Hi all-

My daughter has a 2017 Sentra, with continuously variable transmission (CVT).

I expected that the engine RPMs would basically stay at some ideal value, no matter the speed of the car.

Instead, it feels just like a regular automatic transmission. The RPMs gradually rise as the speed of the car increases, then the RPMs drop down suddenly, as though the transmission were shifting to a higher gear.

Why does the CVT transmission feel like it is shifting gears just like a standard automatic transmission?

Thanks

Sabbates

One of the original selling points of the CVT was that it didn't have that jerky 'shift ' feeling. Unfortunately the uneducated masses couldn't adjust to it and complained, a lot. Not sure exactly when it was implemented on the Sentra, but when the 2nd gen Rogue (2014 model) debuted with an improved CVT, Nissan added a computer simulated shift to mimic the feeling that the transmission was shifting.