I will be purchasing an extended warranty with my "economic stimulus package" this year. Just in case something happens. Can't say the CVT is tried and true yet.

This is off-topic, but do not purchase the extended warranty from the dealer. You can buy the Genuine Nissan extended warranty online for about $1000 for the highest plan.


That I never knew. I thought you had to buy from the dealer. I'll definitely look into that. Thank you!
 
FiremarshalRob, the same is true for my Toyota Prius. The dealer wanted around $1800 for an ext. warranty and I can get the same Toyota warranty for just under a $1000.

Anyways, I rented a Dodge Caliber with CVT that just felt clunky, but the Prius is smooth. The Prius has been sold in the US for the past 8 years so there are plenty of proven miles (200,000+ mi) with CVT under booth highway and stop and go (taxi) applications.
 
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Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
A powerglide was the next best thing to a CVT...only shifted once.
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Hondamatic! But I like how you think...
Ever lift one of those cast iron babies?

CVT belongs on a Ski-doo...
 
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People I've talked to think the Prius transmission is a CVT. It's not. It's a one speed tranny with no reverse, no neutral and one speed forward. The only constant is that it goes at the same speed as the vehicle, always, because it's connected to the bigger of two electric motors which is connected to the wheels. It's a planetary transmission.
 
Insofar as the transmission controls the ratio between engine speed and wheel speed it is most definitely continuously variable, though.

EDIT: I realize that may not be precisely what some people mean when they refer to a "transmission" but it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to call it a CVT.
 
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Originally Posted By: Louie's gone fishing
People I've talked to think the Prius transmission is a CVT. It's not. It's a one speed tranny with no reverse, no neutral and one speed forward. The only constant is that it goes at the same speed as the vehicle, always, because it's connected to the bigger of two electric motors which is connected to the wheels. It's a planetary transmission.


Having given this "issue" a great deal of thought, I've concluded it's really a moot point. Yes, the design is fundamentally and totally different, mechanically, than the rest of the CVTs on the market. Yes, in effect, it's a "one speed" transmission. It just happens that the one speed is itself continuously variable.

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The only constant is that it goes at the same speed as the vehicle, always, because it's connected to the bigger of two electric motors which is connected to the wheels.

This is only partially correct. The outer ring is directly connected to the drive wheels, and the large MG is connected to that. The ICE, however, is connected to the ring that carries the planet gears inside the outer ring (the smaller MG is connected to the center shaft). Thus, the ICE rpms are free to vary continuously, even at a constant vehicle speed. This happens commonly as the computer decides to alter the balance between electric and gas drive.

So, although the outer ring remains "fixed" to the drive wheels, and always turns in relation to them in the same ratio, the rest of the trans certainly is variable. Perhaps a better way describe this transmission is a "one side CVT". That would distinguish between the belt-and-cone designs that vary at both ends, whereas this design is only variable on the "input" side.
 
I've seen the diagram of the Prius system and it takes a bit of looking and analysis to get the idea of how it works, and it's amazing. I like the idea of putting the complication in the computers and not the mechanical parts. It looks like Prius owners are going to have a tough time trying to wear out the transmission, electric motors and brakes. They will have to settle for wearing out the engine in about 10 years.
 
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