In light of Rafik Jabbour's CVT failure I thought it was time for a CVT poll...

I've had issues and had the valve body replaced.

 

What year and how many miles? My 2013 has 1,250 miles lol fortunately no problems.

 

I had my valve body replaced earlier this year. 2009 Maxima with 40k miles.

 

Wow. I really cannot believe how many high $$$ issues there are with this car. I certainly will not be keeping it past my lease lol. I'll be back in another 335i for sure.

 

Ummmm . . . you might want to reconsider. The Maxima CVT has generally been a solid tranny, and Consumer Reports (based on 77,000 responses) gives this tranny (and the entire 2012 Maxima) a 'much more reliable than average' rating.

This Nissan CVT also has a very good warranty, and Nissan has been generally good at immediately replacing any questionable CVT at no charge.

More to the point, the 335i overall reliability has been generally 'average' to 'worse than average' for the last seven years.

 

IMO those surveys are a joke for any car. I got my survey when my car had about 1,000 miles on it. Who knows at that point how good or bad a car is going to be ?

If the surveys were accurate they wouldn't even send them to people until the car was 2 years old.

Not Maxima bashing in ANY way, I just don't see how you can tell me how good ANY car is in 3 months of ownership.

I'm guessing those 77,000 responses are for the 2009 - 2012 Max unless the survey goes beyond North American cars

 

I have two friends that had/have a 335i. Both have had many issues with their cars. One of them got rid of it instead of dealing with more issues, and my other friend is going to get rid of his before the warranty is up.

 

Yep, they are fun to drive have great initial test scores upon review but poor reliability seems to be a common outcome down the road.

 

Mine has been replaced at 82k miles. Car just doesn't feel the same and I'm thinking of getting rid of it now....

 

6 speed or bust ::hides:: . For the record I was with a friend at a lee Myles and the owner of the shop has shown us a laundry list of invoices for cvt trannies they had to repair or replace. He was explaining how bad they were and why. He claims they are probably the worst transmissions ever made.

 

What kind of cars is he repairing/replacing the CVT in ?

The vast majority of 7th Gen Max CVT's are still under warranty.

 

the amount of CVTs with issues is still extremely low compared to the number of cars being driven. keep in mind people are more likely to come to the internet to find a forum to complain about something breaking, than to come and rave about how great their perfectly working car is.

 

No issues to report here, I came from 09 Altima with cvt so I knew what to expect and how to drive it. I think most people who buy the maxima or any car with a cvt can't get use to it, think there's something wrong with it, or don't know how to drive it

 

With that in mind, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that my Max has performed perfectly and I am very happy to own it.

 

Tommy - mind if I lean on your experience with CVTs and ask to explain what to expect, how to drive - and perhaps why someone would think something may be wrong with it?

 

First and foremost this is my experience and some comments from different forums over the years. We'll there's no gears like a traditional automatic transmission so you don't feel a shift. I think people say my car isn't shifting there must be something wrong( I was one of then). It's one of those things you'll either love it or you'll hate it. I grew to love it. As far as driving it goes, I find keeping the Rpms in the 2-3 range and constant with out allowing the rpm to drip keep the gears continuously moving thru the gears so you won't get any of the bog down feeling some people report. I can elaborate more later but i have to get back to work

Also I think people just never get use to it because they are so use to a traditional automatic and prob regret the purchase

 

I'm assuming you are referring to the 335i here. If so, you are exactly right.

But those others here who are disparaging Consumer Reports need to dig a little deeper before posting. They will find CU is reporting for each of the LAST SIX MODEL YEARS SEPARATELY for each vehicle, and is reporting on SEVENTEEN different areas of the car.

CU does NOT make up data, or guess based on just a few hundred responses.They simply assimilate the dozens of thousands of responses from car owners, who CONTINUE to report EVERY YEAR on exactly how their car is doing in each of the 18 measured areas.

Over time (I have subscribed to CU for 64 years), I have found CU's testing and reliability reports to be generally reflective of the real world experiences of myself, my family and my friends. Certainly far more accurate than would be reflected on a board where those car owners with no problems are not required to state that in a post every year.

And those reliability scores?
For the 335i - Consistently average or below average.
For the Maxima - Either 'above average' or 'much above average' for the last five years.

Ghozt is correct when he suggests folks who have problems with their cars are more likely to come to internet boards looking for answers than those who have no problems. Also, those here who have no problems usually see no purpose in starting a thread that says 'Help me; I have no problems.'

The Maxima is a fine vehicle. There will be lemons with any make or model from any manufacturer. But when the entire production year of each vehicle is examined, the Maxima has always been shown to be a reliable vehicle.

 

I now have a purpose to start that thread...

 

This is where you are mislead. Consumer reports flat out says 2011, 2012 and 2013 ( newest three years) model reliability is also based on earlier years when the body style has not changed , IE the Maxima. So the 2013 ( for example) reliability is also based off the 2011 and 2012 car, it's not 100% based on 2013 owner response.

"we averaged a model's Used Car Verdict for the newest three years, provided the vehicle did not change significantly in that time and hasn't been redesigned for 2014. We have found that several model years' data are a better predictor than the most recent model years. One or two years' data may be used if the model was redesigned in 2013 or 2012, or if there were insufficient data for more years.

I never said they made up the data nor did I say this forum had more accurate data. As posted above I questioned how data is compiled and on later model cars it's not purely from that year of car.

For instance Consumer Reports called the 2014 Subaru Forester the most reliable car you can buy.

This is purely based on past models.


What I would like to know is how many or what % of cars have to have a specific problem before a TSB is released. That would be interesting.

 

... I laughed.