"The Subaru WRX Proves Everyone Wrong About CVT Transmissions"

[Hermann]

The Maverick is my 1st long term CVT. My thoughts follow.
1: Great vehicle for passing on 2-lane roads. Instant torque gives u a 5 mph burst, before a automatic evens downshifts.
2: Fake shifts are only available in Sport mode. It is rarely used. When used the faux shifts are a monotony breaker.
3: In my hybrid it is super smooth in slow moving traffic. When leaving from a stop light/sign with brake hold on the release is very smooth.
4: The Drone! It is there in aggressive acceleration situations. The Maverick has a noticeably quieter drone. No GDI noise like the Venza had.
5: CVT's are smooth and quiet in low to medium throttle applications. My Maverick is exceptionally smooth when ICE cuts in and out. If the radio is loud enough, you don't even notice.

Conclusion after almost a year. I hardly notice it's a Hybrid with a E-CVT. They have pros and cons. Modern E-CVT's do not have the rubber band effect. Although the noise is still there on WOT, you are moving forward feeling connected.

 

[philipp10]

Heavy equipment is heavily start stop and low speed with varying loads. Cars are generally limited start/stops with same loads and majority of life is spent in steady speed.

Not comparable.

LOL....year they use diesels and hydraulics on excavators so I won't buy a car without them....

In realty the CVT, while not perfect, is the perfect solution to keeping a car in it's most efficient RPM area. Just rented a Malibu on a trip and was blown away as to how great the gas mileage was. It's only another 10 years max and you'll all be whinning about some aspect of EV's as ICE and CVT's will be history anyway.

 

[KGMtech]

CVT is best with a high torque engine, IMHO. My old Maxima and my '19 QX60 offer a very smooth experience, but I don't like the fake shifts.

 

[Pablo]

2017 CRV with Amsoil CVT 1.5 T is a pretty sweet combo IMHO

 

[Revving2Redline]

Very lil if any issue with my CVTs.250k miles on one that's driven a lot, and 525k miles on my other Accord that got less fluid changes until recently when I invoked my car nut privilege and got it serviced more often and with BG CVT 303 additive

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I feel sorry for US! Give me a fricken manual! Not the lame 6 speed manual subaru was using which had a useless 5th gear.

In my 2018 Forester I never used 5th gear. 4th 5th and 6th were very close. All of the gears were close. Usually I would use 1-2-4-6 when accelerating.

 

[HondaCivicFan]

Very lil if any issue with my CVTs.250k miles on one that's driven a lot, and 525k miles on my other Accord that got less fluid changes until recently when I invoked my car nut privilege and got it serviced more often and with BG CVT 303 additive

It's been a long time since I posted anything on this website been looking at the posts on a regular basis though. Revving2Redline I see how you mentioned you have 525,000 miles on a Accord with CVT please correct me if I am wrong is it the original CVT with 525,000 miles? I think it is I remember you had a Civic I believe a 2015 with over 370,000 miles on the original CVT I think just wanted to confirm with the Accord by the way what year is the Accord that has 525,000 miles?

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

In the 1960s I started off with a '3 on the tree' and then a couple of 3 spd THM400s. Then a 4 spd floor shift and on it goes. I really liked the 4 speed autos with the overdrive ratio and lock up converter clutch in the 1980s. Now a couple of gear holding 6spd autos that are very nice. I don't see the need for 8 to 10 spd. CVT isn't appealing.

Can you please explain what you mean re "gear holding" 6 spd auto's?

 

[DannyM]

.


There are a few of them with good city mpg.... but the Jetta 8 speed and BMW 330i 8 speed BEAT almost every one of these non-hybrid cvt cars on highway REAL WORLD test.. not the mfg claims.. but real world tests. Car and Driver 75 mph tests are the ones I look at and not even the Corolla XSE, Sentra, Elantra etc.. beat the Jetta and BMW 8 speeds.

The Jetta looks like it even beats most of these on combined mpg according to fuelly.

 

[Brett776]

Meh, I leased a 21 civic as a putt around car for errands as I have a company car and we got my wife a GCL. I’ve only put about 6k a year on it and it’s cvt. Do I love it?? Nahh. I will say you get used to it and I don’t think anything of a cvt anymore. At first it drove me nuts. When I turn this lease in I may lease another cvt vehicle as another errand car. It’s fine. As a primary car I spend significant money on? No thanks

 

[PWMDMD]

The CVT in my 2022 Soul is actually quite good. It does a good job of fake shifting and it's very convincing.

 

[mt23]

Never thought I'd be grateful for a cvt, I can appreciate their positives for smooth driving, but never expected to avoid an accident because the vehicle was able to accelerate immediately.

70mph cruise control 3 lane highway with light-no traffic in the slow lane. A car doing maybe 50 mph in the fast lane swerves to exit at the last possible second, I was passing the vehicle 2 lanes over in the vehicles blind spot keeping right. I was driving my father's 16 Forester and was able to avoid the accident by inches by accelerating out of the way as the other car was swerving hard into the forester nearly hitting the barrier at the exit. The forester accelerated faster than the 6mt forester (I own one) could be downshifted and accelerated, faster than a traditional automatic could downshift and apply power. The power was applied instantly, even while the cvt was adjusting it was accelerating. If I braked, we would've hit. If I swerved we would have hit, or I would have hit the barrier head on. Grateful for cvt sometimes.

 

[Revving2Redline]

It's been a long time since I posted anything on this website been looking at the posts on a regular basis though. Revving2Redline I see how you mentioned you have 525,000 miles on a Accord with CVT please correct me if I am wrong is it the original CVT with 525,000 miles? I think it is I remember you had a Civic I believe a 2015 with over 370,000 miles on the original CVT I think just wanted to confirm with the Accord by the way what year is the Accord that has 525,000 miles?

I did. Actually the R18 had 382500 and the CVT was still working but wrist pins went out, carbon caked on two only pistons other two spotless and just outliving it's life that was quoted by over 100,000 miles.

 

[dishdude]

In my 2018 Forester I never used 5th gear. 4th 5th and 6th were very close. All of the gears were close. Usually I would use 1-2-4-6 when accelerating.

I rarely use fourth in my Integra but I always seem to be in third as my go to gear.

 

[chris719]

CVTs are mostly trash but the problem is you need to spend $$ to get a car with an auto that’s significantly better. Nothing can touch ZF8 with good software or high end DCT, but those combinations generally come on cars north of 45k.

 

[CharBaby]

As-far-as CVTs, I love'em for everyday-ness...in the proper vehicle. Just as I love a stick in the proper car.

I don't dislike manual transmissions but they're just not for me/us in our everyday driving. I learned to drive both an automatic and manual tranny's when I was learning how to drive as a young teenager. And I even drove 6 wheel manual tranny dump trucks in my uncles construction business. And all of Uncle's 6 & 10 wheel dump trucks as well as the small fleet of pickup trucks for the crew, were all manual tranny equipped. I've even owned a couple of manual tranny'd vehicles in my youth and drove many friends cars equipped with manuals.

Today, I just want to get in and go. Mine and my wife's driving style and area where we live & drive >90ish% of the time doesn't go well with a manual. My wife to can drive a manual too but given the choice she'll take the auto all day long. Sure, I love hopping in a buddy's manual equipped car(I especially like MINI's) and going for a spin but I just don't want one all day every day in my personal life.

Thus far we haven't had any issues with CVTs. However, I have had a few vehicles with stepped shift autos that did give me problems, right down to complete failure.

 

[Lapham3]

Can you please explain what you mean re "gear holding" 6 spd auto's?

Can you please explain what you mean re "gear holding" 6 spd auto's?

With the shifter in the 'D' position you can pull the shifter left and hold what ever gear you are in. You can also shift up and down in this mode and 'hold' the last gear selected. I most use it in highway/freeway driving where I don't want the Ttans to drop a gear/add a gear for small hills so much.

 

[Pew]

My limited experience with CVTs are great. The one in my mom's Subaru Ascent is nice and smooth and so is the one in her '17 fusion hybrid. I actually prefer them to any traditional automatics because I'm not waiting for the transmission to down/upshift.

10 years ago I told myself I'd never like or own a CVT car. When I finally drove one a few years back, I really liked it. Don't knock it until you try it.

 

[DriveHard]

There are some farm tractors that have CVT's. Fendt.

That is a hydro-mechanical design that is MUCH different than what you will find on an on-highway vehicle. Apples/Oranges really...

 

[jeepman3071]

It's still a CVT. You either like how they drive or don't. Fake shifts annoy me, and every time I drive a car with a CVT and get the constant buzz of the engine as I merge onto the highway I'm reminded I'm in an econobox. Very different feel than riding a snowmobile or UTV with a CVT.