I rented a car recently, a Nissan Altima with a Jatco CVT. There is defiantly a lag when accelerating. Not responsive enough. To the point of annoyance. It can accelerate decently, it just takes a bit to kick in.
I drive a Honda CRV with CVT regularly. It isn’t as bad as the Jatco CVT. It’s more responsive. Not as responsive as an decent automatic or manual. But responsive enough where I am NOT as annoyed.
I own a Prius with an eCVT. It’s a different kind of CVT. I must say, shifting feels the most like an automatic. And it’s super responsive. It’s not a fast car. But it is a responsive car. eCVT only seem to be used with hybrids.
How about you guys?! Good or bad experiences with CVT?!
I had an Infiniti Q60 and we got rid of it because of that stupid CVT transmission. The transmission was a hazard on the road. When slowing down to 5-10 mph and then trying to step on the gas to cross traffic on a turn, it would not respond and go into gear for several seconds as oncoming traffic was approaching. Even my wife complained about it. If she complains, it's time for the car to go. We got rid of it after only 18 months.
@kforce19 can you copy and paste your answer into the ‘Your Answer’ section down below? Thank you.
I've driven a couple of friends' late-model Subarus with CVTs. They emulate a multi-gear transmission and seemed OK, had distinct upshifts and downshifts that were pretty responsive and didn't really seem much different from a regular automatic.
I see the main problem with those transmissions being questionable longevity. I got well over 300,000 miles out of the conventional 4-speed automatic trans in my daily driver. I don't think many CVTs are going to go that distance.
My wife has a 2020 Corolla LE, the CVT is the old design Toyota CVT. It's pretty good, faster than the VW Jetta 1.4 I just traded-in.
I have driven a couple in the 2020 Nissan Rogue and 2017 Toyota Corolla. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of both, the Rogue IMO was probably the best of the worst responsive-wise (not reliability-wise), the corolla had lag and a very weird and unnatural feel IMO from a start.
My dad also doesn't like CVTs, the only one he said was decent was the 2016 Infiniti Qx60 we rented when we went to Las Vegas from a responsiveness standpoint.
