Never driven a car with a CVTIs there anything redeemable about them? Any quality at all that is objectively better for the driver compared to an automatic with gears?It sounds like in theory it would drive smoother, especially compared to some autos which shift rough at low speeds, but those are just bad auto transmissions. I also heard they have a weird rubber band feeling? What does that mean?
>>28596220Yes, fuel efficiency.
They're pretty unremarkable. The engine revs sound a bit weird because the ecu tries to keep it in the power band all the time when you are accelerating. The one I drove could still do engine braking if you flicked it over to "manual" mode but I've heard its bad for them.
>>28596224True but talking about a driving dynamic perspective. Technically they can accelerate faster right?
>>28596220>it would drive smootherThey do. For a basic daily a to b car it's great.
>>28596229The xtronic and ecvt I have tried accelerate notably slower especially when overtaking. Hondas one in the hybrids seems to be faster and it feels like a real transmission too, like its pretending to switch gears.
>>28596220I’ve only driven Subaru CVTs paired to the 4cyl and 6cyl boxers and I don’t have any issue with them. I think Amerisharts got a different CVT in their early Subarus which was rubbish. I’m in Aus so we get the RHD vehicles straight from Japan.
>>28596304>Hondas one in the hybrids seems to be faster and it feels like a real transmission too, like its pretending to switch gears.Isn't Honda's hybrid system (at least in the Civic) basically a series hybrid with a single physical overdrive gear for efficient cruising?I suppose if it's just running the engine as a generator, it can pretend to have gears by varying the RPM a bit. As long as the engine can produce enough power, it's like a somewhat slow electric car.Toyota's "e-CVT" uses a mechanical planetary gear power splitter and adjusts the ratio using the electric motor-generators, which might have lower losses at some speeds, but the engines in most Toyota hybrids are pretty gutless; they just run out of power at highway speeds.At least they don't drone as bad as non-hybrid CVTs, with the EV bits providing some boost when accelerating.
>>28596220>Tendency to start slowly, giving the impression of a lack of torque>Driver responds to vehicle's lack of acceleration by giving it more throttle>ECU backs off throttle because muh regulations and muh efficiency and the car continues its lethargic pace>Driver decides car is under powered piece of shit and hates CVTs foreverHybrids alleviate the issue with electric motors but I feel like this is the big issue with CVTs. They just don't feel that great to drive.
>>28596304>I have tried accelerate notably slowerCouldn't that be because of how it is set from the factory?
>>28596220This is literally it.
>>28596387>Toyota's "e-CVT" uses a mechanical planetary gear power splitterElectromechanical power splitter. Part of the power (I saw tens of kilowatts reported by the system) literally gets converted to electricity and back again to adjust the ratio.> but the engines in most Toyota hybrids are pretty gutlessBullshit. They used V8s in the past, V6 engines are still in use iirc.>they just run out of power at highway speeds.Because of the rpm/torque limitations of the electric motors and planetary gear ratios. Basically they optimized their eCVT for sub-180 kph speeds for cheaper cars. More expensive ones got multi-stage units good for higher speeds.
>>28596387Hondas hybrid CVT is used in the jazz and hr-v.>>28596508Could be. Haven't seen or heard of a CVT that is set up for speed and acceleration though.
>>28596352The first USA market Subarus with a CVT were in the 1980's. So it's a pretty safe bet that they were different from and inferior to modern CVTs.
>>28597152No I mean when the Subaru model line up changed circa 2015 and the first couple years of production I think burgers were getting a different CVT to other overseas markets.
>>28596220IN THEORY, they're the optimal transmission type because you can just keep your car at peak power or fuel efficiency forever at any speedIn reality, they're good for fuel efficiency but instantly fall apart with more than 200 ft/lbs of torque and are generally less reliable than geared autos or manuals
>>28596220On a car, no.In small engines, they are great.I don't know about side by sides and the likes, though. Maybe.
>>28596220I had audi with cvt but since it was audi it shifted through fake gears so it felt exactly like regular hydro box.
>>28596449>Driver decides car is under powered piece of shit and hates CVTs foreverI don't have anything against CVT but it feels slugish bcause there's torque limit when accelerating from standstill and while super when moving slowly doing idk city commute efficiency falls sharply with the load. At full load cvt is way less efficient than even traditional automatic.
>>28596220They skip less than a traditional automatic when going uphill. You know when you're going up a hill and the car struggles to find the right gear if you don't know your transmission and how much input to give it? That's a slight annoyance, the CVT is smoother up hills but at the same time it fucking screams at you going up hills. It screams at you all the time. They are way too fucking loud. I've driven a Prius and Crosstrek that would make you deaf driving them on the highway. You have to yell to your passenger sitting right next to you. Having that much loud noise in your eardrums for prolonged highway trips must cause hearing damage over time. I will never own another CVT unless it's exceptionally quiet.
>>28597918>You know when you're going up a hill and the car struggles to find the right gear if you don't know your transmission and how much input to give it?It's called gear hunting and it's an enginelet problem, i.e. when the manufacturer tries to compensate for not enough torque/awful power band by fiddling with the transmission, or the gearing/programming is really bad.
>>28597749Those were fine. It's the Nissan CVTs that are trash.
>>28597859Isn't the entire point of CVTs that they can keep the engine at peak torque constantly?
>>28598681Peak power, anon
>>28598681no the point of CVTs is it gives the manufacturer an effective knob for gaming the emissions and noise tests>>28598688CVTs have been banned by most racing bodies. Your road car's TCU will only let the engine hit peak power for as short a time as it can possibly get away with, for emissions reasons.
>>28599132>Your road car's TCU will only let the engine hit peak power for as short a time as it can possibly get away with, for emissions reasons.My only experience with normal CVT is with tiny rental shitboxes, and they tend to crawl to and stay near the red line if you push the pedal all the way for prolonged time (I don't want to use the word acceleration here). I googled a couple of their engines: peak power is near the redline (say 6000 rpm), max torque is significantly lower (like 2000-4500), sustained revs are around the 6000.
I actually like them better than hydraulic autos. The early Nissan and Chrysler ones sucked, but hating them is just a circlejerk started by retarded auto “journalists”.
my civic (2L NA) has a cvt, no problem with it all all 9 years later. im pretty sure it's never even gone beyond 5k RPM. haven't had problems with passing power or anything and can average ~45 mpg on the highway easily.
>>28596229>Technically they can accelerate faster right?But they don't. Our house bitch is a Subaru with 150 hp. If you stomp on the accelerator from a dead stop, it doesn't move like a normal geared automatic. It's intentionally slower. Much slower. Overtaking at speed is slightly slower than a geared transmission.
CVTs are gay but i would like a CVT overdrive gear in a traditional auto. surprised that doesn't exist.
>>28596220They're great for everything BUT the driver, better fuel economy, less moving parts, smoother shifting, etc. The problem is YOU, and me, don't like any of those things. The rest of the world for whom a car is just a method to getting from A to B, they're great. Sure, they fucked up on the first implementation, but they were always gonna do that, the first model cars or anything always have shit that breaks. Problem being this was a 5K to 10K part. Even the normies got angry. But nowadays even Nissans have gotten over that particular hump. If you're that afraid of them breaking just buy certified pre-owned from 2022 and you're gonna be fine.
