CVT question

2023 tacoma...CVT...lol

 

CVT in our Prius, yup. CVT in the Rav4 Hybrid I traded for my Taco, yup. CVT in the Taco, not so much.

 

Correct. You would have a completely different set of problems.

The biggest being that you might think that because you operate a simple gear box...you are the equivalent of Albert Einstein

 

Neither of those cars have a traditional CVTs either, they have a power split device that Toyota calls eCVT. eCVT is probably the most reliable transmission on the market.

 

Learn something new every day! Thanks!

 

Manual owners are the vegans of the automotive world. They will tell you their transmission preference even if you never asked.

 

A lot of them do have manual mode that can "downshift"/"upshift" ... like for more engine braking when going downhill or more power in the mountains. Basically it kind of fakes a fixed gear ratio and holds a lower ratio to bring/keep the revs up.

The Kia one gives a pretty convincing impression and "shifts" faster than many regular automatics I've used
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So the transmission with no gears shifts gears faster than many other transmissions with gears except one of the big selling points of the CVT is the smooth power delivery so you don't get the dead spots from shifting gears...

 

As I understand it, these Hyundai/Kia ones can do either. Like in normal driving it's smooth/uninterrupted with no shift shock, but in situations where CVTs have traditionally been caught flat on their feet (mountain driving) you can make it behave like a regular automatic. You can keep the engine "on the boil" instead of having it instantly shift back to "top gear" as soon as you let off the throttle a little (like the old Nissans that had the horrible rubber band effect and were horrible to drive in undulating terrain where you're up/down/up/down hills).

The overall ratio spread in most of them is wider than a traditional 4/5/6-speed automatic to wring the most power out of the modestly-powered engines. So it can have a really short ratio on the low end of the transmission for good power off the line, and a really tall top ratio for relaxed cruising speed.

In the old days with 4 speed automatics, the top gear had to be relatively short to prevent constant downshifts, so 1.6/1.8-liter cars turned 3500-4000 RPM on the highway. But now with the CVT, it can lengthen itself all the way out on flat land for super low RPMs... our old Corolla only turned 2200 RPM at 80 MPH, great for a 1.8-liter, IMO. But if there is a hill or a strong headwind, it will just shorten the ratio slightly to bring the revs up a little, like to 2500 or 2700 to maintain speed with no harsh/repetitive kickdowns or shift shock.

 

Got close to 100k on our prius...that cvt still operates like it had 100 miles on it.

 

Man,,,, I spent my last 3 years of high school in this crappy underfunded catholic school. We didn’t have any sort of shop class. I had to take religion instead. I think shop would’ve been a little more beneficial to myself.

 

Any pedal other than the skinny one

 

CVTs 100% "shift" they're not a fixed ratio. They just have more ratios between their lowest and highest ratio. It's really no different than downshifting a conventional trans to get more mechanical advantage.

 

Oh no, I get it. I'm fully aware of how CVTs operate, they're just a beefed up snowmobile belt drive, thus the regarding 'manual mode' for a CVT...

 

Manual mode is the only way that I have driven ATs since I was teenager, which includes conventional ATs and our first CVT. I had a hatred of CVTs since a belt driven version was used in our lawnmower as a kid. It was also used as the clutch, which was the biggest part of the failed design. The one in our Subaru has not changed my opinion. I do use the Subaru exclusively in manual mode when I have to drive it as it is easily caught out and confused if left to its own devices. Also, the most responsive engine mode is a stepped setting anyway.