The Fall of Nissan CVT

[ray_noel]

I mean, in the top 20 list of cars with complaints, sure Nissan is #6 and #19 with 2 models. But toyota has 3, honda has 5, Ford 3, Chevy has 3.

So.. Having just 2 cars in the top 20 list might seem shocking if you just talk about Nissan being part of the list, but if you look at the others in the list, you can get the bigger picture.
=)

Correct. It doesnt say anything about nissan in the number 6 and 19 that causes the sales going negative...


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[Egan101]

Besides, in our traffic, DCT is actually more problematic when you are stuck in bumper to bumper city driving. People who've driven Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus here in our roads that had DCT are well aware of the transmission shudder in slow traffic crawl. I'll take CVTs over DCTs in our traffic situation. DCTs are great for speeding in the highway, they are a blast to drive, especially in winding mountain roads. CVTs need time to adjust bursts in rpm, so it is not adviseable to rev the engines when you have CVT.

I drive both a DCT and CVT vehicle. For my Fiesta Ecoboost, I have learned to drive it well in low crawl traffic. The best way to drive it is like dealing with an MT car and rarely do I feel the shuddering. Gas pedal modulation and adjusting to how the gears go up and down is key when driving a DCT/DSG tranny. 4 years and more 55k kilometers, I still enjoy driving it. It just feels like a daily go-kart - responsive steering, ample torque, very revvy engine, lots of grip. We have one other DCT/DSG ride, a Jetta TDI DSG which offers a smoother tranny but Fiesta is livelier to drive.

My CVT ride is a Forester XT. It is much quicker and faster than the Fiesta but the Fiesta feels better to drive. The CVT might be slow off the line but once the turbo spools, the boxy vehicle just goes. The CVT keeps the vehicle in the right powerband, doing its best rev-matching when you need to get the power down. The Forester platform and its AWD system just offers ample amount of grip keeping the car planted. In fact, it feels more alive on twisty mountain roads. On a long straight, you can blast the Forester XT to 200 kmh and the vehicle will gladly do it for you.

Oh, for the Ford Focus with DCT, it's manual mode was a blessing to stop the transmission shuddering in a slow crawl traffic situation because I could force hold the gear on first. But for the Fiesta, it didn't have the manual override mode, so it shuddered and I couldn't prevent it from happening.

The Fiesta models from 2014 onwards have a manual override option but it is not user-friendly. The small rocker +/- button makes shifting slower. I just put the car to D or S and let the car's computer shift by itself. DCTs shift gears up and down for less than quarter of a second, much faster than a human to do it.

Drain and fill ba procedure ng cvt fluid change ng honda and nissan? both have around 4liter..

anyways subaru and toyota have way more cvtfluid sa drain and fill procedures nila. 10-14.5Liters. They last longer for sure.

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Subaru requires 13L of CVT fluid every change at 40k KM actual mileage for local conditions.

[17Sphynx17]

I drive both a DCT and CVT vehicle. For my Fiesta Ecoboost, I have learned to drive it well in low crawl traffic. The best way to drive it is like dealing with an MT car and rarely do I feel the shuddering. Gas pedal modulation and adjusting to how the gears go up and down is key when driving a DCT/DSG tranny. 4 years and more 55k kilometers, I still enjoy driving it. It just feels like a daily go-kart - responsive steering, ample torque, very revvy engine, lots of grip. We have one other DCT/DSG ride, a Jetta TDI DSG which offers a smoother tranny but Fiesta is livelier to drive.

My CVT ride is a Forester XT. It is much quicker and faster than the Fiesta but the Fiesta feels better to drive. The CVT might be slow off the line but once the turbo spools, the boxy vehicle just goes. The CVT keeps the vehicle in the right powerband, doing its best rev-matching when you need to get the power down. The Forester platform and its AWD system just offers ample amount of grip keeping the car planted. In fact, it feels more alive on twisty mountain roads. On a long straight, you can blast the Forester XT to 200 kmh and the vehicle will gladly do it for you.



The Fiesta models from 2014 onwards have a manual override option but it is not user-friendly. The small rocker +/- button makes shifting slower. I just put the car to D or S and let the car's computer shift by itself. DCTs shift gears up and down for less than quarter of a second, much faster than a human to do it.



Subaru requires 13L of CVT fluid every change at 40k KM actual mileage for local conditions.

Regarding the Focus, the one I drove was 2 generations ago. I did love driving it in the open road. In the city, no matter what modulation I did with the pedal, I really couldn't do much to completely remove the shudder so I opted to go with the manuel mode.

As for the Fiesta, I drove my uncle around in that car of his and it was the first gen (forgot if it was 1.5 or 1.6) in our market. That didn't have the button on the shifter for the manual override. I tried both Low/Sport and Drive to match with modulation of the pedal, but there was still shudder/slip. I think my uncle sold that after 3 years of ownership.

Again, that fiesta was also a fun drive in the open road. If it had the manual mode back then, I would have gladly kept driving it like I did his Focus.

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For Nissan CVTs here in our market, I am not sure but I don't think they released a model with a Turbo engine like Subaru did. If it's with power, I'm guessing it's only the Teana or Altima that had the 3.5 V6 engine that would have sufficient power to accelerate off the line.

I haven't really revved the Sylphy above 3000rpm even on the Skyway or SCTEX, the fastest I've coasted on it is 120kph (based on onboard speedometer so I'm assuming actual speed is around +/-105kph with the 10% offset in reading). I do shift it to L when going up or down parking garages/ramps to use engine braking since it has no manual mode. But that's basically it. =)

My highest FC on Highway on the 1.6CVT was 16km/l, mixed is 12km/l. City is usually around 8 to 8.5km/l on a good day. But if I get stuck in sections with traffic, that drops to 7.5km/l. Same stretch of road on the City 1.3CVT I-DSi, Highway also around 16km/l, it could be higher if I kept closer to 60/70kph but I didn't. mixed is around 12-14km/l. City is 9-10km/l. Bad day is around 8km/l. So I think it is not far off.

The only main downside of the Sylphy 1.6 versus the City 1.3 is that Sylphy 1.6 needs premium unleaded. The 1.8 engine can use regular though, but I think it suffers more when in city traffic, dropping FC closer to 6 if I recall some owner testimonies here, while highway is closer to 14km/l.

I do plan to own this vehicle for at least 10 years. City was bought back in 2008 and it is still running well. The main issue I had with the City is actually the suspension. I've had the front completely replaced already.

As for tires, the City uses Federal Brand City Tires (Taiwan), for the Sylphy I'm looking if I change it to Hankook or Yokohoma Eco Tire equivalents next year since it will be 6 year old rubber by then. =)

[17Sphynx17]

For the general idea of Transmission, I think this video would be a good way to inform the differences in the transmission. =)

Transmission Comparison: Manual - Auto - Dual Clutch - CVT | Auto Expert John Cadogan | Australia - YouTube

[hardwang]

The Fatal Flaw of Nissan Altimas and More - YouTube

The video says Nissan’s CVTs are pretty bad.

[benchph1]

Really? I thought Nissans have one of the best CVT’s..

Im also a subscriber to scotty kilmer’s youtube channel. But i don’t believe everything he says.


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[17Sphynx17]

Really? I thought Nissans have one of the best CVT’s..

Im also a subscriber to scotty kilmer’s youtube channel. But i don’t believe everything he says.


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I also watch Scotty's videos.

The cars he mentioned, Altima and Rogue were one using the first gen CVTs I think (Do correct me if I am wrong). And those mainly had overheating issues and went to limp mode. In some videos I watched before, one workaround was to buy a third party CVT transmission cooler since there is a port connection for a radiator hose as part of the CVT's design. The reason for using a different cooler and not hooking it up to your car's radiator, is to prevent coolant from getting into the CVT and damaging it (which if I am not mistaken is one of the possible causes of failure).


It's been a while since I watched those CVT videos. But I do honestly believe that the first gen of CVTs were problematic as they were learning from them. The current crop we have are much better. Even Subaru is using them now. It is just that Performance can suffer from the CVT if it is not on "flat/level ground". You can check out TFL's video going up to a stage 3 offroad course with a Subie to see how it is harder to transfer power to the wheels. (The second video where his son did it was a much better attempt but it was working it harder, much harder than when a lower torque Mitsubishi with CVT -Eclipse CUV I Think- did the same course)

[12vdc]

Rev up your Engines! And don't forget to ring that bell! Lol

Scotty hates Neesan and Mercedes, the most reliable car for him is his 92 Toyota Celica.

It just so happen that 1st gen cvt's are bad, but any new technology gets improved when flaws are sorted over time. Nissan went cvt during the 2000's same as honda's to meet the strict mileage requirement. In the end almost all auto makers now favor the cvt's except for the fords which did the 10sp trans route because of major failure with dct's. But then, A/T's aren't cheap than CVT's thats also the reason why ford's are now exiting the small cars dep't.

[hardwang]

I also watch Scotty's videos.

The cars he mentioned, Altima and Rogue were one using the first gen CVTs I think (Do correct me if I am wrong). And those mainly had overheating issues and went to limp mode. In some videos I watched before, one workaround was to buy a third party CVT transmission cooler since there is a port connection for a radiator hose as part of the CVT's design. The reason for using a different cooler and not hooking it up to your car's radiator, is to prevent coolant from getting into the CVT and damaging it (which if I am not mistaken is one of the possible causes of failure).


It's been a while since I watched those CVT videos. But I do honestly believe that the first gen of CVTs were problematic as they were learning from them. The current crop we have are much better. Even Subaru is using them now. It is just that Performance can suffer from the CVT if it is not on "flat/level ground". You can check out TFL's video going up to a stage 3 offroad course with a Subie to see how it is harder to transfer power to the wheels. (The second video where his son did it was a much better attempt but it was working it harder, much harder than when a lower torque Mitsubishi with CVT -Eclipse CUV I Think- did the same course)

I think this is what you are referring to.

SOLUTION: 2013 - 2018 Nissan Sentra CVT Overheating Problem - YouTube

Apparently the CVT of the Sentra is said to be affected too.
Don’t know if its applicable in the current Sylphy Phil models.

[Luap]

The Fatal Flaw of Nissan Altimas and More - YouTube

The video says Nissan’s CVTs are pretty bad.

Wow...I am planning to purchase a CUV and the 2018 xtrail is one of the choices. Is the honda cvt better? CRV and the CX5 are one of the choices so mukhang CX5 na lang medyo mahal lang. Ipon pa ng konti

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