Anybody with a 2013+ pathfinder, JX35 or QX60?

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How is your CVT treating you? Have you had the infamous CVT shudder yet? It appears some people have had 2 to 3 new CVT's installed and are still having the problem and nissan does not seem to be able to fix the issue. I ask because my wife just bought a new QX60 last sunday after going against my advise to avoid it.
 
Just make sure to convince her to get rid of it before the warranty is up.

You might get lucky and have no problems but if you do have problems she will want to get rid of it anyways.

The Amsoil recommendation was serious too.
 
I rented a QX60 on a business trip this week. Four days, so admittedly my experience is limited. For the most part it was good at matching gearing to engine speed and load but it did bog down bad once in an acceleration situation. The 360 hp felt like 36. Just makes me ask if there is a shudder issue could it be some gaps in the control programming that need to be fixed.
 
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Just make sure to convince her to get rid of it before the warranty is up.

You might get lucky and have no problems but if you do have problems she will want to get rid of it anyways.

The Amsoil recommendation was serious too.



She said if it ends up giving her problems she will get rid of it before the warranty is up. She has mechanical break down insurance also through geico that goes to 100,000 miles. She decided on it because she had very good luck with her 2004 G35X which now has 171,000 miles on it. We kept that car and it now sits in the driveway for either of us to use whenever we feel like it.


I had no idea amsoil makes a special fluid for cvt's. I will have to check that out. I am afraid to switch it though in case they want to deny warranty. We got an incredible deal on it because her boss is good friends with the manager at the infiniti dealer. $50,000 msrp and we got out the door at $45,000 and most of the dealing was with him directly instead of a sales person. I asked him about the cvt issues and he said they have been blown out of proportion and if we have any issues they will give us an equivalent loaner until the issue is taken care of.


If I am not mistaken this thing has the same engine that her old G35X has.




 
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Not sure why she'd get that considering the reviews it's getting and the known trans issues when there's a great new MDX out there kicking butt and taking names.
 
I own a 2013 JX35. Purchased in July 2013 with a May 2013 build date. Based on reading the JX35/Pathfinder forums, Nissan/Infiniti transitioned the 2013 JX35s to the Pathfinder version of the CVT some time in early 2013. So, initial build JX35s had the CVT that did not "shudder", while later builds received the same CVT as the Pathfinder.

I have just under 5,000 miles on the JX at this point. I have experienced "shudders"--particularly during low speed city driving-- but they have lessened as the JX accumulates miles.

This is my third Infiniti (98 I30, 11 FX35), with the other two being rock solid during ownership. I'm a bit disappointed by the JX. Have also experienced several other minor build quality issues, especially the one where the roof molding comes apart near the front windshield. I mentioned this during my last service visit in February -- to date, the new part is still being "ordered". There is also a passenger air bag software recall pending on the car.

I do not expect to keep this vehicle past warranty -- will most likely trade for a MDX in the next year or two.

P.S. Also, the JX35/QX60 likely has the same VQ35DE engine (265 HP) that your wife's earlier G35X had. There is also a VQ35HR variant (303 HP) that is used on the EX/FX SUVs.
 
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Beh, sucks she didn't listen to you, I hate Nissan CVT's and will steer clear at all costs. It's actually kind of a shame, Nissan/Infinity builds some really nice vehicles that IMO are un-drivable because of their CVT's.

I recently rented a 2013 Altima, it had 32,000 miles on it. I returned/exchanged it for a different car after the second day. It shuttered/droned and was generally unpredictable in every day driving. I couldn't stand it and was in amazement they would actually release that into production.
 
Originally Posted By: gofast182
Not sure why she'd get that considering the reviews it's getting and the known trans issues when there's a great new MDX out there kicking butt and taking names.



I think she felt comfortable with it because she had such good luck with her old car. We test drove the new MDX twice and she didn't like it. She said the interior felt cheap and the center stack/infotainment center was goofy and unintuitive. I tried to convince her to steer clear of the QX60 and go for the SRX or MDX. She said if she ends up not liking it or it gives her problems she will just get rid of it in a couple years.


I wonder just how bad the new cvt issue really is? You hear of the people having issues but rarely do people without issues speak out. I figure in the next year nissan will have a remedy anyway either with a better fluid or a change to the cvt itself. They certainly cant keep slapping defective cvt after cvt in everybodys car and stay in business.
 
There is also probably a percentage of people who 'live with it' or don't know any better so nothing is said, but yes you usually hear of problems more than successes.

I recently had a '14 MDX Tech as a loaner:

I'd hardly call the inside of the new MDX cheap, it feels better than my '11. I will say that Infiniti is making some really nice interiors. I was quite impressed with them at the New York Auto Show, even more than BMW for example.

I can agree with the touchscreen interface. There's definitely a learning curve as you can't learn the location of a button and then reach down and feel it without looking. This is a problem with all touch screens in cars IMO. They're adding as part of the car just what they don't want us to look at while we're driving. I will say after driving it for a day you do start to learn it better and don't need to rely on it as the climate control is automatic and once your presets are set you can control pretty much everything about the stereo with the steering wheel controls (buttons).

The thing I appreciated most about it compared to my '11 is that you can really feel the 250+ pounds of weight reduction and this was evident on the trip computer as I was getting 22mpg around town which I can't even do on flat highway in my '11.

Ultimately I'd look past the touch screen interface as the overall idea (for me anyway) is about getting a vehicle that's nice/fun to drive for what it is and that will be reliable.
 
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