30% of new cars have Continuously Variable Transmissions or CVTs. Let’s figure out why they’ve become widespread, how CVTs work, and why they’re not very good!

CVTs are used by major manufacturers like Buick, Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, Lexus, Mini, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. CVTs are simpler, cheaper, should save fuel, and should improve acceleration. That’s why a CVT was tested by Williams in their FW15 Formula 1 car in 1993. Unfortunately, most of CVT’s benefits haven’t been fully realized and current CVTs are terrible to drive and unreliable! To make people hate them less, manufacturers made them even worse! Is there hope the CVT will ever achieve its full potential, or is this technology better off abandoned in favor of alternatives? Let’s find out…

00:00 Worst Transmission Ever
00:19 How CVTs Work
02:00 Better Power Delivery
02:49 Williams CVT Test
03:25 Better Fuel Economy
04:30 CVT Acceleration Lag
05:37 Fake Shift CVTs Worse
06:13 Reliability
06:46 Power Limits
07:25 Gears Are Better

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Host: Scott Mansell
Editor: Dragos/CDP Media

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