Why the CVT Hate?
I’ve been driving a vehicle with a CVT recently (it’s a hybrid too), and you know what’s surprising? How it feels. The transmission is more responsive to the throttle than the 7-speed automatic that I’m used to, not slushy at all. It doesn’t feel laggy and always provides plenty of passing power almost immediately when I need it. None of that waiting 0.5-1.5 seconds for the transmission to downshift. It just goes, hard and fast when I want it to. No hesitation, no fuss. And for its time, the 7-speed I was used to wasn’t terribly slow by any means. In terms of responsiveness, it was average.
Sure, the “motorboating” sound is terrible, but the car is almost silent anyways, so whatever. It’s really not that terrible, honestly.
What are everyone’s thoughts on CVTs? Why do you hate/not hate them?
Comments
I’m not a hater of CVT, I just don’t like it. But then, it’s probably the future of transmissions, so who cares.
what don’t you like about it?
I like the CVT. It depends on the other statistics (car, use, road, distance, etc…)
No interesting cars (bar a few early-90s Williams F1 prototypes, and no, the Regera doesn’t count) have them.
They are often slow to respond.
They make an annoying droning sound, making the car sound more stressed than it is under acceleration.
To be honest, regular autos (look at ZF’s 8-speed) are getting so good that there isn’t that much of a need for CVTs. And electric cars can be single-ratio anyway…
My Proton CVT makez it’s already pathetic engine seem like it’s got asthma, that’s why it sucks
I test drove a C-HR and it was the first time I have actually had experience with a CVT car. I don’t feel like it’s as bad as people say. After all, I was driving at 40MPH tops around the block, so I couldn’t really tell any kind of negative differences. I do realize there is a difference in feel and doesn’t have the jerkiness like a conventional transmission when it’s changing gears.
I think it has more to do with the way the transmissions are programmed than what the transmission is. For example, the six speed automatic transmissions in my parents’ Toyotas are programmed to be “lazy”, which explains for the slower responses. The same could be said for CVTs. Manufacturers put them in economy cars for fuel efficiency and software tune them to respond to get the best fuel economy.
As for reliability… I wish I knew more.
I was driving a 340hp CVT hybrid (the second-most powerful CVT car in existence), and imo the responsiveness was excellent. No lag from standstill thanks to the electric motors, and hardly any “downshift” delay flooring at highway speeds. I guess it really depends on the car and the programming haha