ok, i'm looking at maxima and noticed that in 2006 to 2007 they changed transmission to the CVT 2 speed trans instead of the 5 speed auto. Can someone explain what this mean to me? Is it still an auto stick? Is the CVT cheaper to work on or more expensive, is the 2007 faster than the 2006 etc? Sorry for my ignorance on this matter ahead of time.

 

it stands for continuous variable transmission. It does not use gears but rather a system of pulleys.

It is not a bad transmission and to be honest it is more reliable so far than the automatic. BUT, if you are a gear head, cvt is terrible. It sounds like your driving a snow mobile, jet skii, or quad. It just groans at the same frequency and does not feel natural. your power comes in a wave like quality. So if you are planning to modify your cars exhaust do not get the cvt. If you are planning to do significant power upgrades, you will be of the few who are crossing their fingers that the cvt doesn't brake down at 120k.

this is my opinion, there will be others that disagree.

 

I thought 5 a/t was prone to failure aswell.