Cvt's will go down in history as biggest mistake ever

[marlin]

Thought I'd share this. Funny but sad too.
I feel sorry for them. The honda civic my elderly neighbour drives failed last week. The CVT belt failed. The car is 38mths old under warranty. Didn't want to say it, but it serves people right being sucked in to driving disposable Ikea like sewing machine scooter vehicles. They drive 41km week... yes 41kms. My falcon manual ute gearbox is 20 yrs old & far superior to what goes in new cars. SUVS are the next biggest rort. don't get me started...High centre gravity, CVT, low load on front wheels, & 3 times more likely to roll over. People live em. Go figure....

[Bossxr8]

3 times more likely to roll? Evidence?

Maybe doing such low km per week might be part of the issue. Only small trips, so it never completely warms up?

[jaydee]

CVT's are rubbish for sure, but manufacturers keep pushing them onto the consumer.

[marlin]

Google or YouTube stuff about this stuff on cvt's and suvs, interesting. The new rav4 doing the moose test is plain scary. I have my ute, My mrs has the SUV, yes with a cvt. We hit a pothole in it once & came close to a rollover. Yep we still have it, but it makes me nervous. She loves it, hates the ute, so the suv its a keeper, for now.....

[BENT_8]

The '13 Outlander we gave to the Wifes parents is still going strong with 150k on it now and the Wifes ASX is solid, whilst im not a fan of the technology, i think CVT has a place.

[marlin]

Yes I do actually agree. My mrs loves her suv too. My AU ute is no ballerina either, especially in the wet. Ha ha. No esp and just abs to save me. I guess my discussion point is that cvts & suvs are flawed. I thought with all our tech and abilities car makers would make them super safe as they often claim, in their advertising.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by marlin

My mrs has the SUV, yes with a cvt. We hit a pothole in it once & came close to a rollover. Yep we still have it, but it makes me nervous. She loves it, hates the ute, so the suv its a keeper, for now.....

This never happened or there is more to the story. How do you almost roll from a pothole? As it half the size of the car or something?

[tasdex]

It’s a pity they cannot get them to work as well as they have been in scooters for decades .

[Metdevil]

CVT is by no means a new technology. I used to have one of those nasty French-designed 2001 Primeras, they need a specific transmission fluid being CVT, but the previous owner had been taking it in for services where they'd been topping it up with ATF.
Sure enough, he sold it to me without mentioning the transmission issues. When it was warm it was fine, so I took it for a test drive, bought it, and took it to work that night (nightshift). The problem showed itself the very next morning when I turned it on and the CVT light flashed a dozen or so times and wouldn't shift 'gears', essentially it was in limp mode. Pulled over and turned the car off, but when I turned it on again (after it was now a bit warm) it was fine.

Obviously, the previous owner feigned any knowledge of it (which was total BS, it was doing this every day in the cold). Ended up getting it fixed by a CVT specialist for $800 and then traded it for an AU.

So was it a royal pain in the butt? Yea, but if it worked, maybe I wouldn't have wound up here :P

In saying that, the Primera's CVT belt was a rubber belt prone to breaking, so to prevent breaking, the stepper motor had a low setpoint for its high load trip. High viscosity fluid put strain on the belt and the stepper motor freaked out. Warming up the fluid reduced the viscosity freeing up the motor a bit.
New CVTs are chains, or rather chain-like/belt hybrid contraptions, point is, there's an opportunity for improvement, it certainly has potential for some vehicles, I just wouldn't trust it enough to gamble putting it into every single model on the market (I'm looking at you, Mitsubishi!).

As for me, once bitten, twice shy. I'll definitely be avoiding them for a while...

Also, they're soooo boring to drive! So monotonous

[oldel]

CVT are here to say as long as ICE is because they fulfill a role. Emissions. Design a CVT to keep an engine at an RPM where they are most efficient and least polluting. Simple as that.

I don't like CVT (toyota, Honda, mits, Subaru) I don't like DCT either (VW, ford, some hyundais).

What does that leave for people that don't want a manual but want a trad T/C auto? Mazda, BMW?
Some nissans/infinti, some VWs (like amarok) and some hyundais

[XD 351 Ute]

Yep, second biggest mistake after 99% of GM / GMH rubbish. There's a few Holdens and Chevs I don't mind, but they can burn the rest...

I drove a CVT Corolla, not too bad, but when it went down a hill under deceleration, it would rev its ring off, whereas the same downhill run in my BF only results in engine braking of the vehicle. No thank you Mr Toyota.

Probably equal 2nd I suppose is Ford's efforts with the Fiesta / Focus DCT, and their repeated attempts to fob the issues off.. Makes me ashamed to love the blue oval at times.

Thank god for our Ford V8s!!

Ed

[lumen8]

Originally Posted by marlin

SUVS are the next biggest rort. don't get me started...High centre gravity, CVT, low load on front wheels, & 3 times more likely to roll over. People live em. Go figure....

I have to laugh when the odd SUV driver gives me attitude and think they can keep up to my cars in the twisties.

I drive on some very rough roads sometimes and Im guessing they think because the road is rough (potholes etc) an SUV is better... but they get to the point where they dont do very well hitting potholes, ruts etc at higher speeds, especially when cornering.

[danzvtil]

A big mistake for who? The tens of thousands currently on our roads?
The civic CVT is a good one, it certainly fooled me when I first drove it. What’s the answer, I had 2 torque converter autos on Holden cruzes that failed, is it time to scrap that deeply flawed piece of technology?

[marlin]

I've certainly opened up a hornets nest starting this thread.
On the topic of the new honda civic hatch... I had one in 2017, beautiful car, CVT worked ok, except in start stop traffic about 30 kph, very jumpy movement as cvt seemed to get confused...
I backtraded it to a honda vtiL accord as my commute car with conventional trans, very smooth.
Trying to drive my trusty AU ute in traffic is challenging with t5 manual but still love it. Manual trans make you concentrate on your driving that's for sure.

[oldel]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

I had 2 torque converter autos on Holden cruzes that failed, is it time to scrap that deeply flawed piece of technology?

TC autos fail true, so do CVTs and DCTs. So does every cruze, so is it time to scrap that deeply flawed piece of technology?
Well your mistake there is using a cruze for a benchmark. cruze failed - so what, scrap all cars? If a cruze is bad then all cars bad? That doesn't pass any sort of test or benchmark LOL. Maybe all trans bad and only EV without traqns should be sold - that'll get a lot of replies! Don't bother

Mazda stuck with TC, yet we don't hear much about failures. (while ford got dragged over coals for DCT; mits cvt, honda failures too.).
I've got a rav4 cvt in the family and while not a rep for breaking, horrid to drive. It is a buzzbox and on cruise on a hill it goes stupid.

[ljf12]

If you want to have a headache have a read about the ecvt that Toyota uses in its hybrids. I recently drove a late model Camry hybrid, I was pretty impressed by the way it performed.

I tried to find out how they vary the “ratio” of the petrol engine when it is doing its bit. I think I have sort of figured it out how it works , is there anyone here with a good understanding of what goes on ?

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

A big mistake for who? The tens of thousands currently on our roads?
The civic CVT is a good one, it certainly fooled me when I first drove it. What’s the answer, I had 2 torque converter autos on Holden cruzes that failed, is it time to scrap that deeply flawed piece of technology?

A Holden Cruze? There's your problem right there

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by marlin

Thought I'd share this. Funny but sad too.
I feel sorry for them. The honda civic my elderly neighbour drives failed last week. The CVT belt failed. The car is 38mths old under warranty. Didn't want to say it, but it serves people right being sucked in to driving disposable Ikea like sewing machine scooter vehicles. They drive 41km week... yes 41kms. My falcon manual ute gearbox is 20 yrs old & far superior to what goes in new cars. SUVS are the next biggest rort. don't get me started...High centre gravity, CVT, low load on front wheels, & 3 times more likely to roll over. People live em. Go figure....

You are only quoting one mishap compared to your car; well I've blown a few falcon manual gear boxes in my time, what you say to that.
Move along......

[Charliewool]

My CVT hasn’t missed a beat in the 3 odd years I’ve owned it....




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[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

My CVT hasn’t missed a beat in the 3 odd years I’ve owned it....

image

You should've posted a pic showing the rego plates

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

You should've posted a pic showing the rego plates

It IS fully registered... Passes “Riteve” (annual RWC) every year, no probs.
Though it’s a handful at 100kph out on the Pan-American highway (or on asphalt/bitumen surface actually)



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[jaydee]

So what are CVT's like when off road, say in a Forester or something similar?

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by jaydee

So what are CVT's like when off road, say in a Forester or something similar?

Just ok if you can keep them cool.

We have a Subaru xv with cvt. It needed a valve body swap at 110000kms, pretty common. Dealership quoted $5500.


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[naddis01]

They are the bees knees in tractors. Does that count?