Theoretically, you can keep the car running at it's power peak, but you'll overheat. So reality sucks.

The 8-10 speed automatics coming out today are pretty close to a CVT in terms of ability to accelerate, but people complain about "too many gears" instead of drone.

I've driven a CVT Sentra and the acceleration was pretty good for what the car was, since really cheap cars usually only come with 5 or 6 speed autos that have gigantic gaps between the gears. The CVT just hung at 6000rpm letting the engine crank out all 120 of its horses when you floor it. It's not very exciting, but you notice the speedometer moving at a decent pace. The drone is annoying but I'll happily take that over having 20 less horsepower on tap on the upshift. Every bit counts when the car has 25lbs/hp.

Nissan has been doing CVT the "longest" in production vehicles, and they force it into almost every car.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwdXvEGRIo4"]New Maxima Top Speed Run - YouTube[/ame]


Meh. I didn't find many people to like CVTs, and not because of the difference in driving, but because they always tend to feel and respond sluggishly.

I don't think they're going to really appeal to the performance crowd, at least not how they're currently implemented - but I think that CVTs could be very useful in use with a small fuel efficient motor optimized to a very narrow/peaky torque curve. Unfortunately, electric cars/hybrids are currently stealing most of that spotlight. Cooling isn't an issue for a correctly engineered package, I haven't heard of too many back yard CVT swaps yet :)

don't need no CVT


I shift mad quick yo

I had one in a rental altima when the frs got sideswiped.

I found i floored it all the time because it was so fucking weird to me. Like driving a vespa as a car.

Did better than your average planetary gear automatic at getting on the highway, but automatics are shitty in most economy cars.

It was less annoying than the dual clutch in my sister's fiesta, or the regular auto in my girlfriends elantra, but those are less powerful cars that you expect to be at least a little bit fun because of their size. Nobody expects performance from an altima 2.5

Semi-related, I finally got to drive a 9 speed automatic today (new Acura MDX), and I'm now a believer in gazillion speed gearboxes. The acceleration is incredibly smooth and fast with all the "extra" gears, night and day difference between a 9 speed and a 6 or 7 speed. You press the gas down, and before you know it, it's already gone through 4 or 5 gears and you're travelling at a startling high speed, compared to the drama of having huge rpm drops between each shift and the engine revving up and down while not making much progress.

That's pretty much like the experience of any smooth automatic, like my father's SC400 from eons ago. A 5-speed like butter. A rough 9-speed will suck eggs.

In my experience Honda transmissions do feel a little smoother than normal, but the 9 speed made the rpm drops so small between each gear it was almost like a CVT, just without the drone.

The first gear is so short that you step on the gas and it revs up almost as if you were in neutral, then it starts shifting down but the gears are so closely spaced it's almost imperceptible. In a 6 speed with big gaps in the gear ratios, you can feel a big drop in acceleration as it shifts down.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...125-story.html

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otm4RusESNU"]That's All I Have To Say About That- Forrest Gump Quote - YouTube[/ame]

I drove a 2016 model today and it had no lurching.

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No thanks. I like to shift.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhJRyuJvDKc"]Nissan Skyline GTR take off - YouTube[/ame]

Gotta blame this on Nissan too I guess!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eisKViKjwfQ"]SUBARU "DANCIN'" REX ECVT 誕生 1988 - YouTube[/ame]