Continuous Variable Transmission

[nitehawk55]

Originally Posted By: DemoFly
Originally Posted By: kb01
The Jatco (Nissan?) CVT in my Jeep has had no issues in 115,000 miles. The lack of engine braking took awhile to get used to but on the plus side, brake pads seem to last forever.

Does your CVT not have the option to shift down into low? Every CVT I have driven's low gear is much different than an automatic. In a way that it is usable for engine braking on steep hills.


Good point , I'll have to look into that .

 

[kb01]

Originally Posted By: DemoFly

Does your CVT not have the option to shift down into low? Every CVT I have driven's low gear is much different than an automatic. In a way that it is usable for engine braking on steep hills.


It has Auto-Stick that simulates gearing but forcing it into a lower gear makes it behave like an automatic and is really only useful for low traction situations.

In Drive, when coasting it behaves like a Prius shifted into "B". If you let off the accelerator, it immediately begins to feel like it's about to bring itself to a complete stop.

To be fair, this might have more to do with the programming and not inherent to CVTs.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: supton
Personally, if the maker had extended their warranty for their trans to 120k because of issues, I'd probably dump the vehicle. Or save up for its replacement transmission. 120k is what, half the life of the vehicle? Seems like a really bad sign, to me at least.

I think in a few years we'll finally have some good, conclusive data.


I believe Nissan has been using them since 2004 in the Maxima and Murano so there should be some decent data at 9 years now.

I think it's good that they extended the warranty on early units - at least shows that they care about satisfaction. Given that Nissan is all CVT now it was definitely needed to show confidence in their product.

120k is about used up - carmakers design to a 150k service life.

 

[nitehawk55]

I do think CVT technology will get better . I know it's been stated that CVT's do not stand up well to high torque levels and will not be used in high power applications , most will be 4 cyl or small V6 . I guess the 3.0 in my 500 was the max Ford would go with .
I don't know how well CVT would stand up to towing , anyone heard on this ?

 

[Best F100]

My 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid has almost 95,000 on it. No issues with the CVT. One drain & fill at 60,000. Motorcraft CVT fluid } 5 qts @ $5/qt.

As my general rule, CVT + hybrid vehicle = a "bulletproof" combination.
CVT + regular vehicle = mixed results for transmission.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: kb01
The Jatco (Nissan?) CVT in my Jeep has had no issues in 115,000 miles. The lack of engine braking took awhile to get used to but on the plus side, brake pads seem to last forever.


Compass or Patriot? I have a Patriot( 2011 2.4L CVT 4WD FDI ). The CVT has been fine for me so far. No real complaints. Of course I just broke 20K a while ago so I don't have a ton of miles on it. It is covered to 5 years/100K and I won't have it that long so I am not worried.

I just did a 1500 mile road trip from NH to VA and back last week in the Patriot and the CVT was just fine. I actually like the way the CVT acts in normal driving. It is when you have to nail it for some reason( pass, merge onto highway, etc... )that it sucks. You have to learn to ease your foot into it, or use the auto-stick feature and manually shift, for best performance.

Averaged 30.18 MPG overall for the trip. Can't beat that.

 

[gizzsdad]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
CVT's scare me - Many horror stories out there.


Seriously?

Wonder why Consumer Reports has big red circles for transmissions from 2008 on??

 

[CHARLIEBRONSON21]

Originally Posted By: nitehawk55
CVT fluid from Ford is about $18 a Qt. and it takes 6 for a flush and fill .

CVT's do feel very strange when you first drive them , it feels like slippage is going on between the engine and tranny and is but not in a bad way , it's thru the torque converter mostly . After you have drove one for a week or so you think nothing of it but I do maintain to drive them with an awareness so I'm not pushing too hard .

My 500 runs at about 1600 RPM at 100 KPH (60 MPH) .




Someone told me ford cvt's use regular synthetic transmission fluid, just like the other new cars.

 

[gofast182]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Nissans don't work. They fail at low mileage and tend to overheat and go into limp home mode.

Good idea, but poor execution.

I'd like to see how Honda does with them!

Obviously I'm a 'fan boy' but if you start reading professional reviews of the '13 Accord you'll find that many in the automotive press have said it's the very best execution of a CVT to-date. As for long-term reliability, we don't know and I'm still suspect of all CVTs.
I believe Nissan introduced a new generation of CVTs for the 2012 model year that are an improvement on their previous ones.

 

[nitehawk55]

Originally Posted By: CHARLIEBRONSON21
Originally Posted By: nitehawk55
CVT fluid from Ford is about $18 a Qt. and it takes 6 for a flush and fill .

CVT's do feel very strange when you first drive them , it feels like slippage is going on between the engine and tranny and is but not in a bad way , it's thru the torque converter mostly . After you have drove one for a week or so you think nothing of it but I do maintain to drive them with an awareness so I'm not pushing too hard .

My 500 runs at about 1600 RPM at 100 KPH (60 MPH) .




Someone told me ford cvt's use regular synthetic transmission fluid, just like the other new cars.


Not my understanding and I'm not going to chance it .

 

[smc733]

Originally Posted By: gofast182

Obviously I'm a 'fan boy' but if you start reading professional reviews of the '13 Accord you'll find that many in the automotive press have said it's the very best execution of a CVT to-date. As for long-term reliability, we don't know and I'm still suspect of all CVTs.
I believe Nissan introduced a new generation of CVTs for the 2012 model year that are an improvement on their previous ones.


A number of people are reporting problems with the transmission, some are having shims and fixes installed, while others are getting complete replacements under 10k miles for low RPM issues.

Good driving != good reliability

 

[Cujet]

My friend "Pete" has 170,000+ on his Nissan Murano, on it's original automatic CVT. That's better than I would have expected. He claims it's still working perfectly.