C&D Magazine: Versa CVT vs. Versa 4AT

[Ever Victorious]

I was sitting in the chiropractor's office today, and saw the newest Car and Driver magazine (May 2007), so I started perusing.

There is an article on page 13 about technology at the Detroit auto show, and one of the things was how Carlos Ghosn pitched two technologies that Nissan uses or will use that increase fuel economy. One is that they are working to bring their diesels to the US over the next 5 years, and the other was the CVT technology they already use. Ghosn claimed it got 10 percent better fuel economy than a traditional auto.

So C&D took two Versas, a CVT and a 4AT, and took them on their test loop and compared their fuel economies. They both got over 33 mpg (so it was obviously highway mileage), but the 4AT beat the CVT by about 2 mpg over the test.

The article then went on to explain hydraulic loss in A/T's and why the CVT's mechanism is likely, in practice, actually less efficient than an AT.

Good reading, if some of you want to check it out for yourselves. Sorry, couldn't find a web link for the article. Probably too new.

[motoguy128]

This article was mentioned in another post. It's also interesting that the CVT was quite a bit faster. I think the 6 speed, is even a little faster yet. I wonder how the 6 speed would have compared for mileage. I'd guess lower than both, since it was mostly freeway driving and the manual has a shorter 6th gear overall ratio.