Hey guys..

Does anyone have any experience with CVT transmissions?

My only experience is with the Toyota Prius. It worked fine for a gutless little hamster that was only worried about mpg. But I'm really interested in learning about it's real world performance... How does it feel in the new Maxima or Murano - cars with some actual horsepower?

I've heard rumor that the gas milage is a little less than advertised in the Versa's with CVT? Is that true?

Just looking for some observations.

Thanks

I've driven a few CVT vehicles and basically they just don't stop revving. I know that's not technically accurate, but it's like they just lay it up into the powerband and stay there until you lift. It's really weird for me to experience the constant variance in gearing, if it's even considered "gearing".

I don't know if I like them yet or not. Just not enough experience with them I suppose.

for normal people CVT would be welcome. I like banging actual gears though so no thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABaJidk9SJA ... Video of the CVT by Jatco, the manufacturer of Nissan's CVT transmissions.

Eikon wrote:
I've heard rumor that the gas milage is a little less than advertised in the Versa's with CVT? Is that true?

yes that is in fact true it is a little less than advertised not only in just the CVT version but the Auto and Manual versions.

Can anyone tell me what function the paddle shifters (and the manual shift knob positions) have with CVT? I mean they don't appear to actually change "gears", so do they make it adjust faster or jump a certain amount? Do they negatively affect CVT performance?