Thinking about getting a new vehicle in '22. Toyota RAV4 or Venza are on my list. Or were, until I saw they had cvt transmissions. Are there any reliability issues with Toyota's eCVT?
e-cvt isn't a cvt in the traditional sense. Here he explains it really well. Once I learned more about it, I had no problem getting my Lexus hybrid a month ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u15wHYuEFmU
eCVT isn’t really a CVT, like what we know of as a CVT with two cones and metal belt. Toyota’s eCVT is part of their hybrid system, and it uses a planetary gear set to change “gears”.
IMHO, Toyota’s eCVT is relatively resilient for the most part. It’s been around for 20+ years, since the first Prius. It hasn’t changed much, except getting “stronger” to handle bigger engines like in the RAV4 or the Venza, and stronger electric motors.
As long as you do basic maintenance and change out the transmission fluid (and don’t drive like crazy), you should be good with the eCVT. I actually would feel more comfortable with an eCVT versus a CVT.
BTW, the RAV4 Hybrid and Venza are basically the same car in terms of the engine and hybrid system, the Venza just has fancier features to it.
I don't think "changing gears" is an accurate way to describe the eCVT at all. I think the gear reduction ratios for the motors are fixed and don't change. Rather the planetary is being used to "blend" power output of the electric and combustion motors.
I concur with the nuance. That’s why I used the the term “gears” in quotes.
Wow. Did not know. I saw the "cvt" part of the transmission and immediately thought of the VWs I test drove with one. Thank you @toyotagrl for the vid. And the others for the info. I'll put these two back on my "look at" list.
@Kaizen - what do you mean "not drive like crazy" ? Is there another way? .... {black}:cool:
I thought it was frowned upon to change the transmission fluid? Why change it for the eCVT but not for any other engines? Doesn't make sense to me.
who said it was frowned upon? You should change the fluid in ANY transmission regularly. CVTs work totally differently than conventional automatics though. CVT fluid doesn't fill up with clutch material. You can read our FAQ for details.