If Cars Had Honest Advertising

Watch out for bridges and hop ons, you will get some hop ons.

Likely no different from other CVTsā€¦ anguish, suffering, and eternal confusion.
(Iā€™ve been in two generations of CVTā€™ed Altima. I still have nightmares.)


Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet
ā€œThe crossover that crosses over boundries that should never have been crossed overā€

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Well isnā€™t that your problem right there, using a Nissan CVT? They seem to be universally regarded as terrible.

Honestly, Iā€™ve always wanted to at least try a CVT, but the Hyundai dealership nearby here only has automatics on the lot, so I canā€™t even test-drive a CVT Hyundai to see what all the fuss is about with CVTā€™s. To be fair, I got pretty damn lucky with my used Elantra to get a stick, and itā€™s admittedly fun, though the stock clutch sucks ass.

I consider all CVTs are terrible (for me). The incessant droning drives me insane.
Some people arenā€™t easily irritated by sounds, and some people donā€™t care what their car sounds like. I unfortunately suffer from the opposite of both. I would not be able to own a car with a CVT.

Iā€™ll believe that Nissan/Renault CVTs are worse than the restā€¦ but theyā€™ll all drone by design.

I donā€™t know about projected servicing etc but Hondaā€™s new CVT in the 10th Gen Civic (which Iā€™ve enthusiastically reviewed) worked quite well enough. I enjoyed the real smoothness, even coupled with a turbo. It even had potential to be casually fun and the mild rubber banding effect completely disappeared when switching to sport mode with preselected ratios.

@KA24DE I believe that the exhaust note that enthusiasts know and love is a force of habit. A stubborn one, at that. Consider that under just about every legal condition the drone is only there for the period of time when one has reached steady acceleration to their set speed. Travelling at a steady speed doesnā€™t count because then all transmissions ā€˜droneā€™ and thatā€™s what a carā€™s generally doing most of the time. I just think most people get disoriented by the fact the revs arenā€™t changing and donā€™t correlate to the velocity of the car. Sure, that can be a big deal but I think a lot of people simply blow it out of proportion.

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It could be that it is a lot worse for me than most other people because of multiple factors; namely my sensitivity to sound, and the fact that I spend very little time traveling at a steady speed because Iā€™m either stuck in traffic, or Iā€™m amusing myself with the accelerator pedal.

New York is fun in a way. You can drive like a maniac because everyoneā€™s so slow, but at the same time you canā€™t over-do it because you simply donā€™t have the space to get to unreasonable speeds; and that keeps me safe and sane.

I know I sound like an ass-hat driver, but you have to agree with me that a 25mph speed limit is torturous. The highway isnā€™t much better since the mass-flow of traffic insists on driving at 45mph even though the speed limit is 55mph. It wasnā€™t like this just 3 years ago. People would drive 35 in the city and 60 on the highway. Iā€™d always stay around 35-45mph in the city and 60-80mph on the highways. I canā€™t just forget those times, so Iā€™m forced to re-live them in very short bursts. Thatā€™s why my Altima doesnā€™t drone :stuck_out_tongue:

Sorry for the off-topic rant there.


Tata Nano
ā€œOur auto-rickshaw has FOUR wheels and doors!ā€

6 Likes

ā€œThe crossover that crosses over boundries that should never have been crossed overā€

Those boundaries were crossed the day someone thought of crossovers

Does Hyundai even make CVTs? If so, in which cars? I remember them saying once that DCTs were better than CVTs and thatā€™s why they put one on their hybrid car.

Wikipedia reports that Hyundai makes two CVTs (Kappa and HEV) and apparently the Accent has a full Kappa line (that would be the Kappa small displacement turbo engine as well as Kappa CVT). Whether this is actually true or total horsecrap, I donā€™t know.

DCT definetly save more fuel compare to CVT , well at least in paper sheet.

any expert can confirm this?

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Nissan Pathfinder

Great for soccer moms, not so great in the countryā€¦

Had one for 2 years and got rid of it, largely because of the CVT having problems. The ride and feel werenā€™t a problem though. It would come out of low when you dropped below 15mphā€¦ on a 15% grade with a sharp hairpin tended to heat up the brakes. (reminded me some non car guy comments for the other thread)

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My uncle had a 90s model when I was a kid. He spent a lot of time in the appalachian mountains, and it performed well on many of the unpaved and rough roads there. The new one would probably bottom out a lot up there.

not claiming to be an expert so please do correct me if Iā€™m wrong.
I donā€™t think thatā€™s how DCTs work. They just shift pretty dang fast, whereas as CVTs have infinitely variable gear ratios meaning the engine can be held at the one RPM spot where the compromise between torque and efficiency is the best (during acceleration). As the speed increases the engine revs fall/rise to the most efficient point of engine operation and gear ratios get smaller and smaller for cruising.

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But the question is if it gives more than drivetrain losses take. And I think they might be significantly bigger in case of a CVT.

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Good point. Does anyone have stats for a model that comes with both CVT and DCT with the same powerplant so that fuel economy and performance figures can be compared? I canā€™t think of any.

They save more fuel compared to good olā€™ slushboxes, but I am not sure if they are better than CVTs.

Audi used to have CVTs on the early 00s, and went to DCTs after that, maybe there are engines in which both were used, as the germans do like to use their engines for a long time.

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Multitronic was offered on front wheel drive-only versions of the Audi A4, Audi A5, Audi A6, and the SEAT Exeo with the 2.0 TSI gasoline engine.

Now to do a little more digging :smile:

Prius: like driving in a vagina.