Owner reviews for CVT transmission

I have a 2017 Impreza Sport CVT 2.0 and was skeptical of the CVT at first. I had test driven an Outback CVT several years earlier and wasn't impressed with that earlier version, but they've really improved the CVT post 2017. I've driven several 4EATs ranging from 1996-2017, including a WRX (with a VTD 4EAT) and they really weren't as fun - which is surprising considering this car only has 140hp and no SI drive. I would love to try a WRX with the SPT and SI drive, I'm sure I'd like that.

I've got 125,000 miles on this car, and I've probably done 20% of that in manual mode. Normal commuting is mostly in "D". Some times I'll slip into manual to accelerate from a stop, when I don't want to deal with the car upshifting as early; around 20mph it really wants to drop the rpms down to ~1200 unless I'm heavy on the accelerator. Same on a long ascent or decent, or stop-and-go traffic, if the car is hunting gears a little too much for my liking. Taking any corners quickly is better when you preselect your gear. Sometimes merging onto the freeway, as the car has no real power.

I'm in manual the most when I'm having fun. Every Saturday morning, I'll pick a fun road or mountain that I can get to within a day. Usually I'll do 200-400 miles, around 6-12 hours depending on my mood. I'm in the California, Bay Area, so there's plenty to choose from. For this I'm only in "D" for the commute out/back and in "M" most of the time I'm somewhere twisty.

The car is much more controllable in manual on windy roads. Uphill the throttle response is more linear, downhill the speed is much more controlled in 1st and 2nd gear and lets me tap the brakes if I'm coming in a little too fast without upsetting the cars balance. 1st and 2nd gear the car is also very neutral, letting me feather the throttle for a bit of power-on oversteer (like a rear wheel drive car). Not nearly as aggressive (well, 1st gear is), but nice when I just want a little extra slip angle on slower corners (e.g. hairpins).

I've done deep snow and soft dirt only once or twice. The Impreza (and BRZ) are definitely better suited to asphalt. The dirt/gravel road definitely made me wish I had the tires and ground clearance of the Crosstrek. But I prefer pavement so the Impreza suits me better.

Honestly, I'd suggest everyone with the paddle shifters to at least practice using manual mode or semi-auto mode (paddle shift in "D") so you're not scared to use it in the situations where if it might be beneficial. Even if you do so only rarely.

My CVT has original Trans at 269K miles, and still going strong. I do change the fluid every 30-40k miles.

I have a 2015 Honda Civic LX with almost 624000km. I remember hearing about the CVT discussions and I was worried but my car is still going. Newer CVT are much better than my model.

Honda's cvts are more reliable than their turbo engines and wayyyyy better than Nissan's cvt where no matter how much you baby the trans, it still has a decent chance to die early

The e-CVT is incredible. Gas mileage will be great too.

They are Ok if your ok getting less then 300k out of your Honda. They can last a decent amount of time but take way more maintenance then a standard Automatic. The truth is they will never be as robust and reliable as standard Automatic with a torque converter. Once the belt snaps its basically fucked too.

Go with Mazda due to CVT transmission in Honda. Honda CVT failed at 65000 miles and had fluid changed twice at 30k miles intervals.

I had a 2018 Nissan Sentra and everything was okay till about 40,000 miles and then it was just problem after problem and then the CVT transmission started to slip.

Nissan. CVT transmission went out twice on my pathfinder. Has to be replaced and cannot be fixed. Never again

Don\u2019t go with the Nissan Versa I beg of you! I bought a nearly brand new Nissan Versa. To be exact a 2017 Nissan Versa certified preowned with only 7,000 miles on it in 2018. And it did not make it to 100,000 miles. And I religiously took care of this car and got oil changes with the best oil regularly! My experience owning the 2017 Nissan Versa nearly brand new over the years: When I hit 30k miles (warranty goes out at 30k miles): recall on a part - I would take the key out of the ignition and the car would still run as if the key were in the ignition effectively killing 3 brand new batteries. I had to be jumped off multiple times. The problem got sorted out and I still have the part from when it messed up. I had to manually learn how to disconnect the battery so it would stop killing my batteries until the problem was fixed which was annoying at only 30k miles. 40k miles I\u2019m at a drive through and my car starts smoking! The actuator broke/or had to be replaced. 50k miles - sensor issues and gear shift got stuck so had to have those things fixed 70k miles - needed an engine replacement so I found a used engine with 17,000 miles to replace it with 75k miles - ac and defrost went out had to be fixed. 80k miles - CVT transmission went out and started jerking. So I looked for a used cvt transmission to put in and when I spent thousands to replace it with a newer one it was worse than the one I already had and I was stalling out in the road. So I took it back and got a different one. That entire process took from March of this year until September. Also had to pay for transmission fluid & transmission lines were leaking and had to be replaced. 80,050 miles - battery died so had to get a new one. Alignment was needed. 2 brand new front tires were needed. And the VTT solenoid on the engine needed fixing/replacing and I got all this done at the Nissan dealership and it cost $2,000. My AC was running hot after not too long of having it fixed and I spent less than $100 on an AC gauge and Freon at Oreillys and put Freon in. Please RUN away from this car.