Originally Posted By: Dave Sherman
Are they reasonably reliable, or temperamental? A friend is considering looking at a 2010 Rogue with only 20,000 miles. She's never driven a CVT and had to ask me what it is, so if she doesn't like how it doesn't shift it may be a non-issue. Just trying to figure out if they are still less reliable than conventional slushboxes, or if they have improved.
I had to get rid of mine in a Nissan Sentra 2010. Bought it new, in Summer time...sold it at 15,000miles. Here's why. I drive short trips in a cold climate it would rev to 3500-4000rpm when below 50F and never "shift" (as in ....never changed ratios) until it was hot and it was shut off and then turned on again. In other words, it never got hot, and I drove the car everyday screaming at 4000rpm just to do 30mph in the cold. It was actually dangerous as people came right up on my rearend. And God forbid I needed to get on the highway on a cold morning below 35F... It'd be 6000rpm just to do 50mph. I compared it to 3 other Sentras on the lot... same deal with every one of them. Not for me, no thanks.
My wife didnt like it because she said it "didnt have power" what it turned out to be was that she associated a real shift of gears with a sensation of power.
Got rid of the car, got a Corolla. Problem solved.