I think only time will tell. We have 62k on our 2012 Impreza with CVT, has been fine so far. I have read about at least one person having an issue with theirs that required replacement.

 

The wet dual clutches work better in other cars, I had a VW GTI that was great, though some say VW has their own problems.

Mazda has their own slant on automatics (skyactive) where it locks up in certain gears to give you better mileage, uses torque converter but gets great gas mileage along with good acceleration.

I'd recommend either over a CVT

 

If you ask me, a CVT sucks the soul out of driving. I love that little kick you get from a good shift on a manual or automatic (my DCT feels rather lifeless lately), so you would never see me in a CVT equipped car.

 

How many miles do you have on that DCT?

 

Both of my C-maxes are CVT and they have been flawless over 40k miles combined....

The benefit to the CVT over a traditional automatic is that you are always in the correct "gear" for your needs. Instant low-end for acceleration but as soon as you reduce the load on the engine it starts gearing as high as possible to maximize fuel economy...it can make minor changes in gearing that sometime cause traditional transmissions to get caught between gears.

I went through my "extreme hardcore speed" phase and grew out of it. Yes a manual transmission equipped vehicle puts you "in connection" with your car but it's always the slowest option in modern cars.

I had a VW DSG that was mostly was problem free...at about 160k it started making LOTS of noise.

 

C-Max doesn't actually have a CVT of the traditional type with pulleys & belt for variable ratios.

It's got a system that balances inputs/outputs between gas engine & electric motor, both driving & charging.

Easy to say that, but even after staring at the diagrams for a while I haven't figured an easy way to describe the operation.

 

Most of us know the issues the focus' dct has.

Nope, most of us don't because most of the dct's are running fine for the most part, and the ones that arent, well, they are ******..and then a bit of middle ground I think.

 

I really hope they stick with a DCT going forward. CVT transmission in all the car reviews I have read for various makes and models always seem slow and crappy.

 

Have you checked out the Acura tlx?

 

I haven't. I plan on intentionally staying away from dct's based on my experience and hundreds of experiences with them I've seen here. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place but I'm not finding as many negative reviews online on the cvt's as I've seen here alone on the dct.

 

CVT's feel weird to me, yes its smooth but almost too smooth...I suppose I might get used to it.

 

Also with a manual you can keep the car in the sweet spot as far as the powerband goes

 

The traditional trans in my wife's 2011 CRV isn't too bad for being an auto. Nice firm shifts and very smooth. I also drove a 2014 maxima with a cvt, but didn't like the driving experience the car offered.

I'd say jut take a day or two and go for some extended test drives.

 

The anti-CVT typically comments come from people who have never owned one and may be based on press comments from when the technology was pretty new. I have Focus DCT and a Honda CVT and think both have their virtues.

A DCT is certainly a sportier, more engaging gearbox, at least when its working correctly. It is also clumsier in traffic, easier to confuse and more sluggish at launch.

The CVT is actually pretty cool, at least when paired to a well-isolated engine. It isn't particularly sporty, but it does produce a almost electric-car quality of acceleration with nice torque amplification. And I think it's fascinating to watch the thing work when cruising on the highway: hills, headwinds, speed changes are all accompanied by (usually small) changes in engine rpm to get the absolutely correct match of speed/throttle opening and revs. These changes are usually noticed only if you watch the tach.

Long term durability of both is a question mark, but I'm betting on the CVT being less-troublesome over the long haul. So I think it boils down to personal preference and type of car: sporty car/sporty driver=DCT, sedan/typical use=CVT.

 

Learn to drive stick and enjoy one less problem in your life.

 

I know how to drive clutch. In my situation it's my wife that doesn't and she refuses to learn. I work in sales and can't even convince her!

 

In my more than 40 years of driving I've owned manuals with one exception until the FF with DCT which is still a manual albeit an automatically operated one. The version in the FF isn't all it could be and that's not going to change anytime soon. Still, when in select shift mode I have much the same control over gear selection as a full manual but with some benefits over a full manual. I often use cruise control and I can up/downshift in select shift mode without dropping out of cruise control.

If I had some say in the design choices for the Focus I'd have made a 7 speed DCT with a more robust clutch system. The choice of dry clutch appears to be the single biggest error made but that was selected because a dry clutch is a bit more efficient than a wet clutch. I have to wonder if it would be possible to make a wet/dry clutch so that when shifting a pump delivers oil to the clutches but when cruising the pump is off and the clutch is dry.

But, eventually, mechanical drive trains will disappear and be replaced by second generation hybrids with electric motors at each wheel. No need for any clutch and the engine could be optimized to operate at one speed producing power at the peak efficiency.


Brian

 

You need some supporting mods to since just a tune still seems to lag behind a stock 5 speed and I think the quickest MK3 on these forumsas recorded at a actual dragstrip is a 5 speed.

 

When I teach someone stick, I usually go to a large empty parking lot and got them used to changing the gears with the car off... then once they start to get ok with that, I take them out driving early in the morning to practice driving, stopping, stopping on hills, etc.

 

In my experience with a 2006 Ford Freestyle, the CVT is far from reliable. Some last most don't. They're hard to source at least 4 yrs ago they were and hard to find mechanics that know anything about them.
Pros: much better MPG than anything out there. Smooth shifts because it doesn't really shift. The Freestyle accelerated pretty well and probably quicker than the Focus. 0-60 7.3 secs isn't too shabby. //autotk.com/0-60-times/ford/freestyle/
Cons: few but it only takes one. The transmission will go out without notice

 

Some cvt's have a step system, similar to a 4-8 spd auto & their very smooth in bumper to bumper traffic...

 

Sadly I am of the "No clutch for my left foot no way will I own it." camp/Give me a six speed manual transmission any day. Every day. Period.
When I am too senile to drive a stick shift.. then I may own a car which shifts for me. Not until then.
Actually I figure when I get too senile to drive a manual,, THEN I am too senile to drive ... period.
I hope I remember that when I get there. [hihi]

 

I know it's been a month since the last reply but I wanted to weigh in. I had a cvt granted it was a dodge but I hated it. It was boring to drive, never gave any real power, and it was not reliable. Alternatively I wouldn't trust it to tow but the smallest things. The problem at least with mine was the dang thing was leaking and they told me it couldn't be repaired, only replaced and I didn't want to drop 4k on a car I only paid 8k for. Okay, my rant is over.

 

Just bought a new Altima with CVT, it actually works pretty good. The transmissions are so simple inside it's funny, with maybe 1/3 the normal number of parts an ordinary ATX has. The big problem? The CVT drives by altering the sheaves to vary pulley sizes with a metal drive belt carrying the power flow, the actual interface of the belt biting into the sheave is not much and once those edges that bite get worn to slip then not much you can do but rebuild it. Many dealers get entire trans changed out instead to keep the 'magic' hidden there, I think they want to keep it quiet how cheap they are to repair. The biggest issue being, you only have essentially one drive there, lose that and it's towing time whereas a normal ATX can often get you home in another gear using a clutch pack that has not broken.

The DCT was doomed from the start by insistence on using dry clutch discs, there just is no way any computer can keep up with the million different ways a double clutch setup can heat to engage a different way literally every time it shifts. Why multidisc clutches went to wet so fast in ATX back in the '50s. Those guys could have told Ford it wouldn't work............

 

I've been driving a Subaru Legacy all week as a rental. It has a CVT and it isn't as bad as i thought I would be. I don't feel like it makes a drive less sporty because I can still make the car accelerate really fast. Looking forward to the Honda Accord reveal next Friday.


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