Nissan CVT?

[Burt Munro]

Anyone have any experience with a Nissan equipped with a CVT transmission?
Looking at a 2008 Altima and after a little research it seems there are mixed reviews.
What I'm reading is that there are some performance quirks that take some time to get used to.  Have these/can these be corrected with software updates?
Are there durability issues?  Unusual maintenance requirements?

Thanks!

Rick

[Burt Munro]

OOps.... didn't realize I was in the Racing Discussion when I posted this.  I won't be offended when you move it Alexa. 

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Would you be offended if I moved it?

[Burt Munro]

Rob, I think it's pretty safe to say that just about anything you do is offensive.   

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

My Brother own's a Transmission repair shop - he personally hates CVT transmissions and will never personally own one (unless the manufacturers make some major changes to them in the future).

CVT transmissions are basically the same as a snowmobile drive system with 2 progressively adjusting tapered pulleys and a drive belt. When these transmissions wear out they can need a whole array of work done to them, work that's not needed in normal automatic transmissions. For example the tapered pulleys will either have to be re-machined or replaced, the drive belt will need to be replaced, the transmission cases are known to wear out and need to be re-machined, and more.

Early this year my Brother had a Saturn Ion with a CVT trans come in to the shop needing a rebuild at 175,000 miles. He looked in to the costs involved in rebuilding it and found it would have been around $2500 just for the hard parts and machining work, add to that the all the labor and the standard rebuild kit and the customer would have very likely been paying somewhere between $3600 - $4200 by the time it was all done. My Brother found a used trans for $2800 out of a wrecked vehicle that only had 30,000 miles on it, he ended up putting that trans in the customers car for $3200 total - result: one happy customer.

He's had a few other people come in needing CVT trans rebuilds, after telling them the costs none of them chose to have their transmissions rebuilt and all spoke of either trading in or selling the vehicles and not getting another vehicle with a CVT trans ever again. Comparitively a regular automatic transmission found in most front and rear wheel drive vehicles would cost somewhere in the range of $1200 - $1600 to be rebuilt with $1800 being a normal ceiling for more labor intensive jobs (imports can be more, for example he did a 745i BMW this year for $2200).

If you want to buy a vehicle with a CVT trans I would make sure it has the original manufacturers warranty still in effect for the time period you plan on owning it (stay away from the aftermarket extended warranties, most are scams and will find a way not to pay anything - my Brother has yet to see a single one pay a claim for a trans rebuild). I would also shy away from any vehicle that is a brand new model or has a new power train, they haven't had any time to work the gremlins out of those vehicles yet and can be problem child money pits. The safest bet is to buy vehicles that are in their 3rd year of production (or later) to avoid the majority of hassels that brand new models and power trains usually experience. My 2003 F350 has a 1st year power train and hands down is the most problematic vehicle I have ever owned, last year I put nearly $5000 in parts (no labor cost) into keeping the thing running.

Lastly I can say that GOOGLE is your freind, search the hell out of any vehicle or power train your considering and see what people are complaining about (not what people like). If you see alot of one type of complaint you can be pretty sure it's a wide spread problem, you'll probably also noticed problems can be very focused on certain model years and certain year power trains. If your plannning of keeping any vehicle past it's covered original OEM warranty I would highly recommend staying away from ANY vehicle with a CVT transmission.

[Super Dave]

I was working at a Ford dealership when the Five-Hundred came out with the CVT.  I expected to like it, but I really didn't care for it at all myself.  The claim is that it is always in the meat of the power or whatever, but it always felt to me like it was over-revving for the conditions with no automatic lock up.   I think that the EPA MPG reports favored their six speed automatic over the CVT even.

Later I worked at another Ford dealership, and I never really saw any CVT problems.  But I believe that Ford ended their use of the CVT trans.  It was sourced from the same place that Audi sourced theirs...I think...and I don't think Audi uses one anymore either.

I sounds like a neat idea, but it seems to not be the end all when compared to conventional opportunities.

Rick, is this for you or for your better half?