We've just come back from the USA and whilst there we did 2100 miles in the hire car, a Nissan Altima, which isn't for sale in the UK.
Now, obviously, it had an auto box and for a start I thought nothing of it (I like autos) other than noticing how smooooooth it was. Then as I drove more I started trying to see if I could count how many gears it had. Nope. Can't tell. It was utterly, totally seamless on acceleration, literally no sign of it changing gear at all. Only if you put your foot down did the revs climb and gear changes became noticeable. Seriously impressive.
So I googled the car. Ahhh. That explains it. It wasn't a conventional auto but a CVT!
Now I've only seen CVTs on small cars before but this was some seriously impressive box. Under mild and steady acceleration the revs stayed low and constant giving seamless drive. As soon as you back off the revs dropped to just over tickover and cruising at 80mph was a tad under 2000rpm.
Being a real geek, of course I checked the fuel consumption whilst we had it. That never dropped below 35 (UK) mpg which was during some spirited driving up lots of miles of Rocky Mountains and twice topped 40mpg.
I'm assuming the "gear changes" I could feel when I booted it were electronically selected ratios to give the impression of gears, as such a thing is available on some auto motorbikes.
Now this is a 2.5l 4 cyl petrol engine with 183bhp tugging a pretty big car about (I'd say it was bigger than a Mondeo)
So it was doing pretty much what our 1.6 manual Focus does, fuel wise. I can live with that!
But does anyone make a CAR (not MPV or 4x4) with this box or similar in the UK?
Nissan don't.
audi did a 20 tdi a4 with a cvt around 2005-2007
Here you go.
Obviously you'll need to get an orange 5 too.
I think lexus do, but I don't think they dial in the gear change. .. saw it on 5th gear being Nailed on the track and it was at a constant 6,000 rpm. Comedy. Not for me. I like autos though
£4K for a car with 140k miles on it?
Not a forking chance.
but I don't think they dial in the gear change.
That's neither here nor there really 🙂
I was just so impressed by that Altima, a truly fantastic piece of kit it was.
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http://cars.aol.co.uk/2012/07/31/daf-s-rubber-band-transmission-has-the-last-laugh/
A friends mum had a green one branded as a DAF, in the late 70s or early 80s
Honda Jazz do a CVT
Audi, Subaru, Lexus, Honda off the top of my head.
I have a Skoda Fabia with the DSG7 gearbox - that's pretty smooth, although not a CVT of course. 180BHP is quite nice, too...
Rachel
with the DSG7 gearbox
Arn't they the ones that cost £300 to change the oil on every 26,000 miles or so?
Honda ..... do a CVT
Yeah, but is it a REALLY REALLY good one? 🙂
There's quite a few Qashcows around at reasonable prices but, well, phhhhhhhhhh. Errrrrr. Yeuch.
There's bound to be someone who can import one from Japan - they're right hand drive too.
Suzuki use CVT's in their new SX4 cross & the Kizashi, both have the option to use the box in six speed manual paddle shift mode too.
Peterpoddy says:
Arn't they the ones that cost £300 to change the oil on every 26,000 miles or so?
No - DSG7 gearbox oil is not supposed to be changed.
Rachel
Rachel if you keep signing off each post I'll sign mine off carebear.
Carebear
Dear Carebear,
that's good to know.
Rachel
[i]Rachel if you keep signing off each post I'll sign mine off carebear.
Carebear [/i]
There's a reason she does it hora and I think everyone's kindof bought into it and accepts it's part of who she is on here now?
Im soft and cuddly.
Carebear.
To be fair, I only do it these days 'cos it's just habit...
I could stop, probably...
[i]I could stop, probably... [/i]
DrP needs the company though 😉
Nissan sell CVTs in the UK on Micras, Notes, Jukes and Qashqais
Rachel, if we had a vote I guess the majority would say keep the sig.
Nissan sell CVTs in the UK on Micras, Notes, Jukes and Qashqais
Yep. But one is too small, one is a box driven by old people (And still to small) one is a 4x4 (stylee, and therefore useless) and one is the second most ugly car in current production (after them fat Minis)
Seat Exeo CVT.
C'mon! I'm a bike mechanic. D'ya think I can afford* a new car? (I wouldn't buy new even if I could**)
*I can actually.
**But it ain't gonna happen. Never spent more than £5995 on a car in my life, and we still have that one!
Err...you've just been to the US.
I cant afford the US.
Carebear
Err...you've just been to the US.I cant afford the US.
A trip I paid for ONE WEEK before I was made redundant and took a 45% pay cut, sonny boy!
[url= http://www.allcars.co.uk/used-cars?s=Nissan%20Altima ]Pick one[/url]
A guy up the road here has one, a 2.5l auto IIRC. Gets it serviced at local dealer without any issue.
Wouldn't a Vauxhall Ampera do essentially the same thing, engine at constant RPM, no gear changes in the transmission. Except rather than a gearbox doing the clever stuff there is a battery and some motors?
Wouldn't a Vauxhall Ampera do essentially the same thing, engine at constant RPM, no gear changes in the transmission. Except rather than a gearbox doing the clever stuff there is a battery and some motors?
Yep. Probably. As would a Priuis. Already been there.
But you cant tow a trailer leagally with a Prius in the UK. No type approval see?
Also, are there any used ones around?
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😉
hmmm, think the Ampera is a bit different, because the engine never actually drives the wheels - it is simply used to provide juice for the motors, a bit like a diesel loco. It's apparently quite nifty because the engine can be tuned for maximum efficiency at a set RPM, rather than having to perform reasonably across a range.
No idea about towing though, or used examples
<caveat>
This is my understanding, based in part on something I saw on topgear, therefore likely to be bollocks
</caveat>
I had a Merc A class rental car with a cvt a few years ago. Got to be the future. What's the point in having defined gears between your highest and lowest ratios?
The lexus CT200 Hybrid is a CVT, as is Audi's S-tronic on most new models.
Or you could just use a proper car with a gearstick ...
S-Tronic is dual clutch
Multitronic is Audi's CVT
And their torque converter auto is still called Tiptronic
Audi multitronic/m-tronic is a CVT, available on A4, A6 and no doubt other VAG models. I used to have an A4 estate with a 2.4 petrol engine and the CVT; that transmission was a brilliant piece of engineering and I don't understand why it's not more popular. At the time the 2.4 was the largest engine they did with the CVT but I see from their web site they now do a 3L diesel so I guess they're confident that it will take a shedload of torque.
Have also hired an Altima with the CVT in the US; the VAG implementation is better IMHO.
I had a Merc A class rental car with a cvt a few years ago. Got to be the future. What's the point in having defined gears between your highest and lowest ratios?
The Merc A class CVT is known to have lots of issues.
I guess the "always in the right ratio" of CVT is becoming less of an advantage as we head now to 9 speed autos
When some workmates and I were in the US we had a CVT Altima (may have been the Maxima but anyways).
We all hated it.
When you put your foot down to joint highway/interstate traffic it was absolutely gutless, the gearbox just made the engine spin without giving us any go. It made a lot of noise when it did this so we figured the gas pedal was powering some speakers to give an impression of power.
Awful, awful thing to dive. Comfy though.
to be fair, merican cars are designed to drive to the interstate on a grid system, then sit there on cruise at 55 or whatever. they don't need (or want) a dynamic box. It's the same here in Oz; a massive V8 plugged into a cruismatic bland-o-tron box.
CVT - Continuously Variable Transmission?
Like TonyG2003 suggests, the new many-geared automatics like the MB or BMW ones make CVT a bit old-hat. The 8-speed auto transmission on a modern BMW gives almost imperceptible changes.
Have you considered an electric car for its smoothness?
Honda Jazz do a CVT
I don't think that's right - I think they realised that most of their drivers only ever use third so just took out the rest of the gearbox.
Honda Jazz do a CVT
My parents had a Jazz that I [i]think[/i] had the CVT box. It remains the most hateful car I have ever driven and that was solely to do with the gearbox, the rest of the car was fine.
As above CVT has been around for years, whilst I freely admit I haven't driven one recently back 25 years ago they felt like being on a milk float, bland bland. I'm sure theyve improved reliability but back then the CVT had very poor reputation. We have two 5 speed auto cars which work really well, most of the time/miles you do in a car is in a single "top" gear, simple.