Since a number of new cars are built with the CVT Trans, I was just wondering that if one does decide to buy one with a CVT, which of the Auto manufacturer's make the most reliable ones? I'm thinking of the Subaru Crosstrek (2023) which has this Transmission, for one example.
The newer Subaru CVTs are not bad. Probably not quite as good as Toyota or Honda, but definitely not as bad as the horrid Jatco CVTs used by Nissan and some others. It would be best to ignore the "sealed transmission" nonsense purveyed by Subaru and other manufacturers and change the CVT fluid regularly for longest transmission life.
In general though no CVT will last as long as a well-designed and properly-maintained conventional transmission but the selection of vehicles with the latter is shrinking.
new cars (...) which of the Auto manufacturer's make the most reliable ones?
Toyota Group eCVTs (Toyota, Subaru, and some others) are the best, there's no belt or a conventional CVT inside - they only have electric motors with optional boost from the engine.
As far as regular transmissions, The best CVT transmission current in production is Toyota's old boring K313.
Yeah they only last 125k-150k but they do it pretty reliably and don't feel like a CVT (well at least to me).
The launch gear CVT may turn out to be decent but so far I'm skeptical.
In recent years Subaru seems to have made some progress, when serviced properly, the LineTronic TR580 transmission does hold up half decently (but it's not uncommon for them to require valvebody replacement)
Honda is a mixed bet, I've herd some bad things about the CVT on the HRV and some Civic (But as far as Civics it was mainly on the European version, much less about the North American one), but the CVT in the CRV sure seems to be great.
Nissan and Mitsubishi has gotten marginally better but they're still putting tiny transmissions from French economy cars into large SUVs so... definitely would avoid. (Don't get me wrong, in the tiny Renualt Clio the CVT with 999cc it's not too bad, but in a family SUV it's just horrid)
Hyundai-Kia CVTs are the worst, I do not know why but a lot of transmissions Hyundai-Kia recently launched are disappointing (all of their CVT and DCT crap just does not last or feel as well as a conventional auto)
Toyota >= Honda > Subaru >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jatco (Nissan).
Toyota
The 23 Crosstrek would be an excellent choice. The 3rd gen (‘24) I would wait.
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If you take care of your cvt, and don't drive it like you stole it, you can expect hundreds of thousands of care free miles. As others have stated, toyota is the best of the bunch.
Even way back starting in 2004 with the gen 2 prius, you just about couldn't kill them. Cab drivers would have them going like crazy and put tons of miles on them. My friend has an 08 with around 250k miles with no issues.
