Ok, so I'm starting this thread not to discuss whether the CVT is good or bad, that has been talked about a million times. Assuming we're all reasonably satisfied with our cars, what are your recommendations for getting the most responsiveness from this pairing of 300 horses and no gears?

This is my first CVT automobile, and for the most part I'm happy with how it drives. But there are some times that it just seems to behave weird. Not so weird that I think its defective, but strange none the less. Here are some examples...

1. Can't quite get the hang of mid-range acceleration. If I mash the peddle hard, the car understands I want to go fast, the engine revs up, and all is good with the world. But the progression of the peddle doesn't seem to be linear. If Im cruising along at about 20mph already and want to jump to 60... it seems like I have to push the peddle down further then I should have to, to convince the car to accelerate well through those ranges.

2. I don't have the SR model , so I know I don't have engine braking. But I swear sometimes if I accelerate rapidly and then back off, the engine or transmission actually slows the car down for a moment rather then just letting the car roll along freely at the top speed that was reached. Doesn't seem to happen all the time either. Is that normal?

3. I've heard this car has a torque converter, I think my previous automatic car had a clutch. So I don't know if the following is just attributable to this. But much of my regular driving about town involves cruising at about 45 mph, Giving light feather taps on the gas to maintain speed. Now if I give the pedal a good press, it will work perfectly. But when putting very slight pressure on the peddle, I'll feel this annoying thump. It's not very severe, bit definitely noticeable. I find this causes me to try to avoid those slight taps on the peddle. Sometimes I can find a speed where I can leave my foot down, but not always. It seems like it's more likely to happen when going down a slight incline vs uphill, but I cannot prove it. Also, it doesn't seem to matter if it's me or the cruise control operating the pedal. Has anyone else noticed this?

Most of my gripes about this have been with "around town" driving. Highway speed driving has been excellent! I'm wondering if this is just "how it is" with this car, or should I be having a talk with my Nissan guy? Maybe there are just some tricks and techniques to getting more predictable behavior while driving. I'd like to hear what you have found works best

 

I agree with most of what you stated! My 7th gen was a little more snappy to me then my new 8th gen in the mid range, which is weird due to the new 7speed cvt verses the old 6 speed but the 8th gen is more powerful from a dead stop. I might be wrong, It was my understanding is the cvt runs off the cam sensors, I would think the SR model would just be a update to the cpu and or upgrade to the cam sensors. Or if we can get a aftermarket company to make performance cam sensors that would be great, I would believe the entire forum would be interested in such an item if it was possible.

 

There are many variables on CVT what I think;
How long you have driven this Car?
How do you drive your car?
How many people share this car?

These CVT's they tend to learn your driving habits. If you are always on 2 to 3 (1000 RPM) then it will take some millisecond to readjust. But, I am not saying driving savage is the best idea, either. I hope this helps.

 

I've driven the car for a little over a month now. I think it was already "broken in"' it has 8k miles when I bought it

I dropped in a K&N air filter this afternoon, seems like point #1 improved a little. What is a bit disturbing is that none of those behaviors are 100% predictable... sometimes they happen, sometimes they don't.

 

I've never had any problem with this CVT. Wonderfully smooth at every speed, car seems to read my mind. I always drive in normal mode FWIW.

 

CVT transmissions do not have "speeds" as in 6 or 7. It is continuously variable, 100% between its lowest and highest ratios.

think of it as a 10-14- or even 21 speed bicycle with cones at the front and rear sprockets. Rather than sprockets at the front and rear where you can select pre-set ratios, you can select any ratio at all.

 

I notice a few such things occasionally, but nothing that bothers me. Overall, I love the way this CVT operates, and have sort of subconsciously adjusted my driving to the level the CVT seems to like best. My wife and I switch driving very frequently, so the CVT operating system does not have the chance to fully learn either of our driving methods, which are quite different.

I recall several posters on the 7th gen board commenting on having to push the accelerator pedal further down than expected to get quick, strong acceleration. I think a lifetime of driving has brought me to the point I have no problem being quite aggressive with the accelerator pedal, resulting in pretty fast takeoffs. I will now begin accelerating more progressively, trying to determine if I can achieve linear results from my action.

My 8th gen Platinum does not have the pronounced engine braking of my 7th gen, but sometimes does seem to show some hint of engine braking.

There was a noticeable noise in the 7th gen when drifting on a slight downward slope, but I have noticed this on my 8th gen only on rare occasions. It is sort of a metallic thump. Nissan let us know that this was part of the ABS system on the 7th gen.

 

It sounds like from all of your feedback so far that these quirks are more or less normal for this car. The concept of the "CVT learning" is quite new to me, I'll have to pay attention and see If I can observe that happening. My wife has driven occasionally, not as often as I. For the most part we drive with similar styles, because I don't engage in"spirited driving" very often, although it seems like the Max actually operates better when driven that way.

 

Well stated on how the car is performing for you. My car does everything it can to settle in at lower RPMs if I don't mash the gas pedal. Took me awhile to get used to what you might call a "lugging" at 30 mph and lower. I often will switch the gear selector to the manual side when slowing down from higher speeds which puts me in fake 4th but uses more engine braking and saves the brake wear. Now and then I use the manual selector to "row" through the gears at little higher RPM to get to 70 mph then switch over to the normal gear selector mode. My MPGs are always in the 29s to 33 MPG which is great for a car of this size and hp.

 

I'd probably use the manual mode more if I had the SR and paddle shifters, with it off to the side it's a whole lot less intuitive to use . All too often I'm surrounded by traffic and that takes all the fun out of manual-like shifting.

Gotta hand it to Nissan though, the auto shift logic in sport mode from a stand still is a wonderous thing to behold . I haven't actually measured, but it has easily convinced me that it's hitting 60 in well under 6 seconds. At least in that scenario, the Max knows exactly what I want it to do and it delivers beautifully

 

The torque converter in mine is awful - it is obvious when it locks and unlocks and it’s impossible to drive smoothly at 40-60km/h.

When I come to a stop, I guess the torque converter locks and it feels like the someone threw an anchor out as the engine braking is overly strong.

When I’m stopped and I pull away with light throttle, the transmission doesn’t do anything much at all and then seems to slip into a ratio, at which point the car finally moves a bit.

I agree the throttle is inconsistent - I approached a red light while braking and the light went green when I was at about 30km/h. I didn’t press the accelerator too hard and the revs shot up to about 4K, which was incosistent with how hard I was pressing the throttle.

I’ve driven CVTs for ten years and I’ve been driving for almost 30.

 

I think part of the issue here is how the CVT will emulate shifts past about 3/8 throttle. I still need to train myself to go beyond that point when I really need to accelerate quickly. The transition between CVT mode and "fake shift" mode is not all that smooth at times either. The responsiveness in sport mode is better, but as I have an SR I don't need the additional ride stiffness from that mode. In normal driving, the CVT is basically invisible, which is a good thing for a car like this. Performance at highway speeds is also excellent, with good response for passing and excellent fuel economy for a 300 hp machine. I understand what others are saying about some lack of smoothness in the 30-50 mph range.

 

From your commments it sounds like I should just get a bit more aggressive with that peddle. I've always been reluctant to do that with my old automatic but it seems to be the best way to deal with this car, to break it out of its "keep the rpms low" funk when cruising at low speeds.

 

Argee. The first point does happened to me every time I stuck in a crowd and I have to keep my speed around 20 - 30 mph.

but actually I used to it since I have this car for almost two years