I recently had occasion to visit a Honda dealer. I sat in the new cars, as I usually do, and I have to tell you, the Accord’s seat felt WONDERFUL to me! Comfort being so hard for me to find, what with my spine crumbling away, that I gotta tell ya, if I were in the market for a new car the Accord would be high on my list… even if it had the tranny from a Caterpillar bulldozer!
All else being equal, I’d avoid a CVT until it had more of a chance to prove itself… but in reality all else is NEVER equal. The tranny type is only one on a list of criteria that a car ends up getting judged on. I would never fault someone for choosing a car with a CVT.
Ten years ago Chrysler introduced the Dodge Caliber with the Jatco (Nissan subsidiary) CVT transmission. This seemed like suicide based on the previous CVT problems of Nissan. The CVT transmission offers better fuel economy by 1-2 MPG and the manufacture cost is less per unit.
After ten years I expected failure rates to be 25% plus but if there was a great failure rate the public would be aware by now.
On car complaints .com there are 26 complaints filed for the 2007 Caliber transmission and 75 complaints filed for the 2015 Honda CRV transmission. Hopefully the Honda faults will be corrected soon.
Barky: the one car for which I have complete records, a Passat Wagon purchased in 03 and traded in 15, cost me an average of $289 per month over that 12 years. 31 cents per mile. You may have a point.
CRs used car guide indicates there is nothing to be concerned about if you buy a 1st year - next generation car from Honda or Subaru. You may get a discount for the current generation CRV, especially as the new model year approaches. There probably won’t be any discounts on the at all since SUVs are so popular.
As a data point for the Caliber, I own a 2007 Jeep Compass, bought used in 2009. The Compass is essentially a Caliber jacked up by 1 inch, with a Jeep badge on it. The transmission was replaced in 2011 under warranty BUT as far as I know it wasn’t a CVT failure - just a failed bearing somewhere in the system. I brought the car in because of growling bearing sound. It might have been in the differential portion of the casing for all I know.
The new CVT has been performing fine so far. It even survived my wife red-lining and wrecking the engine going up a mountain highway.
Lately, front end bushings have been loosening up, which is typical for these cars, but it otherwise keeps on trucking. I’m somewhat surprised.
I think CVT in new cars is now a “tested” and debugged technology in most make and model cars. Every now and then a faulty transmission will come on the market, but it can be a conventional auto trans, or a dual clutch auto trans, or a CVT auto trans.
If I got a new car with a CVT I would have the transmission serviced by the mfg’r dealer service department. Many of the CVT problems are due to putting in the wrong fluid when the CVT is serviced. Conventional auto tranny fluid and CVT fluid is entirely different. Put conventional fluid in a CVT and it will kill the CVT tranny in a few hundred to 1000 miles.
Quickie lube places often upsell services including transmission flushes and then use the wrong fluid. It can happen at other shops too. In this case using the dealer service is more expensive, but a much better option to keep the tranny healthy.
I looked at the new Pathfinder…and decided against it because of the CVT. I know the owner of a transmission shop not too far from me. The local Ford, GM, Toyota and Nissan dealerships send him their transmission work. He said Nissan and a few others are still having problems with the CVT’s. He was extremely leery of towing with them. He rebuilds/replaces more CVT’s then any other tranny on vehicles with less then 50k miles.
Just curious, for those w/CVT experience, is it a routine maintenance thing to replace the rubber belts? Or are they designed to last the life of the vehicle?
Also, when did the rubber belt CVT transmissions first make their appearance in production cars? I seem to recall a car – I think it was a Volvo – sporting something called a variomatic transmission quite some time ago. Was that a rubber belt CVT?
“Just curious, for those w/CVT experience, is it a routine maintenance thing to replace the rubber belts? Or are they designed to last the life of the vehicle? Also, when did the rubber belt CVT transmissions first make their appearance in production cars? I seem to recall a car – I think it was a Volvo – sporting something called a variomatic transmission quite some time ago. Was that a rubber belt CVT?”
Reality check, George…the car with the “Variomatic” rubber belt-driven CVT was the DAF, which essentially invented this category. When Volvo bought-out DAF’s automotive division, they “inherited” that design, so it may have persisted with the smaller Volvos for a while. More recently, the Subaru Justy of a few decades ago also utilized rubber belts. However, all of that was several decades ago, and bears little or no relationship to the CVTs of modern times.
I can’t say for sure about the CVTs of other manufacturers, but the largely trouble-free CVTs used by Subaru utilize very stout steel roller chains for torque transmission. While I can’t say for sure that Nissan, et al, also utilize steel roller chains, I suspect that they do.
Perhaps somebody more familiar with Nissans, Hondas, etc can tell us whether those mfrs still use rubber belts, or if they adhere to the same practice as Subaru, and now utilize steel roller chains.
Why would a service manager give you an answer that isn’t in the best interest of the dealership. Second - what makes you think a service manager knows the first thing about cars.
Since some of the newer transmissions seem to act mostly like a CVT, go without the CVT as it could make little difference. My 6-speed doesn’t slow the car down much in lower gears and the engine speed soars when I’m trying to accelerate to highway speeds. Same difference.
I think Cavell’s comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously . . .
If he would have attached the “smirk” emoticon, as I did, it would have been obvious what he was really thinking
I agree . . . if the service manager is talking to a customer, or potential customer, he’ll only praise the product. It’s part of his job
Even though he may have never been a mechanic, he’s got access to information, which would give him some idea which particular models are more reliable, which transmissions are more trouble-prone, etc. A smart guy could figure out the “big picture”
