I am looking at a new Altima with CVT transmission. Nissan has been making the CVT for a few years, and I would like to hear from owners who have good or bad experiences with them. Do they hold up as well as the older transmissions?
From reports, Nissan has one of the best CVT transmisisons. They seem to hold up well, but many posters report that Nissan simply replaces he whole transmission if something goes wrong. This, combined with the fact that no regular transmission shops service this type, should be a warning that if you drive a lot you may face an expensive repair when the warranty is up.
Are you looking at the 2.5 l or the 3.5 l engine? The power output of the 3.5 l would cause me to pause on buying a CVT, but I’ve seen no reports of problems.
I’m looking at the 2.4l engine. I’m worried more about my wife’s lead foot.
It’s a 2.5L. My wife has an '08 2.5L with the CVT. At just over 6K miles so far, the CVT itself has been flawless, but an axle seal had to be replaced (under warranty) because fluid was leaking.
We have a 2004 Nissan Murano that has the CVT. WE LOVE this car. However we were told this weekend that the car’s transmission must be replaced. The gearbox also needs to be replaced. This is the SL AWD model. It had 85k miles. We were more upset about losing the car than I think the cost of the repair which was $8500. We are still waiting to hear if Nissan will provide some assistance to repair it. We contacted local transmission places and they want to repair for a normal transmission repair cost of $4000, however Nissan MFG will not release or sell the parts to these companies. So basically the Nissan Dealer has a monoply on fixing these types of problems. I would stay away from buying one of these cars used.
Have you looked into replacing the CVT with a conventional automatic transmission. Surely, for the cost, someone must have an adapter kit; or, another Nissan regular automatic transmission may just bolt in. For the price of replacing the CVT, I'd definitely be looking at alternatives , even salvage yards.by definition a CVT has no gearbox
I think he/she is referring to the transfer case (or equivalent mechanism).