On 4/16/2021 9:43 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 4/16/2021 8:16 AM, trader_4 wrote:


I had never heard of CVT transmissions until this thread.Â*Â* Seems they
took
the slipping belt idea that self-propelled lawn mowers use and put it
on cars.
Similar idea, but I guess the two pulleys change width so the belt
doesn't
slip a lot.Â* Seems they are more failure prone and more costly to
replace or
fix.Â* I wonder why they are more costly than a regular automatic?Â* Seems
they would be less complex to me.Â* Also I see a lot of people don't
like them
because they don't behave like the automatics they are used to, with
shift
points.Â* Good to know when looking for the next car.

At the time it was touted as the future of automatics.Â* No one else has
joined in though.Â* Now, 6 and 8 speed trannys are normal and have good
performance.

CVT's do continue to proliferate as I believe they are cheaper to make
with less parts and give improved mileage.

I was hearing this about Toyota's that include a low gear to start:

"Toyota brands the K120 as the Direct Shift-CVT and includes a physical
first gear (also known as a "launch gear") and nine additional simulated
gears, for a total of 10. The launch gear is engaged when the car takes
off from being stopped and transitions to the belt drive once the car
picks up speed."

Gets around one concern that CVT is sluggish to start.