My stepdaughter's ex had a Nissan Sentra with a CVT and it crapped out at 11k miles. Doesn't sound very reliable to me.

 

It could also say something about Nissan's engineering approach to the system, right?

Please, I'm not saying it's the answer to a maiden's dreams, but it MIGHT be a workable system. I'm reading more and more that it's going to be seen in more future vehicles.

- Jack

 

To counter that - I've got a family member wif 60k+ on a CVT Sentra. Zero issues. She loves it. O'course, Ol' Bubber is doin' all the maintainin' . Neither case is useful as a metric, though.

Sir Jack - to be fair to you, I believe each design has it's place - and I agree that in the case of 10 gears in a Raptor it's contra-indicated and over the top - complexity fer complexity's sake. The 'Murrican way


Ol' Bubber

 

No sweat sir. I don't take too many things personally.

- Jack

 

A CVT is almost always found in a soulless, poverty spec car with the base engine because they suck to drive. Most of the ones on the market don't hold much power without coming apart and don't provide a better driving experience than your garden variety slushbox or better fuel economy than a good dual clutch auto. But they are more expensive, complex and prone to fail. In short they have a lot of bad and nothing really good to bring to the table.

A simple way of envisioning a CVT is two cones that point in opposite directions with a rubber band wrapped around them. The cones move around to change the gear ratio depending on where the band is on the cones. It sounds great but in practice doesn't work.

 

10 gears!!! What's the point? There's a reason theres been 4 gears forever and over the last few years gone to 5 and 6 gears. The low and high gear can only be what it is now. The engine can't run on a gear that is too high where it looses all torque. And the lowest gear is only needed to get you going from stop.

So all there doing is adding closer gear ratios in between and keeping revs down before shifts to improve fuel. After 4-5 gears the cost benefit ratio is not there.

 

I like the idea of more gears. A couple of extra down low and a couple extra up high, keeping the RPMs in the right range.

My wife's Audi has an 8 speed. You barely notice the shifting and the RPMs never climb above 2K (unless you bury your foot ).

 

Currently out of state and we have a Nissan rental with a CVT transmission for the second year in a row. Last gear was a Rouge and currently we have an Altima. The CVT drives me nuts and I'm just a passenger. Its loud (engine sounds odd in them) and its slow. Personally, not a fan.

 

You think an Altima with a CVT is bad, try a Sentra. All it does is convert gasoline to noise.

 

We were supposed to get a Fusion and my mom almost asked for it when we were handed the Altima keys. She regrets not asking lol

 

I'm old enough to remember when automatic transmissions started making serious appearances in vehicles. I thought they were a huge mistake; good only for people that didn't really know how to drive. Besides having poor reliability, you couldn't push start the vehicle, they were not good for "rocking" the vehicle if you were stuck in the mud or snow, and, they got poor fuel economy compared to stick shifts. Adding to that, you just didn't have the "control" in all situations that sticks gave you.

Then, diesels started showing up in smaller vehicles. They were noisy, smelled bad, put out great clouds of opaque exhaust, seemed to need endless maintenance, and didn't start easily. I was convinced that diesels belonged only in 18-wheelers, train locomotives and ships.

Mazda came up with their "rotary" engine, an adaptation of the Wankel (not ****** ), and for once I thought progress was being made! It was simpler and certainly had to be better since it didn't convert reciprocating motion to circular motion. But, seal problems, then emissions and fuel economy seemed to kill it off - although many automakers gave it serious consideration. I still think it MAY have a place in our automotive future.

Now we are looking seriously at vehicles that drive themselves (and planes that can fly themselves). Both are certainly feasible and have been shown to be able to be implemented with existing technology.

So, I simply cannot rule out CVTs now. The concept seems so much more elegant than the gearing and clutch bands in our standard transmissions. Besides, any time you have to mesh moving gears together they risk being unsynchronized and damaged.

I've ridden in a 2012 Nissan with CVT and found it to be a pleasant ride. This was climbing up 7000 ft to the top of Mt Lemmon and back down. It didn't seem like it was working at all.

I won't say there won't be hiccups. But, if there are advantages to a system, I believe it will be refined to the point where it will become "standard".

- Jack

 

If you think a Sentra or Altima with a CVT is bad then I'm sure you haven't ever driven a Dodge Caliber with one. You burry your foot on the gas and it only makes a horrible sound and goes no faster.

 

I bought my daughter a Nissan Altima Coupe last year with the CVT, not sure how it will hold up since she only has 10K miles but it definitely takes the fun out of driving a coupe.

 

From my stand-point, a 10 speed is a bit of a "look at me" sort of feature. Having driven a newer Ram and GM with the 8-speeds, overall they seem like an improvement over the 6sp in my F350 (I know it really only uses 5 gears at a time) and the 6 speed in my 2010 F150. You would think that in a truck, the more you can keep from using a torque converter from bridging the gap of gears, the less heat and more efficient it can be. I think the key to making it well excepted is the shifts need to be quick. You don't want to feel like your driving something that is always shifting or seems to be "hunting" for the right gear.

But, when I drive the 10 speed sometime in the future, I may think it's a dream wrapped up in an aluminum case

A CVT tranny may have it's place in the automotive world, but to me, it's not in a truck just yet! But I do love having one in my sled!

 

I had the misfortune to buy a Ford Five Hundred AWD with the CVT when they first came out. Hard to say what was the bigger disappointment...the car or the transmission.