I have a 2011 Nissan Sentra with 160,000 miles on it and a CVT. Mine works amazing and in another reply I’ll tell you why it does. First off Nissan and Subaru were the first companies to really be the guinea pigs for the CVT transmissions in a production vehicle. The transmission itself has been around for ages and was actually banned from racing many years ago. Jatco, which was mentioned earlier in this thread is the same company that made them all along for Subaru and Nissan. I also would like to mention that all 2007 to 2010 Nissan models/vehicles equipped with a CVT received an extended warranty to a 120,000 miles. It is a transferable warranty so if you find one with tranny problems take it to Nissan and they’ll put a brand new one in. Ultima, Sentras, Rogues, etc etc. It was a pretty sneaky thing that Nissan did. Because it’s not a recall, they don’t have to notify the owners. They just extended the warranty and didn’t tell anybody. Unless you came in for transmission repair, you would have never known . A lot of other car makers are going to be using that little technique in the future. So, regardless of what car you have what brand you have. Keep your eye out for any news releases about your vehicle. Ask the dealership about extended warranties on a regular basis. The car makers have figured out a way around recalls. The problem that early cvts had was that they would start whining and howling as they got hot. If you are climbing a grade and it got too hot, the transmission has a safety on it that causes your car to lose power and you’ll end up on the shoulder. It’s happened to me several times. Many owners don’t know what to do so they have their cars towed to a transmission shop or to the dealership. If you just wait a little while for it to cool down you can get back to driving. Another big problem that I have found with Nissan is that they require you to use their transmission fluid or else your warranty is void. That stuff is $25 a quart in the transmission takes about seven and a half quarts to be full. The technicians at Nissan for run a check on your computer system and tell you that the CVT does not need its fluid changed.
The design of the transmission is definitely revolutionary but most of us Gearheads know that you need a damn transmission cooler on an automatic transmission. Nissan only offered it the 4 x 4 Rogue model. That little cooler is barely adequate. Basically Nissan built this little tiny cooler on the side of the transmission that lets coolant flow through this little tiny nest that supposedly is supposed to be good enough to cool the transmission. I have to stop here and I will continue in my next reply. Everybody out there needs to know about these Transmissions.