I just bought my new 2011 2.5 coupe a week ago and immediately noticed that it does not coast well at all. I had assumed that the cvt didn't have a high enough gear ratio available to give it the "free" coasting feel so I had been shifting in and out of neutral all week. I find this resisting sensation very annoying when driving the car. Overall I love the coupe and I'm getting used to the cvt more and more everyday. I'm going to ask my dealer about it in a couple months when I go in for the first service.

yea i prefer controlling the engine braking manually by keeping it in Ds/Manual mode, it's much more natural and consistent than hoping the car "guesses" what level of braking should be applied going downhill etc. it's a lot safer too when there's snow/rain out to just down shift and coast slowly downhill than to ride your brakes.

only downside i've had is the lack of torque you get when up shifting sometimes, even when you up shift at an appropriate time you sometimes have to down shift, get the rpm's up a bit, then you can up shift with power. that and 6th "gear" is completely useless as it sit's at 1k rev and flooring it will gradually get you up to 2k so passing and quick speed ups on the high way are borderline dangerous, i just stick to regular Drive mode for highways.

I have a question about long stops @ red lights. Is it ok to put it in neutral & then shift it into drive after the light turns green as opposed to keeping the car in drive & foot pressed on the brake. Am I saving the tranny by keeping it in neutral @ long stops or no? 2nd question. Coming down off a mountain with a steep grade...should I put the tranny in Manual mode & come down in 2nd gear as opposed too riding the brake all the wau down? And no I'm not a natural blonde!

With the CVT - it is actually better if you don't shift it into neutral.

The manual mode in the CVT is actually designed for driving in hilly areas, according to the owner's manual. So yes, coming down a few gears while going downhill is better than riding your brakes. Many somewhat dent your gas mileage, but gas is cheaper than brakes lol

If you're just encountering occiassional hills/moderate downslopes lasting no more than a few minutes at a time, I'd leave the CVT tranny alone unless you're going to be doing excessive downhill braking. It's not worth putting extra stress on the tranny to save a relatively cheap part - brake pads. Brake pads can be swapped out for under $100 all around not including labor, the CVT on the other hand is $4-$5000 to replace if it dies.

I'm not saying downshifting your CVT will cause it to fail, just that it is a wearable part like anything else, and it just happens to be the most expensive part on the entire car, even more expensive than the engine, so I'd focus more on babying that tranny than worrying about the brakes.

But, if you're really high up in the mountains and coming downhill for hours on end, then you should worry about the brakes overheating and possibly warping the rotors, and in extreme cases you can damage the calipers as well. If this extreme is the case, then I would put the CVT into a lower gearing and leave it there to prevent catastrophic failure of the brakes. On my Rogue I just push the "Overdrive Off" button when coming down from the mountains which takes at least 1.5 hours of downhill the whole way. For little hills and short burst downhill I don't touch the CVT, I just let it stay in it's highest gearing.

I had the engine braking turned off on my 2009 Altima last week and the difference in the drive is night & day. While the engine braking was noticeable going downhill, it turns out to help on flat roads. Before, I'd take my foot off the gas and the car seemed to slow down quickly. Now it rolls until I brake.

The dealer charged about $35 to do it, which is more than I expected, but in the end, well worth it.

Keyan wrote:Paddle shifters are lame, IMO, on a CVT. What is the point?! Marketing, and that's about as far as I can tell. Frankly, Ds Mode has pretty close to optimal logic for the engine and the CVT (it's still CVT smooth when you are cruising, and then it's crazy fun when you get on it), I have never engaged the manual mode on my SR for any reason since it has the Ds mode.

The max has 20 more HP, yes...and more weight..and a smaller trunk, less leg room, lower mileage and requires premium fuel, all for 6-8k more than a similarly equipped Altima. Not worth it to me as I use the space in my sedan.

And heck you have a coupe, so you should be faster than a Max anyway

I also have a 2016 Maxima SR. And it is nothing like a Altima which I have driven many times. Wandering if you are using the paddle shifters correctly? I find that one pull of the paddle wil change my RPMs by about 10, 000 RPM's. So, If I want to go into a corner and not break heavily I can pull the left paddle twice downshift on increase RPM's by 20, 000 RPM's creating an engine breaking affect and give me better control in the corner without having to hit the breaks. matter of fact I would accelerate and let the Maxima be a Maxima.

The Maxima is much lower and wider than an Altima. This car with the zero gravity seats can actually be hard to get out of because you sit so low in the seat. Which is great when cornering as you don't slide around. The Altima is much narrower and higher off the ground so will be much easier to get in and out of for an older person. But, is no where near as sporty in handling or build as a Maxima. If you hit a corner too fast in an Altima it will immediately feel out of control. Having a Maxima SR yourself I thought you would be able to clearly tell the difference and yes it is absolutely worth the small price difference of about 3K.

bresna wrote:I had the engine braking turned off on my 2009 Altima last week and the difference in the drive is night & day. While the engine braking was noticeable going downhill, it turns out to help on flat roads. Before, I'd take my foot off the gas and the car seemed to slow down quickly. Now it rolls until I brake.

The dealer charged about $35 to do it, which is more than I expected, but in the end, well worth it.

This feature must be different for the 2016 Maxima SR. I don't get any breaking affect coming downhill with cruise control turned off. The only time I get AEB (Active Engine Breaking) is when I hit the breaks especially if I am in a turn and have traction control on. This has nothing to do with Sport mode. I actually really like the AEB and couldn't imagine why someone would want to turn this off. In an emergency this could save your life. It allows the car to stop faster than what the breaks alone could do and allows the car to stop more efficiently by not having to hit the breaks as hard thus saving your pads and rotor. For me it allows for very smooth breaking and the car never has a tendency to swerve when breaking hard like the older Maxima's. IMOP this is a great feature which does not need to be disabled which I doubt you could do anyway. At least not for free at a Nissan Dealer.

hotdude1 wrote:I have a question about long stops @ red lights. Is it ok to put it in neutral & then shift it into drive after the light turns green as opposed to keeping the car in drive & foot pressed on the brake. Am I saving the tranny by keeping it in neutral @ long stops or no? 2nd question. Coming down off a mountain with a steep grade...should I put the tranny in Manual mode & come down in 2nd gear as opposed too riding the brake all the wau down? And no I'm not a natural blonde!

1. My 2016 Maxima does the same thing when in gear or in neutral. It doesn't move forward in drive until I step on the gas. So I see no benefit in switching to neutral because if you are not on level ground you may still have to step on the break anyway to keep the car from rolling. This has no affect on the life-span of the tranny. Actually it may wear things out faster if you change to neutral every-time you stop.

2. I assume when you say put trans in manual mode you mean move shifter to the left and manually select a gear. Absolutely YES. This is what truck drivers always do to prevent overheating their air breaks which can cause then to fade. So yes instead of riding the breaks down a steep mountain use your gears and break together to maintain speed.